Feature Articles

Network Hub Buying Guides Newsletter Signup Advertisers' Index

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Legacy link:

This new site was launched in July 2010. Visit the older site to access previous articles by clicking above.

: Written by: Rad Bennett; Category: Recording of the Month; Created: 01 June 2012

We Get Requests Verve/Analogue Productions CVRJ 8606 SA
Format: Hybrid Multichannel SACD

Musical Performance: ****1/2
Sound Quality: ****
Overall Enjoyment: ****

This 1964 set can polarize jazz lovers. Many find it the consummate recording of this trio, which had been together five years when it was taped. Others think the repertory is trivial. Peterson chose for this set such popular favorites as "Quiet Night of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)," "People," "The Girl from Ipanema," "The Days of Wine and Roses," and "My One and Only Love." Balancing these chestnuts are some slightly less familiar standards: "Have You Met Miss Jones?," "D & E," "You Look Good to Me," and "Time and Again." Here's the formula: Peterson usually makes a clear statement of the tune up front, then goes off on one or more of his incredible variations, manipulations that give him a chance to show off his fleet, refined, and graceful fingerwork. Bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen are virtuosos in their own rights, but also know how to fit in as part of the ensemble. To say that the three are tightly knit is to understate the obvious.

: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Recording of the Month; Created: 01 May 2012

The Voice that Is! Impulse!/Universal Music/Analogue Productions CIPJ 74 SA
Format: Hybrid SACD

Musical Performance: ***1/2
Sound Quality: ****1/2
Overall Enjoyment: ****

The posthumous reputation of jazz singer Johnny Hartman (1923-1983) got a boost in 1995, when Clint Eastwood chose some of his recordings for the soundtrack to The Bridges of Madison County. Hartman had never been a household name. Hardcore jazz fans probably know him best for John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, the sole album by the saxophonist to feature a singer. Coltrane knew Hartman from their brief stints in Dizzy Gillespie’s late-1940s big band, and in 1963 he brought the singer to Impulse! Records, where Hartman would record two more LPs.

: Written by: Rad Bennett; Category: Recording of the Month; Created: 01 April 2012

Tania Maria: "Tempo" Naïve NJ621711
Format: CD

Musical Performance: *****
Sound Quality: ****
Overall Enjoyment: *****

You might have heard of Tania Maria as a Brazilian bombshell whose fusion performances have been spicing up jazz clubs and recordings for 30-plus years. On this album she has just one partner, double bassist Eddie Gomez, known to many for his work with Bill Evans. Tania Maria is earthier than ever on Tempo, on which her singing, piano playing, and composing skills can be easily heard.

: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Recording of the Month; Created: 01 March 2012

Cat Stevens "Tea for the Tillerman" A&M/Analogue Productions CAPP 9135 SA
Format: Hybrid SACD

Musical Performance: ****
Sound Quality: *****
Overall Enjoyment: ****½

Tea for the Tillerman was Cat Stevens’s fourth album, and his second with producer Paul Samwell-Smith. Stevens had enjoyed some success in England in 1966 with his first LP, Matthew and Son (Decca), but had been dissatisfied with the production of his second, New Masters, the following year. He was leaning toward a simpler, folk-rock sound, and his producer had made an overly elaborate record that didn’t even chart. After a lengthy recuperation from tuberculosis in 1969, Stevens changed record labels (Island in Europe, A&M in the US), released Mona Bone Jakon in July 1970, and then, just four months later, became an international star with the release of Tea for the Tillerman.

: Written by: Rad Bennett; Category: Recording of the Month; Created: 01 February 2012

Getz/Gilberto Verve/Analogue Productions CVRJ8545 SA
Format: Stereo SACD/CD

Musical Performance: ****1/2
Sound Quality: ****
Overall Enjoyment: ****1/2

In the early 1960s, after tenor saxophonist Stan Getz heard Brazilian jazz played with a new beat called bossa nova (Portuguese for “new trend”), he and guitarist Charlie Byrd collaborated on the album Jazz Samba (1962). Having gotten a taste of bossa nova in the soundtrack of the mesmerizing Brazilian film Black Orpheus (1959), US listeners and musicians were primed for something new and innovative, and Jazz Samba was one of those rare jazz albums that topped the pop charts.

: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Recording of the Month; Created: 01 January 2012

Further Explorations Concord Jazz CJA-33364-02
Format: CD

Musical Performance: ****½
Sound Quality: ****
Overall Enjoyment: ****

Chick Corea’s Further Explorations echoes the title of Bill Evans’s Explorations, his 1961 recording with Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro for Riverside Records. Motian, who died late last year, is on hand for this live recording with Corea and bassist Eddie Gomez, who played with Evans for 11 years. The trio worked together to choose material from Evans’s discography for a series of live performances at New York’s Blue Note in May 2010. In September 2011, Universal Music in Japan released this two-disc set of selections from those performances, and Concord has now made it available in the US.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: For the Record; Created: 15 July 2026

I’ve reviewed cartridges that retail from US$1000 all the way up to $12,500 and found something to enjoy about every one of them. I guess that’s my reviewing superpower: being able to listen to pretty much any component and find something to love about it, even if it’s not a product that I’d choose to live with in the long term. It’s a skill that comes in handy—especially with cartridges.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: For the Record; Created: 15 June 2026

Our daughter, Toni, has been playing for a rep basketball team, the East York Eagles, for the past three years. Toni is an only child, so it’s been fairly easy for me to attend all the games, and it’s been a fun, rewarding experience to be part of this group.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: For the Record; Created: 15 April 2026

I have an admission to make. I am useless at games like Scrabble. I like to think I have a way with words, and I have made a career out of placing them in a pleasing order. But I’m unable to take out-of-context letters and form words from them. Wordle, Boggle, Scrabble—I just can’t make my mind work that way.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: For the Record; Created: 15 February 2026

As I stated in my recent editorial, I’ve been on a bit of a tangent toward the value side of the audio world over the past few months. It wasn’t a conscious decision on my part to start looking for more reasonably priced components. That wouldn’t be fair to the good folks over at SoundStage! Access and SoundStage! Hi‑Fi. And besides, it’s not my beat. Here at Ultra, people want to read about huge, dripping, wretched excess, right? That said, I don’t think it’s a good look to only have experience with expensive gear. It’s a requirement, in my mind, to have a grounding in what’s possible with a limited budget, so that you can recognize when you’re getting flimflammed by hucksters selling screamingly pricey gear that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.