Michael Fremer

The all-FET, class-A, B2B-1 phono preamplifier ($1749), made in the US by Liberty Audio, is beautifully built inside and out, and comes in a heavy-duty aluminum chassis with a baked-on crackle finish and a 3/8"-thick, black-anodized faceplate. The overall build quality and physical appearance suggest something that costs more than $3000, which is probably what it would cost were it sold through retailers and not factory direct. It comes with a two-week return policy.

While the Mississippi born, now New York based Wilson is labeled a "jazz singer," she's strayed far from her original comfort zone to cover everyone from The Monkees to Van Morrison to Robert Johnson—and more importantly done it effectively by re-imagining both the familiar arrangements and the listener's every musical expectation.

I once lived on the second floor of an old farmhouse with a springy floor. How it got in my pants, I'll never know! I had a VPI TNT turntable at the time, on a VPI stand that had been filled with leadshot and sand. It was heavy! But the stand still bounced and the 'table's suspension couldn't deal with it and so the stylus bounced around in the groove.

Friday and Saturday Nights in Person at The Blackhawk, San Francisco,everyone's second favorite small club live engagement (the first being Bill Evans at The Village Vanguard) finally gets the AAA 180g vinyl treatment with this double LP set from IMPEX. I wonder why it took so long for a reissue label to do this one?