From Jean-Luc Ponty‘s website comes this exciting bit of news:

A new studio album with new compositions performed by JEAN LUC PONTY & HIS BAND entitled THE ACATAMA EXPERIENCE will be released on MAY 4th in the USA by Koch Records and in some European countries after May 21 by Universal (TBA). This new album also features two great guitarists: Allan Holdsworth appears in one piece and Philip Catherine contributes solos in two other songs.

Jean-Luc and his band will also be touring this summer in support of the band. Tickets are on sale now for selected dates. Also, recent Jean-Luc Ponty projects are scheduled for re-release by Koch Records, including his previous Life Enigma album (on 4/27/07), the live Semper Opera and In Concert CDs (7/31/07), and the In Concert DVD (8/14/07). We will features these titles here in the Rudy’s Corner Store.

I’ve been revisiting an “oldie but goodie” over the past few days. Several years ago, I found the Joe Sample Collection CD on GRP, which had highlights of all of his solo recordings for MCA Jazz. Since then, I have picked up a handful of his albums on CD, as well as a couple on vinyl. Prior to that, I owned a CD from the early 90s, Spellbound, which featured guest vocalists Al Jarreau, Michael Franks and Take 6 on three separate tracks. And, I have the landmark Crusaders recording featuring Randy Crawford on “Street Life”, one of my favorite tunes of that era (even in its extended 11 minute version, which passes in the blink of an eye), along with a few other Crusaders albums dating back into the 70s. I’ve recently just pulled out another favorite of mine and am giving it another spin right now.

Maybe I’m a bit crazy for writing up mini-reviews on albums that have been available for several years, or even a couple of decades…but some of them are enduring cornerstones of my collection, and what I feel are high points of an artist’s repertoire. The subject today is no exception to that rule: Michael Franks’ album Passionfruit is, in my opinion, one of his finest works. While the production might sound slightly dated, the sound of the album overall is very cohesive and easy to get into. It’s not as dated sounding as Skin Dive or, more so, The Camera Never Lies. But between this album, Sleeping Gypsy, Dragonfly Summer and Blue Pacific, this is the one I listen to the most.

A few years ago, two new high-resolution digital audio formats debuted amidst the flurry of low-resolution audio formats that were aimed for portability and downloading.  This article will help you decipher some of the different high-res and disc formats available today.  Although support from the major labels for these formats is dwindling somewhat, it is still a viable niche market that many audiophiles enjoy listening to and collecting.

As I figured, all good things had to come to an end. No, the Nickelodeon series Spongebob has not gone off the air, but for all purposes, it might as well have gone off the air. A few years ago, I caught a few minutes of Spongebob just out of curiosity to see what my kids were watching and laughing so hard at. One thing led to another, and I ended up enjoying it myself. So, why don’t I enjoy it lately?