Jazz for aficionados

Lyle Mays passed away 13 months ago on February 10, 2020. As I went back to that month some of the members including me were also involved in a discussion about audio gear including cables.

I found a post from rok here

The Ten Biggest Lies in Audio - ecoustics.com

Anyway getting back to Lyle Mays jafant first posted RIP which was followed by a couple Lyle Mays videos by acman and nothing more. I had posted material from the Lyle Mays 2 disc set the Ludwigsburg Concert many months prior to that and nobody responded but even I did not respond to his death. Maybe subconsciously I was thinking nobody likes him anyway who knows/cares?

Getting to the point I wish Lyle Mays had taken more time away from his collaborations with Pat Metheny and did more acoustic music in a trio setting without the electric keyboards and synths.

Besides the Ludwigsburg concert I have Mays’ fictionary which is a trio with Jack DeJohnette and Marc Johnson. These 2 albums with Mays on acoustic piano are probably the only ones that show how gifted he truly was. Mays, IMHO, is one of the greatest jazz pianist and composers to ever play the ivory. A true virtuoso.

I guess he enjoyed composing and "noodling around" with Metheny on all those technically crazy albums with 23/9 times.....

Fictionary - YouTube

Lyle Mays - Lincoln Reviews His Notes - YouTube

Pjw, if I may offer a bit of advice. Whatever you do, don’t change cabling and add a power conditioner at the same time. You think some of this stuff gets confusing? Rule of thumb: change only one variable at a time.

Power conditioners can be great, but much depends on the quality of the AC coming out of your wall. The cleaner and more stable it is, the less improvement you are likely to get. Are you in an apt. building? Are you in an area with a lot of industrial buildings? If you are in a quiet residential area, the cleaner your power will likely be. Re cables:

As you probably already know, you will get or read many different opinions. A cable that is good with a particular amp and set of speakers may not be good in another setup. Some experimentation is almost inevitable. If you love the sound of your system as is, then you probably need go no further. Ask yourself: Are there times when you say to yourself, I wish I had a little more bass? Or, why does the bass sound too thick and slow too much of the time? Why does my system sound a little bright and harsh on a lot of cds? Etc. Then, read reviews and commentary and look for consistent descriptions of the sound of the various cables and narrow your choices according to what traits match what you would like to improve in your own system. Cables will react differently in different systems, but there are often consistent traits that carry over to most systems they are in.

You are just getting your feet wet with all this. I would call AudioAdvisor and talk to the guys there. Tell them what gear you have and what kind of sound you like. They carry Audioquest and Kimber cables that have been around for a long time and keep being improved. They are good, solid cables that won’t break the bank and AA often has close outs on those and others. They have a 30 day return policy if you don’t like them. That might be a good place to start before getting into the more exotic stuff.

Good luck and have fun.

Btw, Rok will disagree, but Peter Aczel was a hack who obviously had no ears. Denier of anything that could not be “proven” with measurements instead of using one’s ears. Personally, I wouldn’t think twice about anything he had to say.

Human Hearing:

Compared to the other species of Class Mammalia, Humans can’t hear Jack!!!

They can’t ’hear’ Lions and other big cats moving towards them in the grass. Can’t see or smell them either. When it comes to the senses, we are pathetic!!

If it weren’t for other mammals that CAN hear, see and smell, we probably wouldn’t be here today. When they alerted, at least we had the good sense to run when they ran.

Enter, ’Audiophiles.’ Now we can ’hear’ the difference between a tone at 12000 hertz, and one at 12001 hertz. Wow, must be that evolution thingy.

A Joke, sort of:
An "audiophile" is on an African Safari. During a break, he falls asleep in the grass while soaking up some sun. He is awaken by the sound "Mee-ow, Mee-ow." He thinks "kitty cat." He is an "audiophile," so he knows his sounds. So he raises up and SEES a full grown male Lion coming his way. Every few steps, the cat stops and goes, Mee-ow, Mee-ow.

Whatcha gon do?   Believe your lying eyes, or your "audiophile trained ears?"

A music lover, or any other normal person will say. "holy s**t, followed by "footes don’t fail me now"

An "audiophile" will clap his hands and say very loudly, "Here Kitty, kitty, Here Kitty kitty.

That’s why there are so few of them today.

Cheers

**** When it comes to the senses, we are pathetic!! ****

Speak for yourself.  You know, it’s curious, for someone who is so anti-audiophile you have brought up the subject of gear far more than anyone else here.  Btw, I think you blew your punchline 😊

Btw, Rok will disagree, but Peter Aczel was a hack who obviously had no ears. Denier of anything that could not be “proven” with measurements instead of using one’s ears. Personally, I wouldn’t think twice about anything he had to say.

This is a disgraceful thing to say about Peter. The guys at Stereo Review and the other early magazines created this"hobby." Back in the day it was for music lovers. They made their systems themselves. Including the speaker.

Then they were destroyed professionally by people with more money than brains. I remember Julian being ’forced’ to ’admit’ that each amp had it’s own distinct sound. That was the beginning. Then the flood gates burst, as charlatans realized that all you have to do is establish the principle, that "if I say I can hear it, it’s true, and if you can’t, you just can’t hear." Remember the Emperor and his clothes?

The whole thing was shameful, and will stain this ’hobby’ forever.

Cheers