mikeweil

I'm shocked. Saw him play with Miroslav Vitous' group many years ago, and he really had a good groove going. R.I.P.

Chateau Les Miaudoux Moelleux, Cotes de Bergerac, France The bottle I bought today was 2018 vintage. Delicious.

I had the opportunity to hear several of the suites performed by cello students close to their exams a few weeks ago. Each had a different style thougj all played to the current state of the art of historically informed performance practice. But any of them played more inspired and clear than Jean Guihen Queyras on a modern cello whom I heard two years ago.

When I consider he was my age ....... R.I.P.

All jokes aside, about a year ago I talked at length to a hifi expert, and he confirmed that resonances of component housings indeed could be a problem. He recommended putting weight on things, like engineer Pierre Sprey does with his lead bars.German companies sell heavy rubber feet to isolate components from the floor or rack shelves.

The issue I got from a Berlin shop was the TBA CD reissue. Indeed a very wide dynamic range, has to be played loud to hear the full range (oh my lucky neighbours ....). I think JVC had a hand in initiating this recording. Sounds like a typical direct-to-disc album, very clear and detailed, no distortion, not even on the electric keyboard, guitar, and bass - I wonder how they did it, by direct inputs or miking the amps. Sounds like the band is in the room. Must be a terrific soundstage when played back on high end equipment. The music is nice, similar to that cooperative band Ritenour and Grusin had, Friendship. The problem with many classical recordings is that they use very large rooms that narrow some of the dynamics with small ensembles. Too much room ambience in many cases, at least for my taste.

Excellent performance, but the wrong type of harpsichord for the concerto.

The best days of Zweitausendeins are a thing of the past. They changed ownership a few years ago and gradually downsized, even gave up some of their outlets like the one in Frankfurt where I used to drop by regularly. I for one never quite liked the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble - too "German" in its approach, starting with the name. What practically always lacked with German jazz musicians was the "black" feeling of R & B as opposed to the rock music most people over here knew much better, which is an understandable thing but leads to the less relaxed (in my ears) feel of rock. I never liked Hiseman's drumming. Great players, but in part a decidedly more commercial approach to pay the rent, as Mangelsdorff once confessed. I biought three Dauner solo piano CDs since the day of his passing, and they are all great, showing his wide range of interests, playing Ravel on the second and talking about the challenge and the differences of jazz and classical approaches in the notes. I can recommend all three. He was one of Europe's greatest jazz pianists. I just noticed one of the more obscure items in Dauner's career - recording jingles for the Stollwerck chocolate manufacturers:

I think the dynamics of a live performance (in good acoustics and by a well-balanced group) are impossible to reproduce with a home hifi, unless you have real expensive high end equipment. But some come pretty close to giving the illusion of live music. I have some direct-to-disc recordings that do so. But that should be the subject of a thread of its own. Anyway, I'm looking forward to that Feldman disc whih should be here by the end of next week.