Audiophile Audition

by | Jul 10, 2026 | Jazz CD Reviews, SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews | Funk fusion at its best… (Roger Glenn – flute, alto & bass flute, vibes; Mark Soskin – Fender Rhodes electric piano, acoustic piano, clavinet, Mini-Moog, ARP String Ensemble; Larry Mizell – Fender Rhodes electric piano, ARP String Ensemble; Ray Obiedo – electric and acoustic guitar; Paul Jackson – electric bass; Gaylord Birch – drums; Bill Summers – congas, bata, percussion; Babu Duru – bata; Moodi Peters – bata; Eric Young –...

A bluegrass supergroup geta a vinyl upgrade. (Ricky Skaggs – lead vocals, mandolin, fiddle guitar; Jerry Douglas – Dobro, vocals; Wes Golding – lead vocals, guitars; Terry Baucom – banjo, fiddle, vocals) When Boone Creek formed in 1976, the band was considered one of the first bluegrass supergroups. Headed by the 23-year old prodigy Ricky Skaggs (guitar, mandolin, fiddle), he was joined by Jerry Douglas (Dobro), Wes Golding (guitar), Terry Baucom (banjo) and a few bass players.

by | Jul 6, 2026 | Classical CD Reviews, Classical Reissue Reviews | Audio restoration engineer and producer Lani Spahr has once more delved into the Sir Thomas Beecham concert archives to unearth excerpts from two distinct appearances at Royal Festival Hall, 7 May 1955 (Berlioz) and 17 December 1958 (Wagner). Along with Sir Hamilton Harty and (later) Sir Colin Davis, Beecham proved a most ardent acolyte of the music of Hector Berlioz.

(Oscar Peterson – piano; Ray Brown – bass; Ed Thigpen – drums) Oscar Peterson (1925-2007) has been hailed as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. Said to rival Art Tatum in technique and melodic skills, raised in Montreal as a child prodigy, he was introduced to American audiences by Norman Granz, in the Jazz at the Philharmonic series of concerts beginning in 1949.

by | Jul 1, 2026 | Pop/Rock/World CD Reviews, SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews | Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab’s sonic vinyl upgrade to Van Halen’s monumental 1984 album is superb! (Alex Van Halen – drums, percussion, background vocals; David Lee Roth – vocals; Edward Van Halen – guitars, keyboards, background vocals; Michael Anthony – bass, background vocals) Rock music hit a zenith in 1984.

by | Jul 1, 2026 | Classical CD Reviews, Classical Reissue Reviews | Eminent conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra George Szell (1987-1970) delivered three subscription concerts in New York’s Carnegie Hall in mid-December 1950, the 14th, 15th, and 17th, featuring music by Casella, but more significantly, an uncut version of Bruckner’s 1882 Eighth Symphony.Here we have the Sunday broadcast, an intensely forward-driven reading of Bruckner’s most problematic symphonic work, insofar as the...

by | Jun 29, 2026 | Classical CD Reviews | Father and son duo Mark and David Kaplan recorded the three Brahms violin sonatas 14-16 June 2014, the fine sound of Mark Kaplan’s 1685 Stradivarius (“the Marquis”) and David Kaplan’s Yamaha piano captured by Producer Eric Silberger.From the outset of the 1879 “Rain” Sonata in G Major, the gentle nostalgia of the opening Vivace ma non troppo projectsa thin, direct nasal tone that often reminds me of the sound from Joseph Szigeti’s instrument.

by | Jun 29, 2026 | Classical CD Reviews | What this present album lacks in quantity may compensate in quality, when we consider the aesthetics of the occasion. Saint-Saens’ Third Symphony (1886) offers a challenge in balances, given that the organ serves an obbligato function along with the dual pianos, essentially brilliant, color elements.

An exquisite guitar & bass duet CD… (Ron Carter – upright bass; Yotam Silberstein – guitars) At age 89, iconic jazz bassist, Ron Carter, is the elder statesman of all living bass players. At last count, he has played on over 2200 (!) albums, and is easily the most recorded bassist in jazz history. His solo career spans over sixty years, and a shorter list could be compiled of who he has not played with, than who he has accompanied.

by | Jun 23, 2026 | Classical CD Reviews | I well remember my first encounter with the longest, perhaps most cosmic of all symphonies in the classical repertory: Mahler’s Third, D Minor Symphony (1895-1896), led by James Levine with his Chicago Symphony Orchestra, whose first movement did not fit onto the RCA vinyl disc and had to be continued on the next side! And the music – a six-movement monolith devoted to a pantheistic or eschatological exploration of Nature and Being – as if Nietzsche...