T.D.

There's a Stereophile story which is more informative. Sound United Finds a New Home with Harman | Stereophile.com The acquired brands were already a portfolio of an entity called Sound United, which was a disastrous acquisition by a (healthcare? see below) conglomerate called Masimo Corp. Masimo was urged to divest by shareholder activists. 😁 Here are the first and last paras of the linked story. Note how many "name" brands Harman now owns! Masimo Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Masimo Consumer Audio division, which is made up of the former Sound United hi-fi brands, to Harman International, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, for $350 million in cash. Pending regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close by the end of 2025. The sale transfers an extensive portfolio—including Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Marantz, Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, Classé, and Boston Acoustics—to a buyer with business firmly rooted in audio. (The fate of the HEOS multiroom streaming platform remains unclear.) Harman already owns JBL, Harman Kardon, AKG, Mark Levinson, Revel, Arcam, and Roon. ... If regulators approve the transaction, it will close a turbulent three-year chapter that saw Sound United’s valuation tumble from more than a billion dollars to a third of that figure. Masimo exits with a costly but decisive return to its healthcare roots, while Harman and Samsung gain a powerful array of brands poised to strengthen their position in living-room entertainment from big-screen TVs to whole-home audio.

I think Polk and Marantz have changed hands various times previously, and neither is nearly "what they used to be" (a number of onetime prestige names are in that category). B&W is definitely news, the most significant part of the announcement. Maybe Denon is significant, though they seem to have fallen off over the years. Very much agreed on the decline of the audiophile market. Though the vinyl craze may prop it up for a while.

Damn. I was checking scores of OKC-Denver game 1 and pulled the plug with 3 minutes and change left, assuming the Thunder would win. Surprise!

Partial post since my attempts at long posts often disappear into hyperspace. #1. Like this a lot. Never heard the headliner on tenor before, initially noticed a few Hawkins similarities but drew a blank. After peeking, kicked myself because the tenor should have been an easy ID. #2. Don't listen to a lot of B-3 material but dig this. Guitarist sounds relatively "modern" ('70s or later) and impresses, organist either an old-timer or consciously playing in traditional style. No clue on ID. Well done performance. #3. Recognized this as being included in a Mosaic I own but couldn't name the tune without consulting the package. Maybe the strongest track on the Mosaic disc devoted to the leader, which admittedly is the one I listen to least often from the set. #4. "Well you needn't" played in a stride bag and at rapid tempo. I like this a lot. Pianist gives off some Jaki Byard polystylist vibes but it's surely not him. Don't have the energy to sleuth this early in the month. Sounds like vinyl sourced, so I've never heard it before. #9. The one fail of the BFT for me, couldn't make it through the whole thing. I still strongly feel the melody is lifted from a well-known lullaby or other traditional source, can hum it from memory but the source escapes me. Having fun so far, will post on others later.

#9 seems to be This. My reaction is pretty much the same as Jim's: yuck. I think I have the album but also never listen to it. Even though it's Monk. Weirdly, the melody seems (IMO) to be based on some kind of old lullaby or (European?) folk song or Christmas carol that I just can't remember.

Japanese jazz briefly came up on another thread. This is a most enjoyable live hard bop album with four well-known veteran players, rec. 1994.

Jim ID'd #3. but for the record it's track 5-3 here: https://tinyurl.com/ynanm42p

Thanks. Enjoyed this despite not guessing anything. I always suspect a theme, and "Detroit jazz" would be close to one here. Agreed on Gene Harris CDs, I've picked up some real burners for practically nothing.

I still think the Dončić trade was inexplicable from Dallas's point of view, but the Lakers just crashed out of the playoffs in 5 games.

I can't make any intelligent guesses so will give opinions... #1: Spoken voice doesn't always work for me, but I liked this. Enjoyed the bluesiness of the music, especially piano. Not sure how it would hold up to repeated listenings, so maybe not a purchase. #2: When this was on Felser's BFT I thought it lacking in the kind of soaring modal energy I expect from Trane covers, but on this go-round I got more into the approach. Would like to see the band live. #3: Rahsaan's version imprinted itself on my mind, so I expected to find fault with this performance, but it's good. Had no luck sleuthing the performers: only cover with a horn I found was a John David Simon, but that included organ. Would consider purchase, although I'm cutting down. #4: Classical-type piece with strings, sounds like it could be film music. Well done but not my bag. #5: Recognized the tune (ID'd above) but not performers. Live, sounds like a (possibly local) all-start ensemble at a festival. Agreed on some Gene Harris similarity with piano, but some other soloists not as strong. Fun listen but not the kind of thing I go for on recordings. #6: Obvious Santana influence, maybe even a cover for all I know. Interesting instrumentation that fits together well. Too overtly Santana-like to be a purchase. #7: Very much like piano, percussion, soprano. Lyrics OK, but not knocked out by the delivery. Would like to hear more of the group, might purchase a relatively vocal-free recording. #8: Nice tune, agree with chillout and GG comments above, but the intro was too bossa-like to be fully in my wheelhouse. #9: Overall like this, but not digging the tenor. Surprised it's a fairly big name. Got the Dead quotes, which are funny and unusual in jazz context. Something I'd enjoy in a club but not in purchase territory. #10: Love everything about this save some misgivings about the male speaker. Liked the speaker more on 2nd and 3d listens. Disappointed that I had no guess despite owning a couple of recordings with this leader. In the "consider purchase" column. Thanks for the BFT. Listened straight through last night and enjoyed the program. No time for much sleuthing, but curious about #3. Lots to like and explore, no outright misses.

Price seems high for CD-R, but IMO it could be something like Presto Music's "Presto CDs", which are pressed on demand and presumably CD-R. That would actually square with the Sony Classical page perpetually showing "today" as release date. OTOH, "Presto CDs" seem to be offered at all kinds of prices, see for instance .

Fully agreed (italics added). It seems like that type of programming "feature". But some detective work: Discogs showed a release page for a 2010 CD-R reissue, with a link to ArkivMusic. The ArkivMusic link was dead, but a search of ArkivMusic yields a 2-CD set for $29.99 (edit: "3 CD set") I leave it to more intrepid searchers to determine whether those are in stock, CD-R or CD, etc.

Weirdly, the Sony Classical website seems to show it with a release date of today (??!!) The pic here shows the orig. cover, at least: Juilliard String Quartet - Bartok: The 6 String Quartets | CD Not sure that page is accurate...it doesn't look very professional.

Looking forward to this! Plus the food... 😁...Dorjee Momo isn't there on the Sunday nights.

I went to an improv/jazz concert today by Creative Improvisers Ensemble Strings (+ percussion) ensemble. Some passages reminded me of Scelsi. So:

Having listened to the 12-CD box of Monteverdi madrigals (La Venexiana) over the course of a few days, starting on another project. (Being a fan of Renaissance polyphony and the Huelgas Ensemble)

I have Glass Bead Games on CD as part of the Strata-East Mosaic, along with the Cecil Payne, Charles Brackeen and Pharoah Sanders from this batch. Hey, with a few more DLs I could duplicate the Mosaic and sell off the unwieldy box!

Billy Harper's Capra Black is practically the Holy Grail of oop CDs, so a physical release would be killer. Might be too much to hope for, so the DL route beckons.

I have a recording of one of Braxton's operas, Trillium R. It is very good, much better than I expected. The plot and libretto are (at minimum) highly interesting, although there is much I cannot claim to understand. Regrettably, I don't have the budget or time to keep up with all the installments.

The little I've read of Braxton's writings I found rather impenetrable (likely my bad), so I didn't pursue more. I just located some discussion of his compositional diagrams here but on a quick reading I'm not sure how the "composition #", e.g. "Composition #19 for 100 tubas" relates to the "composition diagram-title", e.g. Maybe the former is something like an opus number.

Agreed, this is truly excellent.

Yeah. I mentioned the reissue in another (Noah Howard iirc) thread and you recommended it! I then listened to a lot on bandcamp before ordering.