Los Angeles, CA (February 6, 2024)—Craft Recordings proudly announces the launch of Bluesville Records—a new reissue series that celebrates America’s bedrock music genre, as well as the trailblazing musicians that contributed to its rich traditions. Inspired by the original Bluesville imprint (launched by Prestige Records in 1959 to preserve the hallowed genre and capture its most important living figures), the series is intended to appeal to blues enthusiasts of all... Read More

Here's coverage of days 2 and 3 of the Florida International Audio Expo. This truly was an international Expo as you'll see. Products were on display from everywhere from Latvia to the U.K. to France, Canada, Finland, Austria, Czech Republic, Vietnam and Denmark.Product prices were equally wide-ranging. There was something for everyone at the show, though there was less analog and vinyl than hoped for.Loudspeakers were as usual an important part of the show... Read More

As reported in our previous RSD listing, this year's Record Store Day will be filled with many worthwhile treasures covering every genre. Best of all for some of us, Record Store Day, April 20th this year, does not conflict with AXPONA, which this year is April 12th-14th. The above hyperlinked article lists the Chet Baker/Jack Sheldon release below, and references another pair of Zev Feldman Cannonball Addlerley releases not included, for one reason or another,... Read More

One of my favorite classical records of the last few years is Impex Records’ stunning reissue of violinist Jascha Heifetz and cellist Gregor Piatigorsky’s Beethoven Op. 1 trio on RCA (LSC-2770). This often overlook record originally released on the much-maligned RCA Dynagroove label has been brought back to life, sounding worlds away from the compressed original.I had secretly hoped the label would be dipping its toes back into the RCA classical waters, but I think... Read More

When someone has worked with a Beatle, they've no doubt reached a certain career pinnacle. It may be in film, audio, art, or elsewhere, it doesn’t matter what field, Beatles don’t work with folks who are second best. When it comes to music, however, this is Mt. Everest. To be given the opportunity to create music with a Beatle is what rock and roll dreams are made of. As an added bonus, you can be sure that the contributions you’ve made to the recording will be... Read More

John Marks comes clean about his former indifference to the music of Gustav Mahler!

The obi says the Adderley/Evans "reunion" was "Cannonball"'s idea, something I didn't know when I picked up a Japanese repress for $3.98 at Record Surplus back in the mid-80s during the era of the great "vinyl record replacement dump"—and what a great time it was for those who recognized the CD folly for what it was!The cover shot doesn't have Julian appearing all that happy posing with his horn in front of some art that... Read More

Press release: In the trio format he’s favored throughout his career, the guitarist and composer Bill Frisell has always projected an orchestral scope through his remarkably complete sense of harmony, a unique gift for melodies that remain with you long after a performance, and a keen feel for how dynamic range can be used to convey emotion. But on his new double album Orchestras, which comes out April 19 on Blue Note Records, he makes those symphonic evocations a... Read More

Romanel, Switzerland – 23 February 2024—The Swiss company announces the introduction of a new turntable. The Reference turntable joins the limited edition Reference Anniversary turntable in Nagra’s flagship Reference line of products. Nagra Reference turntable highlights are:· Massive 25lb. Swiss made CNC machined, dual decoupled, super-cap motor drive system· Spheroidal graphite iron shaft/bearing housing · Maintenance free sintered bronze, high temp/pressure oil... Read More

After some constructive feedback, Tracking Angle is excited to implement a new reader comments formatting system. Our comments section now supports Markdown, an incredibly easy markup language that anyone can quickly learn. With this formatting system, your multi-paragraph comments section essays might help draw an audience, rather than being a massive wall of text that elicits the response of “too long; didn’t read.” Here’s a simple guide to using Markdown when writing comments:

If the task is to compare five releases of an album, which it is here, at least it should be an album worth repeated listenings, and of course Ballads is, though it's not up there with Coltrane's greatest recorded achievements. It can't be beat as a Coltrane intro record for non-jazz fans who need the melody. For the rest of us, while Coltrane's playing is straight ahead and wonderfully lyrical, McCoy Tyner center stage wraps his fingers around the... Read More

We live in a clickbait, hype-infested, hyperbolic, anything goes commercial world—even when it comes to medicine. You can buy a brush-on cure for "toe fungus". Of course, there's no such thing as "toe fungus". There's toe nail fungus that no brush on liquid cures but these telemarketing geniuses have conflated the two and are probably raking it in from people who think they can now brush away gross looking, thick yellow, fungus-infested... Read More

Trio Fascination: Edition One—a 1997 piano-less trio session, newly mastered on two LPs as part of Blue Note’s Tone Poet series—is a magical album. First, the trio itself—Joe Lovano on various reeds, Dave Holland on bass, Elvin Jones on drums—was a one-time-only combo, the likes of which remains nearly unparalleled. Second, the music (all but one track composed by Lovano) is original, almost inexplainable, yet very accessible. Finally, the fact that this reissue... Read More

"The sourcing for the vinyl was mastered digital files. This was necessary as this release was a compilation of masters from various album releases. The Sources for the creation of the files were the original analog masters, where the recordings were analog, and Digital masters, where the original recordings were digitally recorded. The remastering was done by Bob Ludwig at Gateway mastering, with some additional mastering done by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman mastering. Chris also did the disc cutting. The vinyl is being pressed on 180g at GZ/Memphis."

So now, let me tell you why High Definition Tape Transfer’s stunning first-release downloads, based upon Jerry Bruck’s experimental session tapes from more than 50 years ago, is a “Must Buy” recommendation if you love the music of Gustav Mahler. (However, the same holds true, even if all you want is to hear your stereo system sounding as though it is worth all the money you have put into it!)