April 2, 2003

We've received a lot of emails from readers who have enjoyed the interview with Bob Ludwig of Gateway Mastering and who has personally mastered more discs than I could ever listen to. But what fascinates me more than anything is that, as I was growing up, much of the music that I listened to and enjoyed immensely were either engineered or/and mastered by Bob Ludwig. Wow. In case you missed the review, read it here. It is also posted over on The Digital Bits.

We had a few reviews that would have posted today along with our daily input, but circumstances prevented me from formatting them for today. As mentioned previously, we have the review for Maya Beiser and Steven Schick's "Caught by the Sky With Wire" by John Nelson; "Flying Groove" by John Grace, who also has his JazzNotes available today; Grey Cavitt review of Steve Morse's "Split Decision" on Magna Carta Records; and my views on The Moody Blues' "Live at Red Rocks with The Colorado Philharmonic Orchestra" Deluxe Edition from Universal/Threshold. These reviews will post within the next few days. As a matter of fact, we may have around 6-7 full reviews around that time. That's on one day!! Again, apologies all around. It has been quite busy and dang if this site hasn't grown beyond my wildest dreams. You readers are great; I love ya!!

While this next paragraph was included yesterday, I'm reprinting it to make sure everybody gets a crack at reading it. I'll probably run it through the rest of this week.

If you had recently purchased the Ben Harper album, "Diamonds on the Inside", you may have purchased a copy protected issue that was designed for advanced copies. If you experience problems with the disc, EMI will replace your disc within 60 days of purchase. The first, and the best, way is to simply return it to the place of purchase where retailers have been alerted to the problem and are authorized to replace your disc. If that proves a problem, you can then call EMI direct at 800.914.8257 to receive your replacement copy. You can also write them at:

EMI Music Distribution
Customer Fulfillment Operations
1 Capitol Way
Jacksonville, IL 62650-1095
Attn: Don Bush, Director of Quality Assurance

Be sure to include your name, address, original dated receipt or handwritten UPC number from the purchased CD.

Projekt Records have new music on the release slate:

Black Tape for a Blue Girl has a wonderful set available on May 8. It's a limited edition 2CD set with only a run of only 2250 copies that will be hand-numbered. It features the highlights of the years 1986 - 2003. The title is "with a million tear stained memories".

On June 3, Projekt issues the latest Steve Roach album, "Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces" which will be available in 3 configurations. Part 1 will be available in stores as a 2CD set while Part 2 will be available as a 2CD set, mail-order only. Finally, if you want the entire set, like right now, you can mail-order the complete 4CD edition from Projekt.

On June 17, Projekt releases the new Faith & Disease album, "Passport to Kunming".

On July 8, Unto Ashes release their latest, "Empty Into White". The album will be released from Projekt. But why wait until July to have to hear tracks from it. For a few MP3s of the band, click here. Two tracks, "Allu Mari" and "Exeunt Omnia", are new and from the upcoming album.

Reader Danny Williams alerts me to the upcoming SACD releases from Mobile Fidelity. Aimee Mann's "Lost in Space" is scheduled for an August rollout. Also from MoFi is Albert King's "Years Gone By" in SACD. In mid year, at some point, MoFi will release Blood, Sweat, & Tears' "Blood, Sweat, & Tears 3". MoFi has a few later date SACD titles with John Coltrane's "Soultrane" scheduled for a May release; Leo Kottke's "6 & 12 String Guitar" scheduled for December; Miles Davis' "Steamin'", Kinks' "Everybody' s In Showbiz" for July, "Low Budget" for May and "Give the People What they Want" for mid-2003.

Sony has the new Beyonce Knowles album, "Dangerously in Love", which streets on May 27. For fans of Beyonce.

Brian Moura of the famed and comprehensive SACD upcoming release list emailed me today to share this bit of news concerning DVD-Audio and the fact that the group have elected to NOT pursue hybrid capability. While the reasons are varied, they primarily centre on the fact that most DVD players that were tested actually rejected the discs, not recognizing them. The legacy players suffered the most with an sobering success rate of only 27%. 27%!! This applies to the single layer, double sided discs. The failure rate is expected to duplicate for the double sided DVD-A discs as well. The firmware in the DVD players is widely cited as the reason for the failure. This bit o' news does not bode well for DVD-A hybrids. However, fans of the format should NOT fret over this. This does not impact the actual DVD-Audio disc. OK..so we may not get hybrid. The info doesn't say the plans are dead entirely but if it was, we move on and support the format, not because we want it to supplant any other format but because it's an alternative. And I don't mind. I don't really think that you folks mind too much either. Go combo-player. Everybody's happy. Thanks to Brian for his assistance in bringing this to my attention and a heaping measure of thanks for his tireless efforts to producing an exhaustive list of SACD releases, both current and upcoming. Speaking of DVD-Audio, I've heard that Pink Floyd's DSotM will be issued as a DVD-Audio by EMI with no street date set as of yet. the extras on that should be rockin'!

JazzNotes

by John Grace

It's been a few years now since the initial release of the Ken Burns film "Jazz." One of my kin says the filmmaker is so compelling, he'd gladly watch Ken Burn's "Plumbing." I won't go that far, but I do hope folks that are even remotely interested in the form go back and watch the show. Granted, it's a 10-episode commitment, but it's one part music appreciation, one part history lesson. If nothing else, consider the speakeasy explosion. One subject (whose name escapes me) estimated as many as 5,000 speakeasys existed in Manhattan alone. Oof, there's something inherently exciting about walking down to a basement, knocking on a big door, and hearing great jazz. Crazy days, the 1920's. The address of the Ken Burn's "Jazz" site is: http://www.pbs.org/jazz.

Here's another site worth looking at: the jazz site of National Public Radio. NPR is a great source of music information, for both established acts and newcomers. The address is pretty simple: www.nprjazz.org. Among other things, it's got information on jazz programming, recordings, and show transcripts. Although jazz is my thing, it was fascinating to hear a segment on Johnny Cash a few months back. If there's a definition of "hard living" in the dictionary, it probably says "see Johnny Cash." The original Man in Black, despite years of performing, is still very open to new music and those artists that create it. Impressive guy; great interview. The audio can still found on the NPR site.

In terms of new releases, my next purchase will probably be Wayne Shorter's "Alegria." It's on Verve records, and arrives in stores April 1. "Footprints Live!" was my initial review for Matt, and I'm still impressed by the disc. I first saw Wayne performing with Weather Report at the Playboy Jazz Festival in the early 80's. Some of the focus was on bass player Jaco Pastorius, but Wayne was a key figure in the creation of, and performances by the group. The sound was, above all else, progressive. The "fusion" tag is frequently hung on Weather Report, but that seems a little short-sighted. Just listen to "Birdland" and see what you think.

Spring has sprung, so get out there and listen to some live jazz. It can be heard everywhere, from the local high school band to open-air concerts to concert halls. Cinco de Mayo may still be a few weeks off, but give a listen to Latin Jazz a little early...

That's it for today. Tomorrow's post will be very meager as I have plans to be elsewhere for much of the day. I do apologize for this. Stay patient with me.

Tomorrow...