I've picked up some new albums from Acoustic Sounds that I think you jazz cats will enjoy. First up is the 45 RPM Bill Evans Paris Concert Edition 1 from the Original Recordings Group (ORG), which was recorded live at L'espace Cardin in Paris, France, November 1979, about 10 months before Bill's death in September 1980. The album... Read More »

This has been a busy weekend for me, and I'm finally getting a chance to just sit down this evening and listen to music and relax, just for the fun of it. At this moment I have no reviews I'm thinking about, no listening impressions to record, no other duties of any kind, I'm just listening... Read More »

It was a lot of fun to have Rafe (Part-Time Audiophile) and Don visit Jeff's Place over the weekend, and we covered a lot of ground musically, sonically, and philosophically. From a musical perspective we did a little bit of a survey of the recording arts, starting with some very early mono recordings, progressing through... Read More »

The Woody SPU Tonearm by Pete Riggle Audio Engineering absolutely blows away my excellent Thomas Schick tonearm, much to my dismay! I've been listening for an extended period now, back and forth, on my Garrard Project 2015 player system, to my reference Thomas Schick tonearm and the Woody SPU tonearm, and it is no contest. The Woody... Read More »

Here's another of The Jeff Awards for 2015, and these are all things that I personally use and enjoy, and I think you'll like them a lot too. It also happens that most of these are relatively affordable gift ideas that will fit into a Christmas stocking, so the 12 Days of Christmas Stocking Stuffers Award... Read More »

I just received my latest vinyl fix from Acoustic Sounds (and in case you are wondering, these aren't freebie samples, I buy them at full retail price just like you do). My order for this paycheck was Mobile Fidelity's 45RPM version of Rickie Lee Jones' first album, Rickie Lee Jones; Mobile Fidelity's 45RPM version of Miles Davis' Kind Of... Read More »

It's always tough for me to narrow down my award choices for Positive Feedback during the annual call for the Writers' Choice Awards, so I'm starting something new: The Jeff Awards. The Jeff Awards will include the best hi-fi equipment from my formal reviews, honorable mentions of gear that hasn't been formally reviewed, and recognition for notable albums... Read More »

I just got back from the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2015 in Denver, Colorado. Kudos to Marjorie and everyone else involved, they really did a great job of putting on the show! It's been quite a while since I've ventured out to an audio show. I got burned out on them years ago, but I... Read More »

Most of you probably know Chad Kassem as the founder of Acoustic Sounds, Inc., the superb Analogue Productions record label, the Blue Heaven Studios recording studio, and most recently the Quality Record Pressings record pressing facility (there's a nice overview on Wikipedia) Thursday, when I went back to my office after a meeting, the light... Read More »

I always love the weekends, when I get a chance to cook up some fine food, listen to music, play hi-fi games, go for a bicycle ride, and just generally kick back and enjoy life! I invited my Mom & Dad over for dinner and some music listening (Mom's 90, and Dad's 92). I grilled... Read More »

It's been a hectic time, and I haven't been able to post as much as I'd like over the last few weeks, so I thought I'd tell you about a number of things at once to make up for lost time, like vintage Western Electric WE24GA wire, some delicious vintage phono cartridges, some music 'scores', and... Read More »

"Nobody is going to believe what we're hearing from your Westminsters with this Western Electric internal wiring," said Ron, "it's hard to put into words how good it sounds." Ron and I just spent Sunday morning and a good part of the afternoon rewiring my Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers with vintage Western Electric WE16GA wire from Mr.... Read More »

It was on August 15, 1965, that my Mom took me to see Louis Armstrong in a parking lot concert at the Lloyd Center Mall in Portland, Oregon. Exactly 50 years ago today. It made a huge impression on me, and I've loved jazz ever since. So today, 50 years later, we celebrated the good... Read More »

I ordered four albums from Acoustic Sounds to get my vinyl fix for the week: First up was the 45 RPM ORG reissue of Charles Mingus' Mingus Ah Um that my buddy Leo brought over for me to listen to. After hearing it, I knew it was a must have for my jazz collection. The combination of... Read More »

I spent the last week in Chicago for a work review at Fermilab and Argonne, and since man cannot live on neutrinos alone, one of our gracious hosts - William - put on an awesome Chicago pizza extravaganza for us one night that was a blast! Many thanks to William! It also meant that upon... Read More »

I like to bring my Mom & Dad over to visit on the weekend, fix them a nice dinner, and spend some time catching up. They've been through a hard time the last few years, starting with when my Dad took a bad fall at home, ended up in the hospital, then a skilled nursing facility,... Read More »

If you've been following the blog posts here at Jeff's Place, you know that I asked Mr. Yazaki-san if he would tell us some of his thoughts about "Real Sound", and I'm very pleased to be able to share with you what he has written. Here's what Mr. Yazaki-san has written for us about "Real Sound": Dedicated to my... Read More »

There's nothing quite as satisfying as an impromptu listening session on a Friday afternoon with good friends like Ron and Leo. Ron always brings over a nice French wine, and Leo a very tasty vino from Napa (Ron's French Bordeaux was a 2009, and Leo's Napa Cabernet Sauvignon a 2005!). It's great to have friends with... Read More »

The guys over at Better Records offer records they call Hot Stampers, which are records that they have selected by ear that they say are much better sounding than the average pressing from any given run, or of the many available versions of a given album. The Better Records guys fan the flames of debate by dissing... Read More »

One of the resources I've found handy to figure out if a recording is in glorious mono is Discogs, where you can look up every version of an album, and more often than not, figure out if an album is in mono or stereo. Take the Chet is Back! album from ORG Music that I was... Read More »

My friend Leo sent me a message yesterday saying, "I found some Johnny Smith albums, I thought I'd drop them by if you're around." What a great guy! My friend Leo knows how much I love those old Johnny Smith albums on the Roost Records label, and when he's out and about he picks them up for me when... Read More »

If you read my Kindred Spirit post, you'll remember that as Mr. Yazaki-san was discussing the 'capacitor adventure' we are doing with my vintage McIntosh MC30 monaural amplifiers, he said: "Well, I think my inspirations also come from confidence in the thought that, Jeff-san’s hearing sense would be very close to mine. I understand Jeff-san... Read More »

You know, I've never paid that much attention to whether the vinyl in my collection was mono or stereo, as it really didn't matter much to me, because in the past I was only listening with a stereo phono cartridge, like my EMT TSD-15 or Denon DL 103. But these days, every time I pull out a... Read More »