Search the Community

I love turning off the lights, closing my eyes and imagining that I'm in a small venue listening to some LIVE jazz. The constant chatter and clinking glasses only add to the realism of the experience and don't bother me a bit. I so wish I could have been in some of these clubs back in the '50s and '60s when these recording were made, but alas, this is as close as I can even come.

I think everyone will agree that the guitar is an essential rock music instrument. The history of rock and the guitar - its sound, technique, musical harmonic and rhythmic complexity etc. are so closely interconnected that I think it's difficult to think about the one without the other. Name up to 5 (ok, max. 10 if it's not enough) guitar players who in your opinion are the most historically important figures of all time. Let's take into account the rock/blues/jazz-rock world 'cause 'pure-mainstream' jazz or classical guitar playing are IMO another story. I will be tempted (if this thread is succesful enough) to count the votes (1st place - 10 points, 2nd - 9, etc) in a couple of weeks or months time to announce officially who's the most important guitarist of all time according to CA community. And what players' names follow The King. This is what's it all about My candidates: 1. Jimi Hendrix 2. Robert Johnson 3. Jimmy Page 4. Stevie Ray Vaughan 5. Steve Vai A honorable mention - Lightnin' Hopkins - IMO the most underrated bluesman of all time and a fantastic classic blues guitar player.

I'm a fan of this listener-supported Jazz station, which is a service of the Foundation to Advance Jazz, and listen daily. The music is of the laid-back variety, great for early mornings/late nights and I've discovered a lot of beautiful music listening to this station. Among the recent changes to their site are the new Premium and Premium + options, which include flac streaming! All of the new Premium features are free until July 20th if you care to check them out. I'm now a Premium + subscriber. The Jazz Groove

Hello, This is my first post to this forum, as I have just revived my interest in higher quality audio. This came about in an odd way. I recently remodeled my office to add more storage for my family. In doing this, my Alesis M1 studio monitors (fed by the sound card build into the gaming motherboard in my PC) could no longer fit in the room, at least not in an ideal listening position, so I had to start the search for something smaller, but I couldn't find anything that could be mounted to the wall that was less than 5 inches wide and had any chance of sounding good, so I decided to go another route. I started to researched headphones, which lead to suggestions for amps, which lead to suggestions for DACs... With a budge of about $800 I decided on the Schiit Jotunheim with the balanced DAC module, powering the Sennheiser HD600 headphones, and a balanced headphone cable from Custom Cans. I also purchased a USB cable from Schitt to connect the DAC to my PC. Once everything came in, I hooked it all up and was blown away by how much clearer things sounded. But there was a problem... my music mostly sounded like crap. Much of it was ripped from CD into my FLAC collection, but then I learned that it has a lot to do with the mastering and mixing process. I started to look for some new music to listen to and tried a variety of genre, finally settling on smooth jazz being my favorite. It's been about a month since my purchase and everything is starting to sound better. I don't have experience with this, and my ears are not trained, but the music just started to sound more open and full bodied if that makes any sense. After reading many posts about this subject, all of which seem to turn into arguments, I just want to say that I don't really care what it is that made it sound better, I'm just very happy that it does. So, that's where I'm at now, and I have a few questions that I've searched for without finding specific answers. I'm pretty handy, and I love DIY projects, so I decided to make my own headphone cables since the connectors to the HD600s on the Custom Cans wires are a bit too long; they hit my shoulders when I turn my head (other than that they are awesome). Many people choose to use the wires found in the Mogami Neglex 2534s so I went with those as a starting point. The question is, why do people only use the wires, and not the entire cable? The cable is designed to minimizes the things that would effect the analog audio signal, such as capacitance and inductance, and it has what looks like well thought out dielectric and shielding. It's also within the optimum wire diameter to reduce the skin effect. If headphones used speaker level signal strength, I would not be as concerned, but I think the relatively low signal strength over my required 7 foot run would benefit from keeping the cable together up to the point where it needs to split to each driver. I'm new to this and learning as I go, so I may have this all very wrong, please let me know. Is there a better wire I can use that would still produce an audible sound difference given the equipment I am currently using? I'm not looking for Teflon coated silver here... And finally, does anyone have any suggestions for high quality smooth jazz recordings and where I can get them? Thanks!

Get 25% Off Inside The Moment from Camille Thurman On HDtracks With Code CPUCT “By combining the saxophone with singing, Thurman has carved an important place in Jazz.” - Milenio “I fell in love with her voice.” - Conciertos, GDL "A faithfully captured 'audience perspective' recording." - Stereonet The world of Jazz has been graced by many great female vocalists through the decades -- Ella Fitzgerald, Sara Vaughan, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, to name just a few. Chesky Records is excited to introduce a name we feel will one day be in their company...Camille Thurman. On her Chesky Records debut, Thurman shows her versatility with stunning performances on both saxophone and vocals. The multi-talented Camille Thurman is an award-winning composer, a formidable saxophonist, and a second-place winner of the prestigious Sarah Vaughan Vocal Competition. She has performed with artists ranging from Dr. Billy Taylor, George Coleman, Lew Tabackin, and George Benson, to Chaka Khan, Alicia Keys, and Missy Elliot. She recently made her Jazz at Lincoln Center debut during the Generations in Jazz Festival, leading a killer quartet as she sang, played, and showcased original compositions and some classics. She also recently gave an improvised scatting performance during Battle of the Big Bands that brought down the house in The Appel Room. The inaugural release of the new Virtual Audio Series from Chesky Records, this album was recorded in front of a live audience at Rockwood Music Hall in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, using a single binaural microphone. This technique places the listener in the middle of a live show. If you didn't know any better, you'd swear you can smell the perfume of the young lady seated to your left.

Suggestions for the best Herbie Hancock albums -- along the lines of a Maiden Voyage to the Empyrean Isles....

Hey Guys, I'd really like to learn about some of the best current and classic jazz CDs available. I'm already familiar with Kind of Blue, Time Out and Giant Steps but that's pretty much the extent of it for me. I know there must be other great jazz albums out there that have somehow flown under my radar all these years. I just started steaming some music, and I know Spotify will likely have most of your suggestions. Thanks for your help, Steve

Hello everyone,This is Jerome Sabbagh writing. I am a saxophonist and audiophile. I was recently profiled in the Stereophile series Musicians as Audiophiles. Personally, I enjoy listening to vinyl and high resolution files, and I buy both.Three years ago, the support of audiophiles of all stripes helped make my album "The Turn" a reality. "The Turn" made a few "best of" lists for 2014 (LA Times, Boston Globe, DownBeat) and was also favorably reviewed in Stereophile and Analog Planet. I recently recorded a new album, "No Filter", a project I co-lead with my old friend - and fantastic guitarist - Greg Tuohey. Like "The Turn", this record was recorded live to two track 1/2 inch tape at 30 ips by James Farber at Sear Sound. It will be mastered and cut to vinyl directly from the tape by Bernie Grundman but 96/24 downloads will also be available, as well as CDs. I am raising funds to make this happen. The ADC of choice at Bernie Grundman Mastering are modified Lavry Gold and JCF. I'm hoping to audition both and pick the one that sounds best for the digital versions. I've had good experiences with both converters, which was a factor in picking this particular studio.Click here for Kickstarter linkI am happy to answer any and all questions and hope you might consider supporting this. We are shooting for an October release on Sunnyside Records.Thank you!Jerome Sabbagh

Computer Audiophile Users can get 25% off We'll Be Together Again, featuring Javon Jackson, Ron Carter, and Billy Drummond on HDtracks using code CPUTOGETHER. The shadows of the Sonny Rollins trio and Joe Henderson trio (both having recorded classic albums at the Village Vanguard) hover over this sparse, revealing trio outing with Jackson, Carter and Drummond. And like his sax playing elders, Jackson put his own stamp on a set of well chosen jazz standards while also showcasing a few originals. “Sonny being a big influence on me, obviously there would be some things in there that would be reminiscent, or have that spirit anyway,” says Jackson, who just hit the half century mark this June. And while playing without a chordal instrument was a challenge in some respects for the saxophonist, he explains that Carter’s presence more than made up for the absence of piano on this Chesky release. “Ron is kind of like a symphony behind you. He’s the bass player, but he’s the piano at times, he’s the drums and he’s out front with the melody. So he can be several things at once. With him there, there are so many colors that are available to me. So it’s not out of disrespect to the piano, it’s just that with Ron, we have a lot of opportunities. This trio setting just allows him to kind of roam a little bit and be more of a free safety, to use a football analogy.” Part of the Chesky Binaural + Series, all recorded with a single microphone, the band appears right before you with this spacious, lush and multi-dimensional recording. Now headphone users will hear the same three-dimensional sound and imaging as audiophiles have for the past 25 years with Chesky Recordings. Also, these new Binaural+ Series albums capture even more spatial realism for the home audiophile market, bringing you one step closer to the actual event. You will hear some of the most natural and pure Jazz music ever recorded.

Has anybody purchased this? I have one of the tracks (Black Beauty) from a sample compilation by DSDfile (in dsd128) and it is absolutely stunning. A wonderful Ellington tune with amazing SQ. I wonder if the other tracks on the album are similarly great because if they are, I definitely want the whole album.