The Absolute Sound Senior Reviewer Jim Hannon interviews Bob Attiyeh in honor of Yarlung’s 15th Anniversary

Jim Hannon: Congratulations on your 15th Anniversary! I have enjoyed Yarlung’s superb recordings from the start. They are so well recorded. I use many of them as references for equipment reviews. Here’s hoping that the next fifteen years at Yarlung will be even more fruitful! Yarlung producer Bob Attiyeh: Thank you so much, Jim.  It makes me happy every time I hear that a musician and audiophile like you enjoys our musicians and the way we capture their performances.  It is hard to imagine this is already Yarlung’s 15th anniversary.  Extraordinary musicians and composers, generous corporate and individual underwriters, the finest family of distributors on the planet, and a terrific group of board members for our nonprofit have enabled this success.  Additionally, audiophile titans like Steve Hoffman, Bernie Grundman, Arian Jansen, Elliot Midwood, and yes, Jim Hannon, took us under their wings to make sure we would thrive.  JH: How Continue Reading →

The Absolute Sound Celebrates Yarlung’s 15th Anniversary

“Congratulations on Yarlung’s 15th Anniversary! I have enjoyed Yarlung’s superb recordings from the start. They are so well recorded. I use many of them as references for equipment reviews. Here’s hoping that the next fifteen years at Yarlung will be even more fruitful!” –Jim Hannon, Senior Writer The Absolute Sound Yarlung thanks the brilliant musicians and team of people and companies who made these first fifteen years possible, including our valiant board members Kat Alder, Bob Attiyeh, Leslie Bigos, Aaron Egigian, Nick Goldsborough, Carol Henry, Sir Neville Marriner (in memoriam), Craig Martin, Donna Morton, Jim Mulally, Abby Sanger and J Schlichting, our all-important executive producers Randy Bellous, Lucile Grieder, Arian Jansen, Ann & Bill Harmsen, Craig & Diane Martin, Elliot Midwood, Carlos & Haydee Mollura, Jim Mulally and Russell Ward, and the generous foundations and corporations who have funded these recordings.  Special thanks this year to the California Community Foundation Continue Reading →

Yuko Mabuchi plays Miles Davis vol 1

Yuko Mabuchi – Yuko Mabuchi Plays Miles Davis, Volume 1  By Eddie Carter  Yuko Mabuchi has been making a positive statement on the jazz scene since her 2018 releases, Yuko Mabuchi Trio, Volumes 1 and 2.  She steps into the spotlight this morning to give her second live performance at Cammilleri Hall before an enthusiastic crowd.  Yuko Mabuchi Plays Miles Davis, Volume 1 (Yarlung Records YAR45588-171V) is a single 45-rpm audiophile album offering two jewels from Kind of Blue and two original tunes by the leader.  She’s working again with trio members Del Atkins on bass and Bobby Breton on drums, plus JJ Kirkpatrick on trumpet.  JJ is a member of Sophisticated Lady Jazz Quartet and my copy used in this report is the 2020 Stereo album. Yuko sets the groove for Side One with Miles’ All Blues, her enthusiastic notes on the introduction flowing as naturally as spoken words.  Continue Reading →

Laura Strickling triumphant in “Opera News”

Congratulations Laura! Opera News remains the crème de la crème of publications for serious classical singers.  Opera News wrote a glowing review for Sasha Cooke’s Yarlung debut album If You Love For Beauty, and now Opera News celebrates Laura Strickling and Joy Schreier for their debut album Confessions.  Laura and Joy we are so happy for you. Many thanks for your great artistry Laura and Joy, and thanks to Randy Bellous for your support as our executive producer. Not only did Joanne Sydney Lesser label Confessions with the Opera News Critic’s Choice Award, but opens her article: Laura Strickling, an experienced interpreter of new music, has put together and exemplary recital of world-premiere recordings.  Strickling is a compellingly honest performer, whose rich, expressive soprano conveys vulnerability with a balance of shimmering tone and unaffected diction.  Both Strickling and her superbly emotive pianist Joy Schreier ring every nuance out of these Continue Reading →

Soprano Laura Strickling pays “homage to the feminine, gathering her audience in a warm and brilliant embrace of sisterhood” –American Record Guide

American Record Guide  March/April 2021, pages 181-182 Confessions Laura Strickling, soprano; Joy Schreier, piano Composers: Assad, Lyons, Cipullo, Kirsten, Djupstrom, Larsen Randy Bellous: Executive Producer Yarlung catalog number 18798     61 minutes Laura Strickling dedicated this album to the memory of her aunt, Janet Strickling, who was a powerful supporter of the album but died from Covid-19 before she could hear the finished product. This album feels like an homage to femininity: the lovely, the messy, the American Record Guide 181 graceful, the rough-around-all-the-edges, and the sisterhood we share with others, with people who encountered it before us and have helped us navigate our own womanhood— and the legacy that we write in the colorful story of our actions and dramas and innermost contemplations. This is a collection of poignant works, pieces whose words and notes exhibit storytelling at its finest. If you see yourself in the texts, you’ll yourself feel Continue Reading →

The Absolute Sounds adds “Young Beethoven” to the famous SUPER LP LIST!

The Absolute Sound celebrated six Yarlung vinyl titles on the TAS Super LP list again in 2020, and I’m delighted to say that Young Beethoven executive produced by Carlos and Haydee Mollura featuring performances both explosive and subtle by Janaki String Trio now joins as Number 7! Check out Young Beethoven in multiple formats here. Thanks also to Mr. Stephen Estep for his glowing article about Young Beethoven last March.

Three articles about “Symmetriā Pario.”

Yarlung executive producer Russell Ward deserves credit for encouraging Yarlung in an additional direction this year and last.  Russell’s love of music and his background in quantum physics and the origins of things united.  These inspired his Symmetriā project.  In short, Russell encourages us to hear and feel connections between music composed by human beings and music resulting from nature.  Olivier Messiaen heard music in bird song, of course, and incorporated much “bird song” played by acoustic and electronic instruments into his compositions for human musicians to perform.  Russell would argue that we might perceive bird song and human-composed music on an equal footing, and he asks us to hear music derived from files of data captured from atomic and subatomic particle evolution and decay in a similar way.  So far, Russell collaborated with Yarlung Records to release Symmetriā Pario, an album juxtaposing subatomic particle “music” with music already extant Continue Reading →

“Audiotechnique Magazine” publishes insightful article on “Yuko Mabuchi plays Miles Davis”

I heard two impressive 45 rpm vinyl LPs [containing the music from Yuko Mabuchi plays Miles Davis] in late 2020. The CD version had been previously released and the DSD version was released on the famous DSD music sales website NativeDSD.com which awarded Yuko Mabuchi plays Miles Davis the Best Jazz Recording of the Year. The American record label Yarlung Records is responsible for the production and distribution of this album.  Yuko Mabuchi plays Miles Davis is one of those albums that can be appreciated just as much for its recording quality as it can for its musical success. The booklet notes mention the use of SonoruS Holographic Imaging Technology in the recording process. In researching the label I learned that Yarlung sets itself apart in three particular ways: 1. Yarlung tends to record live performances. 2. The label records simultaneously in analog and digital media. (The analog chain utilizes Continue Reading →

Jazz star Yuko Mabuchi in Mori Shima’s new book

Japanese author and music critic Mori Shima included an entire chapter on Yarlung Records and our label’s jazz releases featuring Yuko Mabuchi.  (Notice Mr. Shima’s references to Sophisticated Lady Jazz Quartet.  We await test pressings from lacquers cut by Bernie Grundman in a few weeks.)  Translating from Japanese to English is an art, not a science, and I am grateful to Mori-san himself and to Yuko for helping guide our English language text below.  Thank you both! Many thanks to Cooper Bates photography for our album imagery. We express our special appreciation for Craig & Diane Martin, Randy Bellous, Arian Jansen, Claude Cellier, Merging Technologies and Toyota North America for generously underwriting our first two releases with Yuko in their various formats. –Bob Attiyeh, producer  “Yarlung Records and Rising Star Yuko Mabuchi, from Fukui Japan“ Yarlung Records is a Los Angeles-based boutique label run by its founder, producer and engineer Continue Reading →

Women in Music That We Love: In Rotation

Ian White and Eric Pye published an article in ecoustics “celebrating women in music this month with some of our favourite artists and the music that helped shaped a century of music.” Among his favorites including Sarah Vaughan, Janis Joplin, Ofra Haza and Billie Eilish is our dear Yuko Mabuchi! “Mabuchi’s playing is melodic and mature, with a strong sense of rhythm, and at various points expresses her love of modern American music and her classical training. “I love this album for so many reasons, including its blend of modern and traditional styles, and Japanese and western sensibilities; in spite of these diverse influences, it is a remarkably cohesive outing. As a bonus, it’s wonderful to see a young woman making waves in the traditionally male-dominated jazz genre.” CD | Vinyl Vol 1 | Vinyl Vol 2 | DSD | HDTracks | Amazon | iTunes Thank you Yuko! March 18th, 2021