Reviewer's Bio

Leonard Norwitz,
Musical Wisdom

  Began collecting records in 1956. Leonard tried CDs about 10 years ago, yet gave them up due to worrying they were causing small bone degeneration -- the ones in his ear. So much for neurosis! For better or worse, pressed on with collecting records as if they were going out of style, slowing down only a few months ago.

In 1964 he obtained a BA in Music Composition from UCSB. Did some graduate work in the same field for a couple of years at UC Berkeley. Everything Leonard has written was played at public performances, some of them out of state, even out of the country. When he left college, the inspiration, alas, remained behind. So Leonard began teaching his own theories about music listening at UC Extension, Santa Cruz.

Seriously into photography and backburnered his interests in music... until Leonard met Peter Qvortrup at Audio Note (then Audio Innovations) as his US distributor. "Peter is one of the few people I've met in the audio biz who puts his money where his proverbial mouth is his love of music. If you've ever been to his sound rooms at CES or the HI-Fi Show you know what I mean," says Leonard.

In the past decade Leonard has concentrated his record research efforts in mono LPs: classical and pop. "I would have gotten into jazz, but I never seemed to have the time to do it justice. I expect that some of what I'll be writing about in future columns will deal with obtainable mono LPs of interest," concludes Leonard.