Mark Smotroff

5 days ago | ecoustics.com | Mark Smotroff

Two highly sought after, deeply collectible, early Miles Davis LPs have just received the audiophile spa reissue treatment from Craft Recordings’ Original Jazz Classics (OJC) series: 1957’s Walkin’ and 1955’s The Musing Of Miles. These all-analog (AAA) reissues were cut directly from the original master tapes, both recorded by the legendary Rudy Van Gelder in Hackensack, NJ, and meticulously remastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio.

5 days ago | ecoustics.com | Mark Smotroff

Record Store Day (RSD) 2025 may be over (well, until Black Friday/RSD later this year), but you can still find plenty of special editions in the racks of your favorite shops and online. Here’s a quick round-up of a few I snagged—mostly happy with my picks, but there’s one I’m still hunting for! If you can’t track these down locally, look for them on Amazon. Colemine Records (affiliated with Cincinnati’s Plaid Room Records store) has championed independent new modern vintage soul music since 2007.

5 days ago | analogplanet.com | Mark Smotroff

Original Soundtracks 1 by Passengers (a.k.a. Brian Eno and U2) Is a Must-Own 180g 2LP Recycled Black Vinyl 30th Anniversary Record Store Day Release One of the more under-the-radar releases that I didn’t see or hear many people talking about pre-Record Store Day 2025 (which occurred last Saturday, April 12, 2025) is the 30th anniversary 180g 2LP vinyl reissue of Passengers’ Original Soundtracks 1, a 1995 collaboration between U2 and their then-producer Brian Eno.

1 week ago | ecoustics.com | Mark Smotroff

An exciting development from the crossroads of jazz, television and animation is the recent series of releases from Lee Mendelson Film Productions (LMFP), masterminds behind the iconic Peanuts TV specials of the 1960s through the ‘70s. Music for these programs was created by jazz legend Vince Guaraldi, yet by and large he capped off his commercially-released output in 1970.

2 weeks ago | ecoustics.com | Mark Smotroff

Three new 1LP releases from Craft Recordings available at independent music shops on Record Store Day (RSD) 2025 are as different as can be, but all are high-quality, thoughtful productions spanning bluesy country-soul and jazz. Included are the first time vinyl issue of “Queen of Memphis Soul” Carla Thomas’ legendary unreleased 1970 Sweet Sweetheart, an in-demand Thelonious Monk collaboration with Gerry Mulligan and a fine curated collection of late 1950s / early ‘60s jazz moods.