Get out and listen!

That reminds me, one of the most amazing things I ever heard was Holly Cole at the Showbox. This intimate dinner/jazz club seated only about 100 or so. The show started with no one on stage. No announcer. No introduction. Everyone was chatting when Holly Cole began singing I Am Calling You from off-stage.

Just Holly Cole. No mic. No amp. That place got quiet, FAST! 

The song starts out very low and builds. As it does she comes on stage, still unamplified. Wow. String bass and piano join in. Pure acoustic bliss!

For the rest of the night she used a mic. Just too hard on the chops not to, I guess. But I asked around the table at the end of the night, everyone agreed that was the best part and the most exciting thing most of us ever heard.

For the rest of the night she used a mic. Just too hard on the chops not to, I guess. But I asked around the table at the end of the night, everyone agreed that was the best part and the most exciting thing most of us ever heard

That is a good observation. When vocalists perform at the local jazz venues or Steinway Gallery, they use microphones. The musicians do not.  Too much strain for the vocal cords? Very likely so. I’ll take what I can get. Un-microphoned tenor saxophone, trumpet, cello? Pure bliss.

Charles

Couldn't agree more.

Live, unamplified music provides a reference point.

Opera (various Met performances) and big band jazz, when it was an option (Woody Herman, Buddy Rich) were the purest music I have ever heard.

One cold night in December many years ago I was at the Metropolitan Opera for Daniel Barenboim conducting Tristan and Isolde. I was in the first (lowest) balcony, 2nd row, about in the center. The most expensive seats, and I now see why.  The best acoustics in the house.  The voices of course were glorious, but what I couldn't believe was the timbre of the instruments.  The sound was "other worldly" pure.  I really was thinking for a bit, does this orchestra use different quality instruments or something?  I really got what acoustics mean in a concert hall more than I ever have.  I've sat in many seats at the Met and this was different.   Barenboim was a master for this opera, and the balance between the orchestra and the vocalists was like a perfect, graceful dance. If you had Jeff Bezos' or Elon Musk's money I seriously doubt that you could put together a system that would recreate that experience.  But my "audiophile training" and listening I'm sure played a large part in me being able to have this sort of appreciation. 

Been to two live shows recently. 👏