Lon Armstrong

I won't speak to the attraction. . . . Life on the road and in clubs can lead to a lot of longing for "salves" of one type or another. . . alcoholism, sex addiction, narcotic addiction. So can just going to work and home day after day! I will say this: heroin has not seemed to DIMINISH the intellectual capacities, creativity, improvisational skill, etc. of these musicians. They risked their health and liberty and personal relationships, but their playing. . . wow.

I have a fondness for big bands, and you really should make an effort to hear a well practiced one perform LIVE, there's little like it! My favorite is Ellington's. . . The verve of Duke's and Billy Strayhorn's writing puts them over the top for me, plus the excellent soloists that were catalysts for the writing and arrangements and who put their hearts into performances. Try "Indigos" on Columbia or "Soul Call" on Verve for good sounding great performances. I love the Basie band as well. . . Try the new one on Blue Note/Roulette "Chairman of the Board" for one of his great bands in killer sound. And I'll third Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin Big Band. Hard to find many of their recordings here in the state; I got all the Japanese imports I could. But their "Hiroshima Rising" came out stateside recently and is worth hearing.

I'm for open discussions that have variety just as real conversations do. . . they can meander and drift but that can yield wonderful times.

A genius (and I don't use that word lightly) gone. . . it's sad but we're so lucky we will always have his music!

Yes, I'm a big Rosnes fan and I knew of her sort of "apprenticeship" with Joe . . . . I really like her music and the way it has developed. I've recently run across a Mal Waldron with Joe Henderson (and David Frisen and Billy Higgins) called One Entrance, Many Exits. . . . Pretty adventurous disc!

Joe did some great work right up to the end. I've been enjoying his guest spots on a Renee Rosnes and a Todd Coolman date from the decade before he left us. . . . He wasn't resting on his laurels!

I've ordered a pair of EL34s and tried them out. Quite nice; I believe they are from the same factory as that which makes those labeled as Siemens. Good tubes, ultimately I like both the new Svetlana and the older "Winged C Logo" SVED/Svetlanas a bit more in my Decware EL34 Monoblocks, but I find that a tube and a circuit are a unique relationship---these may be just THE ticket for your amp.

Here is a modified Sony SACD player with a tubed output section coming right off the DAC from Steve Deckert of Decware; I have heard great things about this player and have one on order that I should be receiving within a few weeks. . . . https://athena.safe-order.net/decware/SACD/sacd.htm

Wow! An HF81 on Slim Fast!

Anyone here have any experience with the Sony SACD/DVDD receivers that have digital amps within? I'm intrigued with this concept that digital signals all the way to amplification; seems to me this is a very promising all in one concept that could be worth exploring. There are some very favorable reports out there from consumers as well. . . .

I like Leslie Howard's piano recordings of Liszt works (especially the Beethoven transcriptions) on Hyperion cd. Good piano, good digital sound. I've enjoyed the sound of the piano on RVG recordings, especially a lot of the mono early ones. The thing that amazes me about that is two or three times a week in the first few decades a different pianist at those keys and you can really hear the differences of touch and sound!

To me this was so overplayed in the seventies by the radio and club djs and ubiquitous at parties and friends' places that I never need to hear it again. So. . . not worth much at all. . . to me!

Here are a few threads on another board about SACDs and the Panasonic player mentioned above that some may find interesting: http://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=General&action=display&num=1086199481 http://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=General&action=display&num=1085958391

One point that I've learned though: this and quite a few other budget players simply convert the SACD signal to 16/44 before conversion so the true DSD/SACD sound is compromised. Me, I hate compromises!

I don't know for sure, but I don't believe so. All I can find about the Sony machine itself dac wise is: 192 kHz 24 Bit Digital to Analog Converter

For me, I can only say "my favorites" and the only ones I still listen to now, 48 years old and hopelessly addicted to jazz since the early eighties: Jimi Hendrix Grateful Dead

Yes, it looks like a great machine. I think that it will sound very good, and it is also a dvd player, and is reported to play cdr, cdrw and dvdr as well without a hitch. The changer transport looks very nicely done as well, more like a single well player. I'm quite eager to get mine; I should probably have it in a few weeks. (hope hope hope) I've been using products by Steve Deckert since 1997 and they have squeezed out all others in my system save my source; now with this I would have an all Decware system, and I predict I'm going to be very happy! Incredible sonics for low dollars from his amps and speakers.

I share your uneasiness there max! Also your admiration of her voice. . . she really had it. Also. . . she was quite a nice DRUMMER!

Here's a modified Sony that I've ordered because I love the tube circuits this builder makes, and I think that this universal player with a tubed output section coming right off the DAC will sound great: https://athena.safe-order.net/decware/SACD/sacd.htm

No problem. If you ever get a chance to try the Svetlanas you may want to. I've been very happy with the sound of these.

Okay, I'll explain my asterisk: I had written that I would recommend the Svetlana EL34s over the ElektroHarmonix, then realized the original poster was now asking about another tube type, and couldn't figure out how to delete a post, so I put an asterisk in in place of the text.

Some Favorites of mine! LOUIS ARMSTRONG JACK TEAGARDEN FATS WALLER MARTY GROSZ B. B. KING WINGY MANONE TRUMMY YOUNG T-BONE WALKER

Some of my Favorites! UNA MAE CARLISLE! You really ought to look her stuff up. . . she didn't record enough but she was beautiful, had a great voice and could really play the piano (she was a student of Fats Waller!) HELEN MERRILL! ELLA FITZGERALD! CARMEN McRAE! JOYA SHERRILL! IVIE ANDERSON! BILLIE HOLIDAY!

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Well. . . I have about 7000 cds now. About 6000 are jazz, classic jazz mostly, from 1917 to about 1977 and some more recent. The other 1000? Mainly blues and Brazilian music! How's that for variety?