Return of the King of DADGAD - Pierre Bensusan IMT Concert, Takoma Park, 05-23-2012

Takoma Park, MD, the original home of American fingerstyle guitarist John Fahey, once again hosted the master of DADGAD guitar Pierre Bensusan. Thanks to the efforts of the Institute of Musical Tradition, audience members were treated to the thrilling sonorities that Mr. Bensusan elicits from his George Lowden guitar and assorted effects such as the Eventide Space reverb foot pedal.

Pierre remarked that he felt like he had been driving for days on end and had just found his guitar again. He opened his first set without comments and dug into several songs from his vast repertoire that trace his interest in Celtic, French, and Middle Eastern music. Often using either wordless vocals or even the occasional whistle, Mr. Bensusan’s music always told a story.

Pierre concluded the concert by making a rare move from his seated perch and launched into a improvisational motif of Middle Eastern based patterns that reminded me of the great Oud player Dhafer Youseff (click link to watch video).

Mr. Bensusan is in the middle of a 40 city tour of the US and next heads to western states.

PIerre Bensusan IMT Folk Concert Video

Matt Flinner Trio @ IMT Saint Mark Presbyterian Church 04-02-2012

Many will know of the work of David Grisman – the Godfather of the modern mandolin. Others will know Chris Thile – the modern mandolin phenomenon of Nickel Creek and now Punch Brothers fame. Add to this prestigious list Matt Flinner who appeared with his exceptional trio at Saint Mark Presbyterian Church on Monday night. The concert was presented by the Institute of Musical Traditions who continue to bring the best and the brightest of modern Folk music to the Washington metro area.

Along with Matt on mandolin were bassist Eric Thorin and guitarist Ross Martin who weaved a tight fabric of jazz tinged acoustic string music. Matt indicated that this was their last stop of the current tour. They played several songs from their recently released Winter Harvest record on Compass records. The precision of their playing was exceptional.

For the second set, Matt introduced their ongoing “Music Du Jour” where each member writes a new song and they debut them on stage during the tour. The three tunes were the Ross composition Circus Market, Matt’s ‘Rested, and Eric’s Flying Home. All of the songs played to the trio’s strengths.

If you have an interest in innovative acoustic music and enjoy the works of players such as David Grisman, Tony Rice, Mike Marshall, or Darol Anger, you will most certainly love the music of Matt Flinner and his trio. Highly recommended!

The Saiyuki Trio - Nguyên Lê at the Embassy of France, February 25, 2012

French Vietnamese electric guitarist Nguyên Lê returned to the Embassy of France in Washington, DC with his exceptional world fusion Saiyuki Trio (Journey to the West). The trio featured Mieko Miyazaki on koto and Prabhu Edouard on tabla.

Reminiscent of John McLaughlin’s genre busting east meets west Shakti ensemble, Nguyên and his companions took the concert attendees on a mind bending trip through almost all the cultures of near and far east but rooted in western Jazz improvisation. At one point, the trio played a Mieko composition (Izanagi Izanami) about the time before the world was born that was thrilling and ferocious all at the same time.

Nguyên Lê has always had a knack for a being a chameleon of sound. His guitar tone danced between playing unison lines with Mieko’s Koto, sounding like an indian mandolin (ala U. Srinivas), or at other times evoking Jimi Hendrix. His custom “Tiger’s Tail” guitar allows him to dive bomb his tremolo bar whole octaves at a time. This guitar workout finally got the better of him towards the very end of the concert which precipitated an impromptu string change. This man badly needs a guitar tech! I humbly volunteer! Prabhu ably jumped into the fray and vamped for time with a great tabla improvisation.

I have long admired Nguyên Lê’s artistry and own almost all his albums and a few bootlegs as well. This was the first time I have seen him live and I was not disappointed. If this trio is within five hundred miles of where you live, do not miss them!

Kindle Fire Side Load Apps

I’ve been playing with my new Kindle Fire since I received it last week.

It’s a nice tablet. You can check reviews elsewhere. I was a bit concerned about the limited Kindle Fire approved apps in Amazon’s App Store. I have a few key apps that I would like to run.

PC Magazine has a very good tutorial on how to add third party apps.

I have been able to load and run the following apps:

• HBO Go
• Squeezebox (Logitech Squeezebox Controller App)
• Squeezebox Commander
• Twit on MediaFly
• WSJ Mobile
• Nook (Barnes and Noble Reader App)
• Bing
• iHeart Radio

So far, so good.

Pat Metheny & Larry Grenadier–Strathmore 10-04-2011

Just a year after the amazing Orchestrion tour, Pat Metheny returned to the Strathmore Music Center in Bethesda, Maryland for a fantastic evening of music featuring Larry Grenadier on Bass.

The evening began with a series of Guitar/Bass duets covering a wide swath of Metheny originals including Sirabhorn, Question and Answer, and James. Pat and Larry had an electric synergy that was captivating to watch. Pat then gave some opening remarks which led to some acoustic guitar and bass duets. Larry left the stage and Pat launched Into the Dream featuring his Pikasso harp guitar. This was a real crowd pleaser.

Larry returned to the stage and Pat initiated a series of loops using his midi equipped Ibanez guitar. This abstract space jam with Larry providing bowed bass effects eventually blossomed into the “mini-me” Orchestrion setup that had been hiding behind a curtain for the entire concert. Pat added layer upon layer of loops to trigger the midi accordion, glass harmonica, drums, and glockenspiel to create a full working band to accompany Larry and Pat. Having seen the full Orchestrion show just a year earlier, I was thrilled at the spectacle once again!

Pat and Larry returned for two encores and completed the show on a high note.

I first saw Pat Metheny with his original Quartet in the late 1970’s at the famous Cellar Door club in Georgetown (Washington, DC). I have seen nearly every incarnation since. It is wonderful after all this time that Pat can still hold an audience in rapt attention.

Low Output MC Cartridge, USP-1, and SUT

I've long been a vinyl-phile since I was a kid (now 51). I've got a few thousand records, some are over 40 years old that I bought as a kid and still sound great!. I also run a linux based (vortex box distro) Squeezebox server with about 5,000 FLAC albums. Over 1.5 tb of files! I'm not a luddite, I just enjoy the sound and experience of vinyl.

I recently upgraded to a Dynavector DV-20x2 which has an output of only 0.3 mv. Previously, I had been using a medium output (0.9 mv) Benz Glider on my stock VPI scout turntable into an Emotiva USP-1.

After setup and taking time to assess the new cartridge, I started to wonder if I could improve things. My main assessment of the DV-20x2 into the USP-1 was that the sound was okay but maybe lacking in extension on both the low end and high end frequencies. I was especially concerned that I was not retrieving all the high end information I knew to be on the recordings I was very familiar with.

After further research, I decided to try a SUT (Step Up Transformer) and chose the $395 Cinemag 3440A model from Bob's Devices. I consulted by email with Bob about my exact setup and which of his devices would be recommended. A quick PayPal transaction ensued and less than a week later I had this little magic box in my hands.

Paying close attention to cable layout using my own custom cables (Gotham GAC-4/1)with the shield attached only at the source end only (as recommended by Bob) resulted in a very quiet installation with no evident hum whatsoever. Only a small amount of hiss is evident but inevitable when dealing with such minuscule voltages. In case it is not obvious, the purpose of the SUT is to magnify the gain from the cartridge to a sufficient level to drive the moving magnet stage of a preamp. The SUT I bought features a 10x and 16x option and it was recommended I use the 10x selection.

The positive change the SUT brought to my vinyl playback chain was very dramatic to say the least. All reservations I had before were erased and my records now had the frequency extension and dynamic impact I longed for and expected. Some may say that spending an additional $400 for a device attached to a $400 preamp is a lopsided expenditure. All I can say is my vinyl now sounds exceptional and I can't stop listening.

You can read all about Bob's Devices here.

Also, there was a good write-up not too long ago in Stereophile.

One other advantage for using a SUT is that the MM specification seems to be more standardized which I think my contribute to the quality of what I am hearing. I gather MC stages are less standardized and thus more susceptible to sound variations like I experienced. I surmise that when dealing with such low voltages, that cartridge loading (100 ohm, 1k ohm, 47k ohm) becomes ever more critical.

So, for those of you that continue to explore the vinyl world and have ventured into using low output MC cartridges, you may want to add a SUT device like Bob's Devices to your toolbox.

BSO & Marin Alsop 2011-12 Preview Concert

Last night, I attended a wonderful concert at the Strathmore Music Center. Marin Alsop led the BSO in a sampler concert featuring excerpts of works that will be played during the forthcoming 2011-12 season. Highlights for me included a sublime Afternoon of a Faun by Debussy. Alsop provided informative program notes before each piece and pointed out the scandalous for the time “Devil’s Triad” of notes. I was also thrilled to hear the powerful Thus Sprach Zarathustra also known as the theme from the Stanley Kubrick movie 2001 A Space Odyssey. The opening Fanfare for the Common Man by Copland was very powerful and moving as was his theme from Appalachian Spring. Is there any more quintessential American Music?

The BSO under Ms. Alsop’s direction was in top form and based on the smiles on their faces seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves!

Capital Audiofest 2011

Yesterday, I attended the second annual Capital Audiofest. This year the event was hosted in a hotel in Rockville, MD. A very wide selection of audio equipment was on display and available for audition. Several audio industry celebrities were on hand including John Atkinson (Stereophile), Peter McGrath (Wilson Speakers), and Dan D’Agostino.

Additional show coverage can be found here.

Congratulations to show organizer Gary Gill for another outstanding event.

I have posted my pictures of the event for others to enjoy.

Capital Audiofest 2011

Nordic Jazz 2011 – House of Sweden

Another wonderful concert at the House of Sweden on the shores of the Potomac this past Sunday – June 19, 2011. On tap were three Nordic Jazz bands – In the Country (Norway), Tonbruket (Sweden), and the Andres Thor Trio (Iceland).

I enjoyed all three bands and was able to capture pictures and sounds with my LX3 and H1.

In the Country had a cool mellow vibe that quietly ebbed and flowed with adroit use of piano, bass, and drums accented by burbling ambient electronics. Quite effective!

Tonbbruket used an interesting sampling of instruments including piano, bass, drums, guitar, and pedal steel to achieve both calm and driving sounds that were very engaging.

Andres Thor was the most traditional of the three bands and explored the classic bass, drums, and guitar trio sound to full effect. As I confirmed in my conversation with Adres Thor afterward, he cites John Scofield as one of his influences.

This is the fifth year for Nordic Jazz. I am pleased that I have been able to attend the last three of these years. I have high hopes for this series going forward.

Kuára at Finland Embassy 06-14-2011

Last night, I attended a wonderful jazz concert at the foliage filled Finland Embassy in Washington, DC. The music was part of the annual Nordic Jazz week that marshals the resources of the Scandinavian embassies. The series concludes on Sunday 06/19/2011 with an outdoor concert on the rooftop of the Swedish Embassy along the Georgetown waterfront.

The concert at the Finland Embassy featured ECM recording artists Kuára with Per Jørgensen on trumpet. This was their first concert in the United States. True to the ECM sound, the music mixed jazz, folk songs, and ambient sounds in an exciting and dramatic fashion. What a delight.

The concert gave me an opportunity to try out my newly purchased Zoom H1 recorder. My brief listen of the result sounds very good. I will now have to hunker down to perform the post editing to bring out the best results. Based on this test, I believe the H1 is close to equal to my H2 that has served me so well.

I also took many pictures with my trusty Panasonic LX3. Even with the challenging light situation, I captured a few good shots.