Whats on your turntable tonight?

Dvorak's "Piano Trio in F minor, op65" - The Jung Trio - Groove Note GRV 1043 (This is a new direct to disc, 45 rpm, recording, mastered by Bernie Grundman and produced by Ying Tan and Joe Harley. Mike Fremer's recent review is on target about the sound quality here. The recording and engineering superbly capture the instruments in a very realistic and natural soncis. Excellent performance by this young trio. Highly recommended - the listening partner liked it!)

Sibelius, "Karelia Overture," "The Bard," and "Festivo" - Gibson/ScottishNO from 1967 on EMI HQS 1070 (yes, yes - nice performances and recording)

Stravinsky's "Le Sacre du Printemps (Rite of Spring)" - Ansermet/OSR, London LL 1730 mono (a lean, taut, driving performance by Ansermet, with L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande's uniquely piquant timbre in the winds and astringency of the strings, this is a wonderful record. It also has a great album cover!)
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Hmmm..., let's fix the link to that album cover from Stravinsky Rite of Spring, London LL 1730.

Flight to Denmark, a jazz trio album by Duke Jordan, Ed Thigpen, and Danish bassist Mats Vinding, recorded in 1973 (Steeplechase Records RJ-6004). An elegant and simple trio album, well-recorded (though it's definitely a PIANO trio album rather than a jazz TRIO album. One of the best party-background-music-albums-I've-never-heard-but-I'd-love-the-disc records I own. And I''m using a recently obtained FR-7f cart which is magic with this kind of music.

Jennifer Warnes, "Famous Blue Raincoat" - 45 rpm reissue
...I continue to be impressed with just how good this 45 rpm reissue sounds. Just a great mastering job by Bernie Grundman. These are going fast, so if you have any interest in an outstanding pressing of this music, act soon. Of course, if the music is not for you...
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"The Thelonius Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall" - Mosaic MQ1-321 (Wow!! To think that the tapes of this live 1957 performance sat in the Library of Congress archives untouched and never released for over 40 years is just an amazing story unto itself. Notwithstanding the erroneous jacket credits duplicated from the CD cover, this LP is mastered from the original analog mastertapes and the sound quality is excellent. The interplay of Monk and Coltrane in this live setting is something to treasure! Highly recommended.)

"Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz" Smithsonian P6 11891 - coming as primarily a classical music listener, I've been trying to learn more about jazz over these past half dozen years. This 6LP Smithsonian Collection has been on my shelf for a dozen years and I'm sorry not to have started working my way through its contents earlier. Listening to just one side at a time and reading the extensive materials in the enclosed booklet is serving as an excellent tutorial on the history of jazz and its development. Much of what I'm listening to elsewhere is making a lot more sense now.

Ken Burns "History of Jazz" series -- OK, this is a DVD. But the photos, film clips, commentary and soundtracks are great for this jazz novice. I know this has been a controversial series among jazz cognoscenti, but it's serving as a great resource for me to gain context and some appreciation for the history of the music.
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