Copper

Amped Up

Art Dudley's personal, well-worn copy of The Tube Amp Book, Volume 3 by Aspen Pittman, 1991. The page with the schematic for the Fender Bassman Model 5F6-A (introduced in 1958...

Octave Records Releases The Complete Bach Cello...

Octave Records latest release is a landmark: The Complete Bach Cello Suites by world-renowned cellist Zuill Bailey. Recorded in pure DSD high-resolution audio in stereo and multichannel sound, the six...

We Remember Art

I recently had the honor of attending an event in memory of Art Dudley, who sadly passed away on April 14, 2020. Art was the deputy editor of Stereophile, had...

Eye of the...Donkey?

This donkey, Mister D, lived next door to where I worked. He had a great “hee-haw” bray that I recorded. My boss used it for a ringtone. Click here to...

Cal Tjader, Part Four: The Second Fantasy Recor...

In Issues 138, 139 and 140, this series covered Cal Tjader’s early years at Fantasy Records, the Verve Records period from 1961 – 1968, and his following stints at Skye...

Back in the World

It was the late summer of 1966, and I was still a teenager when the Army rotated me back into the world (stateside), specifically, the Whitehall Street Induction Center at...

Ephemera

Bad Hair Year

Swept Away

The Klipschorn Decorator Birch was a less-expensive unfinished version of the loudspeaker. They could be veneered or painted. This one has a Richard Modafferi-modified crossover and it’s next to some...

Guy Michelmore: Film and TV Composer, YouTube E...

Guy Michelmore is a creative powerhouse. His talents have made him the go-to “Guy” for composing scores for some of the most entertaining TV shows and films of our generation, including major...

The Home Entertainment (T.H.E.) Show: People an...

After trade show after trade show were understandably cancelled due to the pandemic, I wondered, which would be the first show to reopen? Signaling the provable reduction in threat, and...

Born-Again Brahms

The intrepid Hungarian pianist András Schiff has pressed against received wisdom since indulging in Bach early on and rarely programming any Chopin (a cornerstone of any pianist’s repertoire). You can...

The Giants of Tape, Part Seven: The Telefunken ...

To follow a few installments dedicated to Ampex (Issues 136 and 137) and MCI (Issues 138 and 139), it is time to return once again to the Old World, and discover Europe’s best-kept audio secret! While...

Cal Tjader, Part Three: Odds and Ends

Eddie Palmieri, The Skye Records Era, Savoy Records, and Huracan In our previous installment (Issue 139), we reached the end of Tjader’s tenure with Verve Records. (Part One of this series in Issue 138...

Record Store Dazed

Metallica: An Inside Look

When my good buddy James asked if I’d like to do a Q&A with his friend and Metallica stage manager, Mike Washer, I said “absolutely.” I knew a Q&A with...

A Charmed Life

 One of the attendees I met at The Home Entertainment (T.H.E.) Show in Long Beach last month was a guy named Carter. Every time I noticed him in the listening...

Chinese Food for Thought

After five weeks consuming the compromised cuisine of Mongolia – an almost vegetable-free land of herders and nomads – eating while traveling in China was an exciting daily adventure. Each...

Ancient Garrard Turntables: Still Relevant Toda...

In Part One (Issue 139), Adrian Wu outlined a history of Garrard 301, 401 and other turntables, and provided an in-depth examination of their advantages and foibles. Part Two concludes...

What Was the B.F.D. About R.E.M.?

My neighbor is a generation younger than me. I’ll call him Trent. Like everyone else in my neighborhood, Trent and his wife are spending part of the pandemic cleaning out...

The Ramones, Early On

It was a conference call from Linda Stein and Danny Fields in 1976. They told me they managed the Ramones and had a UK tour coming up. They offer me...

A Tale of Two Systems...

...and a podcast announcement. I now have a podcast called “The Jay Jay French Connection: Beyond the Music,” available on the Spotify, Apple Music and PodcastOne platforms. On a recent...

Tanya Tucker: Delta Dawn Never Sets

Child stars have a way of losing their luster in adulthood, but country singer Tanya Tucker is a rare exception. She had her first hit single in 1972, when she...

The Chamber Music of Luigi Boccherini: Elegance...

In his own day, Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) was decidedly retro. The Italian composer was trained first by his cellist father in the town of Lucca and eventually in the musically...

The Allman Brothers and the Making of the 50th ...

When Jaimoe, one of the last surviving original members of the Allman Brothers Band reached out to his former bandmates early last year, no one could possibly have imagined how...

AES Show Spring 2021, Part Two: Psychology and ...

As a result of COVID-19, AES Show Spring 2021, named “Global Resonance,” was conducted online from Europe. This afforded me the rare opportunity to view a number of the presentations,...

Alone Together

Devils Golf Course, Death Valley National Park, California, October 2018. The rock formations are about knee-high and sharp enough to cause cuts.

Trained Ear

Platinum Award

We’re proud to announce that Copper writer Alón Sagee, chief troublemaker of the San Francisco Audiophile Society, has received the society’s first Founder’s Award. It happened in a surprise ceremony...

Issue 140

Issue 141

Well Traveled

These boots were made for walking. Cowgirl, Sonoita, Arizona.

Classic Yes in High-Resolution Digital

Now that my digital music system has been hitting on all cylinders for several months, I’ve suddenly become interested in high-resolution releases of Yes albums again, and have been on...

International Sweethearts of Rhythm: Swing Is a...

Although they are not as well remembered as their male counterparts, there were a number of female-only bands in the early decades of jazz. Harlem musician Lil Hardin had her...

The Giants of Tape, Part Six: the MCI JH-110, P...

In the previous episode, we talked about the merits of the MCI JH-110 professional studio tape recorder. Now it’s time to have a look at its not-so-strong points. Despite its...

Pump It Up: Elvis Costello

In the early 1970s, some young musicians in London were getting tired of the fancy productions being pawned off as rock music. They made an effort to get back to...

Standing Room Only

Wouldn’t you hate it if you went to the theatre and had purchased your higher-tier seats with guaranteed optimal views of everyone on stage, the sets and even a glimpse...

The Montreux Years: Documenting The Legendary J...

The Montreux Jazz Festival has been home to some of modern music’s most memorable live performances. Across its fifty-year history, what has really set the festival apart has been its commitment to...

Cal Tjader: The Verve Era (1961 – 1968)

In our first installment of this series, we looked at Cal Tjader’s first body of work on the Fantasy Records label. Our story picks up at the point where Tjader...

Between Tours

I am sitting in Trax, a music biz hangout club that is a few steps below street level. Trax was a pretty good-sized space located in a pre-War building on...

Big Mac

A MAC Audio Company MAC-1900 receiver. Made by McIntosh in the 1970s at a time when Frank McIntosh would not put his name on a receiver. Photo courtesy of Howard...

Octave Records’ Latest: The Nature of Things by...

Octave Records is honored to announce its latest release, The Nature of Things by Foxfeather. It’s a compelling blend of rock, pop, acoustic-electric roots music, blues and more, led by...

Acoustic Guitarist Extraordinaire: Gordon Giltr...

Modern-day troubadour and acoustic-guitar pioneer since the 1960s, Gordon Giltrap, MBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) is one of the finest guitarists of his generation. The English musician...

The Return of T.H.E. Show

Kids used to go to the carnival to have fun. They didn’t go there to make a living, network, or scope out the competition. For me, audio shows are like...

Tom Waits – Our Beat Storyteller, Part One

He was born when lightning struck a distillery near Pomona, somewhere between All Saint’s Day and All Fool’s Day. His essence spilled out of a busted bottle of Chivas Regal...

AES Show Spring 2021, Part One

Similarly to their AES Fall 2020 New York show, the Audio Engineering Society’s AES Show Spring 2021 convention, though “located” in Europe, was conducted virtually –which allowed a New Yorker...

Ancient Garrard Turntables: Still Relevant Today?

When I first got into this hobby in the early 1980s in the UK, Linn ruled the land of turntables, and British audiophiles hung on to every word uttered by...

Rotational Accuracy

Self-Help Before YouTube

Have you ever wondered how we learned to do things (repair/install/build/develop skills, etc.) before smartphones and YouTube came along? Well, back in ancient times, before “there’s an app for that,”...

Phair Play

Liz Phair: Soberish (Chrysalis) Liz Phair: Horror Stories (memoir 2018) A few weeks ago a new Liz Phair song, “Hey Lou,” came on the radio, and I was smitten. It’s an imagined, one-way conversation...