Jazz

2020 releases from Ambrose Akinusire
The sound is great. The record is conscious, formal, and (as reviews have noted) carries a level of anguish. I've always found his playing intellectual, dense, and rich -- my first listens on this record left me with a sense of a strong artistic statement of sadness and frustration. That's likely influenced by all the current news (and reviews of the record), but it's hard not to hear it across a dense fighting rhythm section, a shout, and transition to a ballad that opens the record. His playing is tight, controlled, at times constricted or elongating -- notes and phrases less into dissonance but pushing for limits of expression. It's a record I'll spin more -- I love his approach and this is a great piece of art and music -- but it's a thoughtful record and a statement. Listening to it made me hugely disappointed to remember that my chance of seeing him in NY again soon is slim.
 
Not sure if this has been mentioned here, but for my fellow Canadians Joel Ross - Who Are You? is finally up for pre-sale on Amazon.ca (for only $29 Canadian dollars...that’s a steal these days).
Looking forward to this. Kingmaker was one of my favourite albums from last year, although the vinyl pressing sucked. He's a fantastic live performer as well, really hope this is as good as his debut!
 
Does anyone know anything about this pressing and its quality? Does Not Now have a reputation at all?

Looks like Not Now Music releases are grey label. They use low res public domain digital files, without the consent of the original label or musician.

Impulse actually recently reissued the album as part of their Vital Vinyl Series, which had good reviews from what I have seen. Also a reasonable price. This might be your best bet here.
 
Cross post from the J Jazz thread.

So a guy called Pascal Saraiva, aka Skalap, mixed some of his favourite Japanese Jazz songs for KOL Radio. KOL Radio is a station for music fans of all kinds, with podcasts, DJ mixes, special feature programs and album profiles. There is jazz, rare groove, soul, world music and other genres, with shows presented in both English and Japanese.

I don't know this Skalap but I think you should give it a listen. It's called J-Jazz & Close Friends, Classics Vol.1 and it's on Mixcloud.


He hopes you'll enjoy :p
 
For those spinning original Mono presses (i.e. 50s - 60s) are you using a mono cart and setup?
I've done moderate reading online (I found this article terrific: Mono Vinyl Playback on a Modern Stereo Audio System | Deep Groove Mono but also dispiriting as it's firmly on the side of a proper mono setup.

I'm curious about experiences here in the forum as I'm starting to buy more originals (and am signing up for the RCM) -- but hesitate as I'm not sure how much more I'm willing to effort in means of switching out carts between records.

notes:
1. I own some (4-6) Blue Note and Verve mono originals currently, but have never heard them with a mono cart or amplification (button, cable)
2. I have a Technics coming (sometime between now and year end ish) and so will be able to do it with headshells
3. I think I'd need to replace my phono-preamp as nothing in my system has a mono button -- and I can't see myself doing both headshells and Y-cable -- but would love it if someone told me I was wrong
4. If I run two turntables in my apartment my wife will kill me in my sleep and sell off (or just pitch out the window) all of what she feels is clutter anyway

in the end, I love the idea of buying originals for about 30-50 titles -- probably not a lot more than that...but I know it is a slippery slope as I love the ones I own in terms of both holding history, sound, etc.

Flip side: I don't want to own "two" collections of records -- with one I don't really play
 
For those spinning original Mono presses (i.e. 50s - 60s) are you using a mono cart and setup?
I've done moderate reading online (I found this article terrific: Mono Vinyl Playback on a Modern Stereo Audio System | Deep Groove Mono but also dispiriting as it's firmly on the side of a proper mono setup.

I'm curious about experiences here in the forum as I'm starting to buy more originals (and am signing up for the RCM) -- but hesitate as I'm not sure how much more I'm willing to effort in means of switching out carts between records.

notes:
1. I own some (4-6) Blue Note and Verve mono originals currently, but have never heard them with a mono cart or amplification (button, cable)
2. I have a Technics coming (sometime between now and year end ish) and so will be able to do it with headshells
3. I think I'd need to replace my phono-preamp as nothing in my system has a mono button -- and I can't see myself doing both headshells and Y-cable -- but would love it if someone told me I was wrong
4. If I run two turntables in my apartment my wife will kill me in my sleep and sell off (or just pitch out the window) all of what she feels is clutter anyway

in the end, I love the idea of buying originals for about 30-50 titles -- probably not a lot more than that...but I know it is a slippery slope as I love the ones I own in terms of both holding history, sound, etc.

Flip side: I don't want to own "two" collections of records -- with one I don't really play
If it stresses you out like this, don't worry about it. You can play them just fine on a stereo cart without a mono button. If you are into getting more gear, go for it.

Even that site you link only seems to claim that the main benefit is reducing surface noise, which you can mostly avoid by getting clean copies. I have heard of vague sonic benefits, but they seem more subtle even described by their proponents.
 
For those spinning original Mono presses (i.e. 50s - 60s) are you using a mono cart and setup?
I've done moderate reading online (I found this article terrific: Mono Vinyl Playback on a Modern Stereo Audio System | Deep Groove Mono but also dispiriting as it's firmly on the side of a proper mono setup.

I'm curious about experiences here in the forum as I'm starting to buy more originals (and am signing up for the RCM) -- but hesitate as I'm not sure how much more I'm willing to effort in means of switching out carts between records.

notes:
1. I own some (4-6) Blue Note and Verve mono originals currently, but have never heard them with a mono cart or amplification (button, cable)
2. I have a Technics coming (sometime between now and year end ish) and so will be able to do it with headshells
3. I think I'd need to replace my phono-preamp as nothing in my system has a mono button -- and I can't see myself doing both headshells and Y-cable -- but would love it if someone told me I was wrong
4. If I run two turntables in my apartment my wife will kill me in my sleep and sell off (or just pitch out the window) all of what she feels is clutter anyway

in the end, I love the idea of buying originals for about 30-50 titles -- probably not a lot more than that...but I know it is a slippery slope as I love the ones I own in terms of both holding history, sound, etc.

Flip side: I don't want to own "two" collections of records -- with one I don't really play
Its something I considered looking into myself a while ago. I tend to aim for mono pressings of records but do not have a mono cart. After reading various blogs and posts online I decided against it for now. The monetary and time-consuming aspects of it all seem to outweigh the audio benefits to be honest. Unless you had a top of the range system to begin with (I'm happy with my system but its nowhere near the mega systems you see nowadays) im not sure how much of a difference you would hear.

Happy to be proven wrong (although my wallet wont be if it sparks another investigation) but thats my take.
 
The sound is great. The record is conscious, formal, and (as reviews have noted) carries a level of anguish. I've always found his playing intellectual, dense, and rich -- my first listens on this record left me with a sense of a strong artistic statement of sadness and frustration. That's likely influenced by all the current news (and reviews of the record), but it's hard not to hear it across a dense fighting rhythm section, a shout, and transition to a ballad that opens the record. His playing is tight, controlled, at times constricted or elongating -- notes and phrases less into dissonance but pushing for limits of expression. It's a record I'll spin more -- I love his approach and this is a great piece of art and music -- but it's a thoughtful record and a statement. Listening to it made me hugely disappointed to remember that my chance of seeing him in NY again soon is slim.
I had tickets to see him play with Jack DeJohnette, Gary Bartz and Tom Harrell back in March which got cancelled...I absolutely love his albums and wish more were readily available on vinyl. I've been searching for The Imagined Savior... on vinyl ever since I discovered him and despite it being a BN75, it's nearly impossible to find it seems (or when I do find it, it's over $100 which I don't want to spend on a BN75...)
 
Looks like Not Now Music releases are grey label. They use low res public domain digital files, without the consent of the original label or musician.

Impulse actually recently reissued the album as part of their Vital Vinyl Series, which had good reviews from what I have seen. Also a reasonable price. This might be your best bet here.

Looks like this is the same Vital Vinyl press on Amazon... Unless I'm mistaken. I really struggle with identifying things on Amazon due to their lack of info.
 
For those spinning original Mono presses (i.e. 50s - 60s) are you using a mono cart and setup?
I've done moderate reading online (I found this article terrific: Mono Vinyl Playback on a Modern Stereo Audio System | Deep Groove Mono but also dispiriting as it's firmly on the side of a proper mono setup.

I'm curious about experiences here in the forum as I'm starting to buy more originals (and am signing up for the RCM) -- but hesitate as I'm not sure how much more I'm willing to effort in means of switching out carts between records.

notes:
1. I own some (4-6) Blue Note and Verve mono originals currently, but have never heard them with a mono cart or amplification (button, cable)
2. I have a Technics coming (sometime between now and year end ish) and so will be able to do it with headshells
3. I think I'd need to replace my phono-preamp as nothing in my system has a mono button -- and I can't see myself doing both headshells and Y-cable -- but would love it if someone told me I was wrong
4. If I run two turntables in my apartment my wife will kill me in my sleep and sell off (or just pitch out the window) all of what she feels is clutter anyway

in the end, I love the idea of buying originals for about 30-50 titles -- probably not a lot more than that...but I know it is a slippery slope as I love the ones I own in terms of both holding history, sound, etc.

Flip side: I don't want to own "two" collections of records -- with one I don't really play
I've been tempted to try something to get mono sound as well. Mono cart is out of the question for me since I don't have a tonearm with swappable headshell. There's a guy on Hoffman who makes mono switches and people seem to rave about them. It goes between your preamp and your amp and doesn't have any electronics or anything so it shouldn't degrade sound at all. He also posted the schematics and part numbers if anybody wants to try to make their own. He has all sorts of different versions of them just with different sizes and layouts. I haven't gotten any because I don't really have enough mono pressings to justify it...but it is in the back of my mind to try it one day. People said that noise on mono records is drastically cut down when using the switch.

0ZlM8bC.jpg
 
I've been tempted to try something to get mono sound as well. Mono cart is out of the question for me since I don't have a tonearm with swappable headshell. There's a guy on Hoffman who makes mono switches and people seem to rave about them. It goes between your preamp and your amp and doesn't have any electronics or anything so it shouldn't degrade sound at all. He also posted the schematics and part numbers if anybody wants to try to make their own. He has all sorts of different versions of them just with different sizes and layouts. I haven't gotten any because I don't really have enough mono pressings to justify it...but it is in the back of my mind to try it one day. People said that noise on mono records is drastically cut down when using the switch.

0ZlM8bC.jpg
Wow, his prices have gone up a lot! Super easy to make yourself if you have a soldering iron.

Where are they recommending you put this switch again? I remember I was going to build one, but talking to the guys at Bottle head, who seemed to think at least putting it between the cart and phono stage was a bad idea, I decided against it.

Edit: sorry, I saw you said between preamp and amp. That might be better. My only "pre" is my phono stage now and they advised against using it after it, but I think that was based on the specific circuit of it not necessarily a general rule. I guess I could hack open my integrated!

I tried to bring up some of these technical concerns that they raised on sh.tv and it is the only post I've had deleted by mods.
 
Wow, his prices have gone up a lot! Super easy to make yourself if you have a soldering iron.

Where are they recommending you put this switch again? I remember I was going to build one, but talking to the guys at Bottle head, who seemed to think at least putting it between the cart and phono stage was a bad idea, I decided against it.
I believe people said you should put this between your preamp and your amp. His prices are higher than they used to be but for $50, it's still cheaper/easier than buying all the parts and soldering iron. I'd probably go for the #6.
 
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