I finally got around to watching some of the things that had been piling up from Netflixs. One of them was Tom Dowd and the Language Of Music. The description is a little misleading: “Rarely do we get a chance to see a feature-length documentary about a true unsung hero. Tom Dowd was an innovative [Continue]

CNN has an interesting article: “The more than 200,000 records represented the entire inventory of “Records Revisited,” a landmark Manhattan store owned by Morton Savada, who died in February of lung cancer at age 85. The collection, valued at $1 million, weighs 50 tons and represents more than a half-century of American music [Continue]

I came across this website: New from musician, author, journalist Ben Sidran, Talking Jazz includes an eighty page booklet with essays from writers, critics and musicians, classic photos from Lee Tanner, and 24 compact discs featuring conversations with 60 jazz greats, recorded during a five year period for Sidran’s award winning NPR program [Continue]

Here is a review of the forementioned John Coltrane Reference Book. Porter combines meticulous scholarship with an eye for telling details, the revealing and necessary details about Coltrane’s life and music that constantly open up new perspectives. There is no gratuitous quoting of literary figures irrelevant to Coltrane, or bizarre [Continue]

I don’t know about you, but this is disturbing: Matt Mullenweg, lead developer of the open-source WordPress blogging software, last night celebrated a $25 million “bonus” from investors by purchasing a $1 million Louis Armstrong trumpet, which he plans to use as a fruit bowl. There are a lot of things a trumpet used by [Continue]

Found a very interesting article about how MP3 compression came about. It is, at times, rather techie, but very interesting none the less. But what is MP3? The usual explanations usually take one of two forms. The long version, available in technical papers, is written in jargon and filled with math. The short version, often [Continue]

Wired magazine has a very interesting interview with Herbie Hancock out. Way too short of an interview. But some interesting insights from the piano master. [Continue]

It is sad that one of the great makers of mouthpieces and horns has messed up everything. From a Newsday Article: “David Guardala is sort of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the saxophone world, according to federal prosecutors and some of those he is accused of swindling. As of yesterday, Guardala was in [Continue]

Blender.com, a great music music site, published a great list in 2003 of “The 50 Worst Artists In Music History“. While I don’t agree about #16, Oingo Boingo, I do agree with #4, Kenny G. "Hated equally by jazz and rock fans, Kenny Gorelick's limpid instrumentals and obsequious cameos helped turn the soprano sax solo [Continue]

The Department of Special Collections at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) Davidson Library recently placed online, with free access, over 5000 sound recordings as part of its Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project. These recordings date from the 1890′s to the 1920′s, all transfered from Edison cylinders using [Continue]

This is perhaps the best thing I have read in a while. It is the commencement speech given to Stanford graduates by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Great words to live by. Update: 06/20 01:27 GMT by E :Found the actual speech. Enclosed is a PDF of the speech. Steve Job’s Commencement Speech at Stanford [Continue]

From an AP Article: John Coltrane's saxophone. Dizzy Gillespie's bent trumpet. Lionel Hampton's vibraphone. These were among a treasure trove of 450 pieces of jazz memorabilia that will be auctioned Sunday. Sunday's auction -- with a public preview Saturday -- is being held at the new home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, in the Time [Continue]

Someone sent me a cool link saying that a 1.6 million renovation of Louis Armstrong’s house has been completed. If you haven’t seen the Official Site of the Louis Armstrong House and Archives, you should. Take a tour, or a video tour and make sure you check out the bathroom that is all mirrors! [Continue]

Digital Prosound is an interesting website that sometimes has articles worth reading. The first is a brief but informative article about “Capsule Technology and Types“. A good read about what microphones are made of. The second is about PreAmps. This again pertains to microphones. The general opinion in various books and articles I [Continue]

When the CD was launched twenty years ago many people believed the format wouldn’t last. Audiophiles lamented the introduction of digital recordings, protesting that they did not capture the complete sound wave. Initially, CD players were expensive when compared with turntables of a comparative quality. However the CD was a success, largely [Continue]