I had a serendipitous moment back in 2004 while attending a Roy Hargrove concert at Ravinia in Highland Park, Illinois. Roy Hargrove is one of my favorite trumpet players and he and his band did not disappoint that evening. However, my serendipity occurred when Roy introduced Roberta Gambarini, an Italian jazz vocalist whom I had never heard. There is a certain ineffable beauty associated with a musical event that  incorporates a top flight band and a beautiful female voice. Roberta  Gambarini's vocal command unequivocally made that special night even more special. Roberta Gambarini was born in Turin, Italy, and started taking clarinet lessons at age twelve. She made her singing debut at age seventeen in jazz clubs around Northern Italy, then moved to Milan, where she worked in radio and television and began recording under her own name in 1986. In 1998, two weeks after arriving in the United States with a scholarship from the New England Conservatory of Music, she was awarded a third place finish in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition. She left Boston for New York City to find work in jazz clubs. I was unable to add this fine vocalist to my music collection for a couple of years. However, in 2006, the Groovin High label released Roberta's American debut album, "Easy to Love," nominated as Best Jazz Album at Grammy Awards 2007. In January 2007 she was nominee as Best Jazz Singer at the Italian Jazz Awards. As a side note, Roberta did an album in 1991 called Apreslude with her mellifluous vocals combined with the guitar artistry of Antonio Scarano.

          Last month I received a call from an audiophile friend of mine. Our conversation centered around changes we had made to our respective audio systems and our long overdue need to get together for some listening sessions. One of the things he shared with me during our conversation was a High-End Audio Retailer on the north side of Chicago called Van L Speakerworks. Since I was unfamiliar with this brick-n-mortar establishment, it ignited my curiosity. A Google search brought up a Stereo Times review by Mike Wright from 2009: http://www.stereotimes.com/speak042709.shtml on speakers called the Quartets designed by the owner of Van L Speakerworks, John Van Leishout. Going to his website I saw that Van L now had a new speaker design in his line-up called the Silhouette. Unlike the Quartets which are monitors, the Silhouettes are floor standing. Both designs employ Van L's proprietary Ambient Recovery Circuitry. I found this concept quite intriguing:

          The next revolution in loudspeaker design comes from the the patent specification entitled "Ambient Expansion Loudspeaker".