Chicago, IL 12/12/2023 – Music Hall, the well-known audio brand recognized for offering high-quality yet affordable audio components and turntables, announces a change in ownership. Turntable USA, a new venture led by industry veterans James Davis, Norbert Schmied, and Jonathan Derda, has acquired the Music Hall brand. This transition secures Music Hall's mission started by founder Roy Hall, delivering high-quality audio to music lovers at fair prices. Roy Hall... Read More

Producer Nesuhi Ertegun suggested to Charles Mingus that he record a blues album. Obviously not a "my woman done up and left me" kind of "woe is me" blues album, but rather one that plied the dark, turbulent but often joyful waters in which Mingus navigated.In one interview with Ertegun Mingus said, “What I’m trying to play is very difficult, because I’m trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason why it’s difficult — it’s not difficult to... Read More

Backed by the all-star rhythm section of drummer Johnathan Blake, bassist Joe Martin and veteran pianist Kenny Barron, saxophonist Jerome Sabbagh steps up to the microphone and puts to analog tape his finest, most fully realized recorded musical performances. The quartet meshes as if it's been touring all year.The album title and title track as well as the cover and rear photos telegraph that what you'll be hearing is strictly "old school" straight... Read More

Author and Beatles historian Kenneth Womack releases the first of two volumes centered around the life of Beatles manager Mal Evans

Just in time for the holidays, A Lovesome Thing—pianist Geri Allen and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel playing duets at the Philharmonie de Paris on Sept. 5, 2012, for nearly an hour, five tunes, mainly standards, unrehearsed—is a welcome and ravishing balm.The two had played together just once before—the previous July, when Allen briefly sat in with Rosenwinkel’s quartet at the Jazz Standard—and never together as a duo. Yet they make a perfect fit, Allen’s lush chords,... Read More

In the autumn of 1973, I walked into an audio store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, intending to buy an album. As I entered the store, I could hear James Taylor's music playing from a pair of Rogers LS3/5A loudspeakers. At that time, I owned a Marantz 1060 and AR 3a loudspeakers that I had used during my college days in Boulder, Colorado. I was instantly captivated by the sound that day, and this singular moment initiated me on a lifelong pursuit to experience those... Read More

September 3rd marked the 20th anniversary of the physical passing of Johnny Cash due to complications from diabetes. Several events and products acknowledge his ongoing legacy. A new live experience starring Johnny Cash launched in October. Johnny Cash — The Official Concert Experience brings songs and stories from the Man in Black to the stage in a new way, using video performances, words, and stories from his ABC series The Johnny Cash Show, backed by a live band... Read More

Bunny Wailer (1947-2021) was born Neville O'Riley Livingston in Kingston, Jamaica. At age eight he moved to the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish where he met Bob Marley. The two boys were raised by single parents and when Bunny's father, "Toddy" Livingston fell in love with Bob's mother, Cedella, the two adults moved back to Kingston, with Bunny and Bob being raised together.The WailersIn the early 1960's Bob and Bunny were... Read More

Tracking Angle's second and final long form video shot at Capital Audio Festival 2023, November 10-12th begins with a lot of VPI coverage because VPI brought a whole lotta turntables to the show—probably every model currently manufactured. How do they keep tabs on their SKU's?Then it's on to Sikora in the CommandAV room, Genesis Audio Technologies' new "no holds barred" cartridge, Haniwa's new tonearm and super low internal impedance... Read More

The first ever international convention dedicated to disk recording and mastering was held in Halkidiki, Greece, in the summer of 2023. Among those that attended the event was the CEO of the Polygram pressing plant in Greece, one of the mastering engineers from the Columbia facility in the country (the first pressing plant in this region of the world, which started in the 1930s), mastering engineers and the head of mastering from Abbey Road Studios in London, UK, lathe technicians and service engineers from England and the USA, record label executives and mastering engineers from various cutting rooms from around Europe, as well as several people currently involved in manufacturing essential components to keep record cutting lathes around the world in operation.

Sullivan Fortner is best known as singer Cécile McLorin Salvant’s main pianist, but he was dazzling New York jazz aficionados for a few years before that gig materialized, and, like Salvant, he keeps getting better—more imaginative, more ambitious, more open to taking big risks. His latest, Solo Game (Artwork Records), is two very different albums in a single two-CD set. The first, Solo, is an acoustic-piano solo session, covering a wide array of jazz and pop... Read More

It's few and far between for a song by an unknown artist with no label distribution to premiere on television. When “Jar of Hearts” premiered on "So You Think You Can Dance" in June 2010, the stars aligned for Christina Perri. The Philadelphia-based singer-songwriter penned the song amidst a breakup with a former flame, longing to piece together what was no longer salvageable. Its hook-heavy arrangement and universal lyrical sentiment struck a chord in... Read More

It's that time of year when we take a moment to consider what's been going on in our corner of the world. In this particular corner of the audiophile and music-loving world, that means classical music. A lot has happened in 2023, and Tracking Angle takes a moment to consider what it all means for the present and future of recorded classical music. The biggest development of the year has to have been the arrival of the Deutsche Grammophon Original Source Series of stunning AAA vinyl reissues. These go from strength to strength, bringing in new listeners to classical music. Plus we have some suggestions for Xmas gifts - some obvious, some less so. All things considered, there's rarely been a better time for both the novice classical listener and the seasoned collector. Deck the Halls Indeed!

And here we have it: the most pathetic vinyl reissue of the year. It’s not the worst, but it’s the most pathetic because of how great it almost was. Like the recent Swordfishtrombones reissue, this edition of Tom Waits’ excellent 1992 album Bone Machine subjects an excellent remaster to a painfully mediocre lacquer cut. It really makes you wonder if anyone’s actually listening to these test pressings, or considering the vinyl market’s long-term viability.Earlier this... Read More

This year's CAF differed from past shows I’ve attended in Rockville, Md. Not the show itself, but my impressions. I think it was my 4th CAF. That’s not as many visits as some reviewers and audiophiles, but enough for the show to take on a mission for me. I’ve always enjoyed this show; the 2023 edition was my favorite.In previous CAFs (calves?), even as I knew intellectually most systems are in poor-sounding hotel rooms, I don’t think I sufficiently factored that... Read More