The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth – Détails, épisodes et analyse

There are people who make great sound feel less like a secret society and more like an open door. Bob Hazelwood is one of them. He is the Director of Engineering and Product Development at Andover Audio, and his career runs through many major players in the industry. He grew up in South Jersey, built his first amplifier at fifteen, and has been chasing better sound ever since. He loves working with his hands, he loves creating things that actually make life feel richer, and he has a deep belief that music shouldn’t require a technical translation guide.

That outlook is woven into Andover’s mission. The company was built on the idea that audiophile quality should not feel intimidating. Good sound can get technical fast, but most listeners simply want music in their homes that feels natural, full, and easy to live with. Andover approaches that goal by pairing thoughtful engineering with designs that stay out of your way. Their IsoGroove technology is a perfect example. It keeps a turntable steady even when it sits directly on its own speaker, a simple but transformative insight that shapes the Andover-One, the SpinBase, and the rest of the company’s approachable hi-fi line.

Their newest chapter is SpinPlay, announced only recently. It takes the philosophy behind the Andover-One and brings it to an even more accessible place. A semi-automatic turntable. A preinstalled cartridge. A factory-set counterweight. A wide, room-filling sound field powered by independent amplification. It is a system that drops easily into the flow of a home and delivers a genuine audiophile experience without the hassle or the learning curve. For many listeners, it may be the first and last record player they need.

Bob is central to all of this. He understands the engineering, but he also understands the psychology of listening: that moment when music fills a room and reminds you why you wanted better sound in the first place. He is passionate about his family, about fixing bad audio where he finds it, about slot car racing and motorcycles and Frank Zappa, and about building products that make it simple for people to love music more deeply.

So please welcome Bob Hazelwood of Andover Audio, a company proving that great sound can feel like an invitation rather than an initiation.

Everyone agrees that music and the arts are essential — they make us smarter, more empathetic, more human. You’ll hear it in every school mission statement, every campaign speech, every conversation about what “really matters” for kids.

And yet, walk into most public schools and the first thing on the chopping block is still the music program. It’s as if we all nodded our heads in agreement and then quietly decided to spend the money somewhere else.

Our guest today, Anthony Mazzocchi, has built a career trying to change that equation. He’s a GRAMMY®-nominated music educator, trombonist, and now the Executive Director of Kaufman Music Center in New York City which is home to the nation’s only K–12 public school with a full music-focused curriculum.

Anthony’s story is one of those rare intersections where the orchestra pit meets the classroom. From leading 100 middle schoolers in a cramped Brooklyn band room to shaping one of the most respected music education programs in the country, his life’s work is a masterclass in how music transforms learning, and how learning transforms lives.

We talk about what it means to teach through sound, why access to these skills still feels like a luxury, and how to build institutions that teach lessons that transcend music itself.

So pull up a chair, maybe dust off your old band instrument, and join us for a conversation about the future of education; one built on rhythm, resonance, and maybe a little bit of rebellion.

Chris Stamey has long been a quietly pivotal figure in American music. From co-founding the influential avant-pop band The dB’s and releasing early indie classics, to his work with Alex Chilton, Big Star’s Jody Stephens, and a wide array of sonic adventurers, his career has bridged the experimental and the melodic, the cerebral and the emotional. 

With his latest album, Anything Is Possible, Stamey returns not to the past, but to the feelings that defined it, particularly the wonder and harmonic richness of AM radio pop from the late 1950s and early ’60s. Featuring collaborators like the the Lemon Twigs, Marshall Crenshaw, Mitch Easter, and members of the Brian Wilson band and Wilco, the record is both deeply personal and richly collaborative, built from meticulous arrangements and inspired improvisations. 

Stamey’s journey—from CBGBs to Chapel Hill, from indie icon to orchestrator of Big Star’s Third concerts—has always been about curiosity, craft, and a refusal to settle into any single identity. In this conversation, we speak with Stamey about the making of Anything Is Possible, his thoughts on musical memory, harmonic language, and collaboration, and how decades of experience continue to sharpen his vision rather than blur it.

Artists need to be inspired to create their best works, and it’s not always easy to have the wherewithal to clearly see the inspiration around us. In fact, for a musician, the insight to this inspiration is often more important than musical or production ability. Listeners love sounds that touch them on an emotional level, but how do you search out that spark? How does the musician find the muse?

This is the journey that Charlie Bruber finds himself traversing on his latest album, Finding the Muse and as you’ll learn, Charlie is open to the idea that there are many sources of inspiration to explore. It may be a famous musician, a vintage keyboard, or something else. In any case, Charlie has created a far-reaching album that delves into all facets of his talents and skills as a multi-instrumentalist and composer. While you’re listening, you may wonder if you’re hearing the same performer, but you’re just seeing all the many different  sides of Charlie Bruber.

Charlie joins us directly from his recording studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota and we end up digging through our respective  record collections in real-time for a fun back-and-forth about albums we both appreciate. We also discuss Charlie’s other important musical projects, specifically, Black Market Brass on Colemine Records. It’s entirely possible, by joining in on our search for Charlie’s muse, you might be given some direction in finding your own. 

One of my old film professors used to say that one had never really seen a film unless they had watched it at least once with the sound off. Audio - be it music, or sound - adds so much detail to a moving picture that sometimes the viewer misses a few visual nuances because they’re also busy listening. While my professor’s approach might be an extreme way to evaluate a movie,  there’s no denying that music and film have long had a strong cooperative association. Long before film even had sound, there was always an attempt to fill the auditory gap.

While the days of the chart-topping soundtrack albums are long gone, there are still some directors who lean heavily on the mix-tape concept to source sound for their films and Wes Anderson is one of them. Marty Isenberg is a bassist and composer based in New York City and on July 7th, he’ll release his newest collection of songs pulled from - and inspired by - the films of Wes Anderson. The album will be titled, The Way I Feel Inside and it will be released on the Truth Revolution Recording Collective label. The music is stellar, of course, but the icing on the cake is the album cover which was illustrated by Renan Campus who tapped into the wonder of Anderson’s aesthetic palette.  

Marty and I delve not only into the music that Wes Anderson has employed in his films, but we talk a bit about the films themselves. We also discuss the players that Isenberg employed on his auditorily filmic adventure including the outstanding work of Sami Stevens who added vocals to many of the album’s tracks adding a crucial layer of dynamism and lyrical context to Isenberg’s vision. So, the lights are going down, join me and Marty as we take our seats and listen to the movies of Wes Anderson. Maybe my old film professor should add another layer to his approach: perhaps one should listen to a film at least once without watching it. 

Musical genre can be a very limiting place; it can put fences around the aspirations and creations of musicians, but it can also cause the listener to stay in their own little world without branching out to explore things that they might also enjoy. It takes a strong group of musicians to move beyond those confines and a loyal and dedicated horde of fans and followers who are ready, willing and able to go wherever their favorite artist chooses to lead them. 

For all intents and purposes, Nickel Creek is a bluegrass band and features Chris Thile (mandolin), and siblings Sara Watkins (fiddle) and Sean Watkins (guitar), but they stretch the barriers of the genre and bring their fans along for the ride. Believe it, or not, even though the band members are all in their early to mid-40s they have been performing together since the late 80s and so they can read each other's thoughts musically - and probably otherwise. They have a brand new album on the shelves this year (Their first release since 2014) called Celebrants and while it may be a bluegrass record it is unbound by the confines of any genre: it’s an exciting musical exploration by three excellent musicians with a potent mixture of artistic symmetry and collegiality.

One of those three excellent musicians - Chris Thile - joins me on this episode to discuss the new Nickel Creek album, of course, but to also engage me in a free-flowing conversation about sound, music, composition, working with others, creation and his own personal musical restlessness and a lifetime of discovery. This talk is a chance to look into the mind of a musician who is always looking out. 

Life is full of twists and turns; unexpected chapters. Sometimes, we recall certain times and experiences and they bear resemblance to vivid dreams, so much so, we might even ask ourselves, did that really happen? We evolve, we move on, but - no matter where we go - we carry those adventures with us, even if we’re not always aware of the influences.

The life of May Pang took an unexpected detour in her early twenties when she became romantically involved with one of the most famous people on planet Earth, John Lennon. While this period of Lennon’s life is often described as a debaucherous tangent, Pang - who was there at his side through it all - explains it with a bit more context in the new, recently released film she is involved in, The Lost Weekend: A Love Story.

The film tells the tale of how Pang and Lennon met and Yoko Ono’s unique role in their relationship. It also explores Pang’s association with many of the ancillary characters in Lennon’s life. Even though the Beatle’s biography has been exhaustively documented, Pang’s film offers a few surprises that only a true insider would be able to share. May Pang allows me the luxury of asking about some things I always wanted to know. Perhaps I ask a few questions that you’ve always wanted to know about this somewhat mysterious episode. Let’s learn about the ballad of John and May.

Longevity in the entertainment business is an attribute worth celebrating. While the industry is often focused on brand-new, younger artists, it’s the performers who have been out there for decades that are really the cornerstone of the touring industry. Of course, it’s also helpful if the music that they’ve created has become popular standards.

Gene Cornish - along with Felix Cavaliere, Eddie Brigati and Dino Danelli, created The Young Rascals in 1964 and became a smash-hit single recording and touring act. What Gene brought to the table was a unique spin and approach on the guitar and - of course - harmonica! Imagine “Groovin’” without a harmonica, it’s impossible. Thanks, Gene.

Gene joins me for a chat about the string of shows he is currently performing with Felix Cavaliere & Gene Cornish's Rascals. We also discuss the recent loss of his good friend and musical compatriot, Dino Danelli, what fans can expect seeing when  he and Felix perform together and he shares some insight on the industry after 60 years in showbusiness.

The arrival of each season brings with it some balance. When one element is taken away, another quality takes its place. It’s the old adage of one door closing and another one opening. No matter how hard we want the long, warm days of sunny summer to last forever, the fall brings its own snug serenity (depending on where you live on planet Earth, of course). 

Alexz Johnson is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress who first gained recognition in the early 2000s by playing the role of the lead character in the Canadian CTV series Instant Star, where she also contributed to the show's soundtrack. She also appeared in the Disney Channel series So Weird, and in the 2006 horror film Final Destination 3. Throughout it all, Johnson has released several critically acclaimed albums and singles, showcasing her talent in various genres, including pop, rock, and folk. Johnson has built a loyal fan base and established herself as a promising and dynamic artist in the Canadian music scene. On her latest LP, Seasons, Alexz explores nature’s natural patterns.


Join Alexz and I as we discuss the ups and downs of the Gregorian Calendar to which we all subscribe. On this episode, you’ll hear Alexz describe her songwriting process, detail the challenges of simultaneously balancing a show business career with raising a family, and how she crafted her latest record which is contemporary and soulful. The skies outside might be warm and beautiful, or perhaps they are overcast and nefarious, nevertheless, Alexz takes it all in and details the highs and lows that each season brings.

To surrender does not always mean to give up. Sometimes, it takes an incredibly strong person to recognize that the flow of life is trying to tell them something. Often, one’s real power can be found by letting go and allowing the natural direction of things to take their course.

Jann Klose’s new album, titled Surrender (Honey Rose Records), is an exploration of many things, but notably that concept as well. His seventh studio album finds this pop/rock singer-songwriter honing his already sharp songwriting chops. There are some notable guests on this album, as well: singer, Alicia Madison duets on a song she co-wrote with Klose titled, “Love You the Most”, fellow songwriter and friend Alex Forbes also co-writes some songs and you’ll hear some beautiful choral embellishments courtesy of a 15-member choir from PS 171 in New York City. 

If you like a pop hook, an earworm that won’t escape your brain no matter how hard you try, you’re in the right place. Join Jann and I as we discuss his newest work, his upcoming world tour, and how it doesn’t always make sense to fight against the forces around you, about how sometimes real strength can be built from learning how to surrender.