LATEST ADDITIONS

Those of you that have scrolled down the home page and read this <A HREF="http://www.ultimateavmag.com/news/1207newed/">press release</A> have figured out by now why I've been incomunicado here in the Blogosphere. And the news is true: I'm pulling up stakes and taking the editorial reins at Home Theater Magazine. But this just goodbye, not farewell (or vice versa, however that goes!).

Billed as Ron Carter: The Master @ 70, it was a birthday celebration of the legendary jazz bass player's career—and the music at that early summer jazz concert at Carnegie Hall was truly magical. The highlight of the night arrived when Carter played selections from Miles Davis' Kind of Blue album with Herbie Hancock on piano, Wayne Shorter on sax, and Billy Cobham on drums. I could hear the quartet's music reflecting off the stage's rear wall while it simultaneously floated above the audience in the hall. The sound was so masterfully mixed, I couldn't tell for sure how much of what I heard was the actual instruments or Carnegie Hall's discreetly amplified sound system. It stands as one of those "is it live or...." moments. The next day, I played a stack of Ron Carter CDs over Anthony Gallo Acoustics' new Reference AV speakers and TR-2 subwoofer. The sound was so sweet, I experienced that déjà vu feeling all over again.