It seems like there’s always some hot-button issue for audiophiles to debate. For the last couple of years, it was the ability to play high-resolution (176.4 or 192kHz/24-bit) computer-audio music files. Now it’s almost impossible ...

From the meltingly beautiful “A Song for You” to the raucous closer “Roll Away the Stone,” this is an essential album from the master of Delta blues/ rock. I don’t own the original CD, but ...

Did you ever think about the possibility of “reading” record grooves? Well, neither did I until my wife and I attended a New Year’s Eve party with several physician colleagues and their wives around 1980. ...

Seventy years after the fact, the argument about whether Artie Shaw was a better clarinetist than his arch-rival Benny Goodman continues to smolder. Clarinetists themselves are often awe- struck by Shaw’s impeccable tone and control, ...

Bud Powell is often described as the man who first adopted Charlie Parker’s style to the piano, but this is simplistic. Parker didn’t invent modern jazz on his own: he was, rather, the central figure ...

Ron Rambach, the head of Music Matters, Ltd., is a man on a mission. Talk to him about jazz and his gravelly voice starts to quiver palpably. This, friends, is a man who doesn’t just ...

For longtime Robert Wyatt fans, an album recorded with a string quartet (led by British violinist Ros Stephen), acoustic bass, and miscellaneous reeds (played by UK jazzer Gilad Atzmon) should come as no surprise. But ...

The Fat Cat Jazz Band takes its name from a Manhattan club where this eleven- piece aggregate has its regular Sunday gig. Face is the group’s third release in just over a year, all recorded ...

December 16, 2013 — Austin, TX: The Absolute Sound’s latest online Buyer’s Guide is available and ready for download in a convenient PDF. This free Buyer’s Guide is a comprehensive review that helps audiophiles and ...

It’s nice to see this landmark record get the deluxe reissue treatment from Speakers Corner. Kenny Burrell has always named this at or near the top of the recordings he’s most proud of, and it’s ...

Something has happened in the world of jazz while the rest of the world wasn’t looking, and the music Jason Robinson presents on this, his seventh album, typifies the way contemporary musicians have blurred the ...

Since emigrating from Japan in 1999, pianist Hiromi Uehara has explored everything from acoustic piano trio to high-powered fusion to intimate solo and duet projects, each highlighting her abundant chops and good taste. Lately she’s ...

A work-in-progress since releasing the first of its five studio albums in 1999, Tin Hat blends tango, Eastern European, country-and-western, and other musical idioms into a readily identifiable ensemble sound. When Rob Burger (accordion, keyboards) ...

Say the name Bing Crosby and most people immediately register “White Christmas.” Scratch a little deeper beneath the surface and you might come up with select tunes from the 1956 film High Society (notably “Now ...

New Orleans drummer and bandleader Stanton Moore leads a red-hot soul-jazz organ trio with keyboardist Robert Walter and guitarist Will Bernard. The music is cut from the same cloth as Medeski, Martin & Wood, and ...