Audiophile Audition

Jazz brass fans-Rejoice!… (Art Farmer – flugelhorn; complete credits listed below) If you love jazz brass in large settings, you can do no better than owning Art Farmer’s Listen to Art Farmer And The Orchestra. Recorded in 1963, and using the incredible arranging skills of Oliver Nelson, this masterpiece was a “one-off” experiment in putting together a “who’s who” of simply the best available jazz musicians in a recording studio, to present an album that swings hard in a sophisticated setting.

Chrysalis Records releases a 3-LP box of rare session material from The Waterboys! (Mike Scott – guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals; Steve Wickham – fiddle, electric mandolin; Trevor Hutchinson – bass; Anthony “Anto” Thistlewhistle – tenor saxophone, mandolin, horns, electric mandolin, Hammond organ; Dave Ruffy – drums; Liz Werner – drums, Colin Blaklely – piano; Frank Lane – pedals steel guitar; Noel Bridgman – drums; Jay Dee Daugherty – drums; Pete McKinney – drums; Aaron Ahmum – drums...

How shall I describe Georges Bizet’s 1867 opera La jolie fille de Perth: as a four-act assemblage of melodramatic, chivalric clichés mitigated by moments of exquisite, lyrical inspiration. Based on the 1828 novel by Sir Walter Scott, the true weakness of this infrequent opera lies in its inane libretto, by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jules Adenis, rife with stock situations and improbable circumstances.

Jazz royalty shine on superb audiophile vinyl!… (Lester Young – tenor sax, metal clarinet; Harry “Sweets” Edison – trumpet; Roy Eldridge – trumpet; Hank Jones – piano; Herb Ellis – guitar; George Duvivier – bass; Mickey Sheen – drums) On one of the most recent Verve Acoustic Sounds Series issues, the label honors jazz royalty of the highest level.

by | Aug 4, 2026 | Jazz CD Reviews, SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews | This is another valuable addition to the Verve/Acoustic Sound Series. (Shelly Manne – drums; Coleman Hawkins – tenor saxophone, piano; Hank Jones – piano; Eddie Costa – piano, vibes; George Duvivier – double bass) When Shelly Manne first started, he embraced big band and bebop styles. After moving to Los Angeles, he became an influential part off the emerging West Coast Jazz scene.

by | Aug 4, 2026 | Jazz CD Reviews, SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews | Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab releases a dazzling audiophile vinyl of Donald Fagen’s 1993 futuristic solo album! (Donald Fagen – keyboards, arrangements;  complete credits listed below) Donald Fagen and Walter Becker met at college and eventually formed Steely Dan in 1970, While musically influenced byrock and r & b, the band expanded to other genres, including soul, jazz and even country.

Honoring the birth centenary of Oscar Brown, Jr- Vocalist, Amber Weekes shows the love… (Amber Weekes – vocals; with special guests Paul Jackson, Jr – guitar; Mark Cargill – violin; Tony Campdonico – piano; Adam “Aejaye” Jackson – vocals; Keith Fiddmont – saxophone; Glen Berger – saxophone; Scotty Barnhart – trumpet) To say that Oscar Brown, Jr. was multi- talented is a true understatement.

by | Aug 2, 2026 | Classical CD Reviews | Recorded in Berlin, February 20-22 and March 3-4, 2025, this recital by Alexander Malofeev (b. 2001) pays homage to four Russian composers – Mikhail Glinka (1804-1852), Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951), Alexander Glazunov (1865-1935) and Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) – all emigrés who died far from home. Malofeev himself lives in self-imposed exile, having objected to the morality issues of the invasion of Ukraine.

by | Jul 30, 2026 | Classical CD Reviews | French pianist Adam Laloum (b. 1987) studied with Michel Beroff and Evgeni Koroliov, so Laloum comes to the music of Robert Schumann legitimately.Recorded in September 2024, this recital has the distinction of the full set of Schumann’s 1839 eight Novellettes, little “Clara Wieck stories” or maerchen, imaginative settings meant to console the ardent Schumann, who impatiently sought to wed Clara in spite of her father’s opposition.

by | Jul 25, 2026 | Classical CD Reviews | Pianist Yunchan Lim presented J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations for his Carnegie Hall concert of 25 April 2025, a feat that, via recordings, has become synonymous with comparisons: Glenn Gould in 1956, and various interpreters of international stature, like Maria Tipo, Rosalyn Tureck, Jorg Demus, and Daniel Barenboim.