LATEST ADDITIONS

Jazz-listening bars have been popping up across New York City and many other U.S. cities seeking to replicate Japan’s jazz kissa culture, where listening is sacred and talking is verboten. Our resident jazz fanatic Ken Micallef recently commenced a semi-regular gig as a jazz DJ at Tokyo Record Bar in New York City, and here’s his firsthand report on how he got ready for it, how he tweaked their in-house system, and how the gig is going. . .

How many times do we just “make do” in the moment when it comes to handling some of the finer points and little details as we’re tweaking our LP playback systems? More often than not, we default to using flashlights or other inferior light sources whenever we’re calibrating and/or tweaking our turntables. Canadian manufacturer Reliable has a much, much smarter LED task-light solution for doing all that — namely, their new UberLight Frame, which was specifically designed with the audiophile in mind. Read on to see how the UberLight Frame has helped us shine a brighter light upon our detail-oriented table-adjustment proclivities. . .

All hail the return of a classic cart! Or, as Ortofon puts it, “A classic, reimagined.” We’re talking about Ortofon’s MC 90X cartridge, which builds upon the legacy of the Danish company’s rightfully acclaimed MC A90 moving-coil cartridge that was released 17(ish) years ago in conjunction with the company’s 90th anniversary. Read on to see all the specs and features of the limited-edition MC 90X cart. . .

Original blues vinyl pressings are cousins to jazz and soul LPs in terms of scarcity and availability in super-clean condition, just a few of the reasons why they are often super-expensive propositions in the collector’s marketplace. That all makes these four truly outstanding Acoustic Sounds-pedigreed reissues from Verve/UMe and Craft Recordings’ Bluesville series all the more important — in effect, bringing a quartet of classic LP rarities back into more widespread availability in a high-quality manner. Read Mark Smotroff’s Short Cuts combo review to see which of these four 180g 1LP AAA releases from John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mississippi John Hurt, and Lonnie Johnson With Elmer Snowden belong in your collection. . .