Some of Tom Waits, if you can handle his whiskey-soaked voice, lol. This album is essentially jazz; Waits is backed by a jazz trio including the great Shelly Manne.

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Thank you, I shall certainly check it out; I discovered him via The Wire - Way down in the hole is a classic.

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In the meantime, from an Amazon review:

"The Small Change vocals are the Maginot Line for me. Any raspier and I can't listen. If I were stranded on a desert island and I could take only one Waits album, it would be Small Change. If I could take two, it would be Small Change and Heart of Saturday Night. If I could take three, I would pass and take an extra pair of underwear."

Also read this:

"Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding as though "it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car".

LOL.

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Veronica Swift is a gifted young jazz vocalist, 2nd place winner of the Thelonious Monk competition a couple of years ago. No CDs yet, but rough mixes of her upcoming release are on SoundCloud, search for Unlimited Myles.



https://www.veronicaswift.com

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In my recent blues music trawl, I came across the digital remaster of what reportedly is the only performance together of two greats - Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.

The remaster brings the sound quality right up to date, without suffering the over production present in the last of the Armstrong albums. Sublime music. Armstrong has never been in better voice and Ellington is solid in support as is the rest of the band. Does anyone know who else is on the horns?

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Fado was defined by Amália Rodriguez. Perhaps the best of today's Fadistas is Cristina Branco. She sticks to the traditions of this great art form, instead of trying to make it on one of the dreadful Europop contests, as other Fadistas have done in recent years.

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The king of Tango.

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Nice picture again Chicks. Man that Kenwood has a lot of knobs and switches.



Of course the thing looks bullet proof but I always had trouble with old receivers and the buttons/switches getting staticy etc. and messing things up.

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Nice picture again Chicks. Man that Kenwood has a lot of knobs and switches.



Of course the thing looks bullet proof but I always had trouble with old receivers and the buttons/switches getting staticy etc. and messing things up.



That's the easiest thing to fix. DeOxit spray, and they're good for another 10 years. The main power caps on this rarest of rare Kennys were leaky, $100 just for 4 replacements. Need to know how to troubeshoot, desolder and solder in this hobby, or it gets expensive. Can keep these classics running for many years,

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Hey where were you when all mine kept messing up 20 years ago. I'm horrible at Soldering! Horrible I say!

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Ali Akbar Khan is a nice turn for this thread; I prefer the sarod that he plays over the better known sitar for its sweeter sound. Another sarod great is Amjad Ali Khan: if you can find him playing Raga Durga, it is a must listen. 30 minutes or so of musical heaven building up slowly to its climax.

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A little music for Cinco de Mayo.

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Stéphane Grappelli started out in the 30s in Paris with Django and The Quintet of the Hot Club of France. The Gypsy Jazz style they invented has never really gone out of style. Grappelli was in great demand again throughout the 70s and beyond. He cut albums with just about anyone of significance in the jazz world. One of my dozen or so Grappelli LPs, on a classic ELAC turntable, with the Sonos Connect:Amp driving my QUAD ESL-63s.

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Swingin' hard with Shirley Scott at the organ keyboard!

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In my recent blues music trawl, I came across the digital remaster of what reportedly is the only performance together of two greats - Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.

The remaster brings the sound quality right up to date, without suffering the over production present in the last of the Armstrong albums. Sublime music. Armstrong has never been in better voice and Ellington is solid in support as is the rest of the band. Does anyone know who else is on the horns?



This is a very fine recommendation - thanks Kumar. Now if only I can find it in 24/96...

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You are welcome, Brian. Why would 24/96 be better?! Unless it has been made from an even better mastering which is doubtful, given the small market for such music these days.

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Kumar



I have to confess to a bit of baiting here ... but not withstanding all the theories and proofs linked elsewhere, I find the smallish batch of hi-res stuff I have (mostly 24/96 but some 24/192 or 24/88) sounds brilliant. Of course, the appropriate so-called double blind listening tests may prove no audible difference - and the physics may underpin this view - but I just find the tracks immensely enjoyable and, somehow, presenting as more vibrant, real and muscular (and all the usual subjective adjectives...). And this despite the original masters probably being tapes at 15 or 30 ips. Even if it is only in my mind: who cares? Many 16/44s can sound brilliant too but a direct comparison can show (to me) there is more (struggling for the right words here) 'air' around the instruments, longer decay on transients and more vibrancy to things that - er - are vibrating (such as bass strings). I'm no 'golden ears' (half a lifetime operating aeroplanes has ensured that) but I do appreciate good, liquid (sorry) mid-range. And the exact SPL matching argument can be eliminated simply by playing the 16/44 version at slightly higher volume than the hi-res and still finding the recording wanting.



As an aside, we took our Play 5 (original) outside yesterday evening - wow: that improved the sound, the speaker being freed from the crummy environment on the kitchen worktop (where it sets off a resonance under the wall cupboards above - even though we pull it right forward). Horses for courses, then.



Hi-res above judged through tablet to Chord Mojo into Quad 66 / 909 and KEF Reference Model 3.2; 16/44 passes through ZP80 digital out before the Mojo. And I concur the comments made elsewhere about the ZP80 bass being a little overblown and lacking in detail: the Mojo reveals that weakness by comparison. It's not just 'bits-is-bits': the circuitry after the DAC also plays its part, I imagine



Keep the recommendations coming - and get that wonderful 909 back!

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I have to confess to a bit of baiting here ...



Keep the recommendations coming - and get that wonderful 909 back!

Nahh...not going to bugger up this thread with responses to the baiting:D, this one is reserved for what it is all about - the music.



These days, much of my listening is to the same Jazz and Blues as before, but via Amazon Music where I can initiate the playing of playlists I have created there, purely by voice via a Dot wired to the line in of my Connect Amp. And of course change volume and stop/start - but it is the initiation of music by voice command that leaves the local NAS, where this cannot be done, in even lesser use than before. Very convenient and very slick with no diminution in perceived sound quality through a decent pair of KEFs. I find that I don't use Alexa for any of its other features - none of the shopping lists or tell me about the weather outside nonsense. But being able to easily and fully voice control my desktop music set up makes the Dot investment a no brainer. I am now waiting for the price of the Echo Spot to drop so I can also then see the artwork that will conveniently let me know what's playing at a glance.



Of course, there is no 24/96 on Amazon;)



The 909 was/is wonderful, absolutely bomb proof and built to last for decades. But I don't need it anymore, and to not have it working as a heat radiator even in standby in an Indian summer is a bonus. The Connect Amp does sound quality that is just as good and can go as loud as I need it to, while doing the auto start thing very slickly every time I utter a voice command.



As to improvement of moving kit around, I know someone who discovered he had a HiFi set up only when he moved his kit to another room that offered better placement possibilities and acoustics. So your play 5 experience is no surprise.

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The only trouble with the Dot fronted set up is that it easily lets my five year old granddaughter march into my room whenever she is with us and command: Alexa Play Pop Music, overriding what's playing and she also knows how to get rid of the red ringed mute position on the Dot if necessary; but this is a minor glitch!

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And Kumar lets that one go down the leg side...



Most of our listening (through the seriously-built and supported 909 - lessons for Sonos here) is 16/44 from Qobuz - a French streamer and, therefore, good for jazz. The 66 pre is near 30 yrs old and the 909 (bought second hand) nearer 10. All components very content with originally loaded soft / firmware (66 + remote).



Please keep the recommendations coming - currently listening to the Louis / Duke album on 2 Play 1s in my study. Horses for courses...

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