
To state the obvious, musicians are essential to AXPONA, as it’s their recordings that you hear in every room. And some musicians play a larger role in the event. Sometimes that translates into a meet-and-greet, as when Johnny Iguana signed his new album on Saturday at the Delmark booth, and sometimes the musicians give a live performance, as on Friday, when the Kyle Asche Organ Quartet played. Anne Bisson did both, signing her new album The Essentials (a complilation that was mastered by Bernie Grundman and is available on vinyl and as a reel-to-reel tape) and performing in one of the rooms.
Jazz artist Patricia Barber also wore two hats, signing her newly remastered vinyl reissue of Modern Cool at the Elusive Disc booth on Saturday and then performing a concert in the evening. The buzz was definitely on for this concert, and I’m glad it was a huge success, as hosting an artist of this stature is certainly a feather in AXPONA’s cap.
Musicians also have a history of speaking at AXPONA. This year David Chesky gave a talk entitled “What Is Good Sound and How to Get It.” As a composer and musician, Chesky has an extensive discography that embraces several genres, including jazz, classical, and Brazilian music, but he also has a history of taking audio technology to the next level.
Recently the U.K.- and Asia-based Evolution Music Group is now reissuing some classic Chesky titles on vinyl. Here you see Edwin Lo, Business Lead for Evolution Music Group, holding a couple new CDs on the label. Consisting entirely of piano trios, Harvey Mason’s Changing Partners: Trio 2 is a fascinating project that matches the veteran drummer with different bassists and pianists, with contributors including Stanley Clarke and Buster Williams on bass and Chick Corea and Jackie Terrasson on piano. Evolution Music Group makes some of the best-sounding CDs I’ve heard, and Wayne Garcia will review their 1-step vinyl pressing of Changing Partners: Trio 2 for Issue 362.
Like David Chesky, jazz pianist Elan Meher is a musician who also launched an audiophile label. The vinyl-focused Newvelle Records is about to celebrate its tenth anniversary. Musicians who have recorded for the label include Bill Frisell, Rufus Reid, Jack DeJohnette, and Frank Kimbrough. On Sunday, I visited a room where the equipment included Stenheim loudspeakers and Nordost cables. Newvelle Records used Nordost cables during its recording sessions, and because some Newvelle selections were played at AXPONA, that room offered a rare through-line between the recording and the playback. That afternoon we listened to two Newvelle tracks: the opening song from Elan Meher’s There is a Dance, which features a piano trio led by Meher; and “Ode to Satie” from an album where the legendary drummer Jack DeJohnette focuses exclusively on piano. The recording and the system sounded great, and I was very happy to hear that Newvelle is preparing to launch another series of albums. You’ll definitely be hearing about that series in upcoming issues of The Absolute Sound.
What Inspires Me About AXPONA
I’ll close by getting philosophical. Obviously, the main reason people attend AXPONA is to listen to equipment that, under normal circumstances, they can read about ad infinitum but are unlikely to hear in person unless they travel to an audio show. It’s no wonder that close to 11,000 people attended the event. As a result of hearing the equipment in person, many people decided what their next piece of equipment would be.
There’s something else about AXPONA that makes it a memorable experience, however, and that’s the camaraderie that occurs when you mingle with fellow music lovers. That’s why the focused listening sessions that brought together listeners to hear specific titles or genres are such a welcome feature. To give just two examples, this year Sierra Sound hosted two Metal Zone listening sessions for heavy metal fans, and another room hosted a listening session for the Who’s Live at Leeds. The fact that these high-energy listening sessions took place later in the day suggests that music fans might like a quick energy boost after racing from room to room all day.
There were also the focused listening sessions that occurred spontaneously. When I walked into the room where Sierra Sound was set up, they were playing a Bach Cantata instead of a heavy metal record, but they were happy to follow up the Bach with a Candlemass song that featured a fiery guitar solo. One tangent led to another, and somehow we ended up listening to a Charles Mingus platter with a mono cartridge. (I’m not sure how we got there.) Thanks to Sierra Sound for that musical journey, and I’ll bring a couple mono LPs next year to check out on your system.
On a similar note, I continually found myself in rooms where people were asking about an artist they’d just discovered after listening to a song. That interaction is an integral part of AXPONA, and I love that part of it. The fact that people come from all over the world for the event—this show featured equipment from more than 50 countries—makes the interaction that much enjoyable. Constantly I’m reminded that the enthusiasm for high-end gear is a worldwide phenomenon that brings people from different countries and cultures together—and the more of that, the better.
By Jeff Wilson
This will take some explaining, but I can connect the dots between pawing through LPs at a headshop called Elysian Fields in Des Moines, Iowa, as a seventh grader, and becoming the Music Editor for The Absolute Sound. At that starting point—around 1970/71—Elysian Fields had more LPs than any other store in Des Moines. Staring at all the colorful covers was both tantalizing and frustrating. I had no idea who most of the artists were, because radio played only a fraction of what was current. To figure out what was going on, I realized that I needed to build a record collection—and as anyone who’s visited me since high school can testify, I succeeded. Record collecting was still in my blood when, starting in the late 1980s, the Cincinnati Public Library book sale suddenly had an Elysian Fields quantity of LPs from people who’d switched to CDs. That’s where I met fellow record hawk Mark Lehman, who preceded me as music editor of TAS. Mark introduced me to Jonathan Valin, whose 1993 detective novel The Music Lovers depicts the battles between record hawks at library sales. That the private eye in the book, Harry Stoner, would stumble upon a corpse or two while unraveling the mystery behind the disappearance of some rare Living Stereo platters made perfect sense to me. After all, record collecting is serious business. Mark knew my journalistic experience included concert reviews for The Cincinnati Enquirer and several long, sprawling feature articles in the online version of Crawdaddy. When he became TAS music editor in 2008, he contacted me about writing for the magazine. I came on board shortly after the latest set of obituaries had been written for vinyl—and, as fate had it, right when the LP started to make yet another unexpected comeback. Suddenly, I found myself scrambling to document all the record companies pressing vinyl. Small outfits were popping up world-wide, and many were audiophile-oriented, plus already existing record companies began embracing the format again. Trying to keep track of everything made me feel, again, like that overwhelmed seventh grader in Elysian Fields, and as Music Editor I’ve found that keeping my finger on the pulse of the music world also requires considerable detective work. I’ve never had a favorite genre, but when it comes time to sit down and do some quality listening, for me nothing beats a well-recorded small-group jazz recording on vinyl. If a stereo can give me warmth and intimacy, tonal accuracy, clear imaging, crisp-sounding cymbals, and deep, woody-sounding bass, then I’m a happy camper.
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