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Older fans of To Tell the Truth probably knew that in the '40s Collyer played Superman on the radio.

Haunting? I sure hope that that one was staged...

It's been a few decades since I read that book, but I came away from it with a vivid lasting impression that Bowman levied a pretty scathing indictment against Union Planters as being the real murderers of Stax. Bell's perspective about all that was certainly no surprise here. The depth of the CBS backstabbing was, I don't really remember all that, not to that extent. But the odious actions of Union Planters, that I remember. #winthropspoketruthtoal

Reinhard Goebel complete Archiv box, disc 47.

This was the only thread I could find with "Dragon Records" in its title. Maybe not so much about that particular label, but nice to read it again. And perhaps the appropriate place to note that Lars Westin, who founded the label together with pianist Jan Wallgren in 1975, passed away late last year, somewhat under the radar. I would be surprised if there were more releases from the label. They had almost a 50 year run under the same ownership. Incidentally, the first and last original releases for the label (from 1975 and 2020, respectively) were by the same artist, Swedish trumpeter Bengt Ernryd.

Al Bell stands tall. Some date the true end of Memphis soul to the murder of Al Jackson. Either way Hi Records, Willie Mitchell. Southern Soul does indeed live, and yes, it is called Blues. Why not?

Been in touch with numerous contemporary witnesses in the later 80's/early 90's (when memories seemed to be still rather intact) and the story of the music business in Memphis/Muscle Shoals told was sort of a fairytale, but with rather bitter ending(s) .... a lot of the people/artists lived in a rural area, had nothing and out of nowhere became famous and (comparatively) rich .... when sure-fire success took different routes it caused a lot of struggles and some people had to learn the hard way that they simply had a lucky break .... drugs unfortunately were a recurring issue too .... Obviously great Stax releases saw the light of day in the 70's, but they happened less often compared to the incredible "natural" flow of the 60's .... Btw everybody is entitled to tell his side of the story and so is Al Bell ....

🤣🤣

June 18 Con Conrad - 1891 Jeanette MacDonald - 1903 Kay Kyser - 1906 Sammy Cahn - 1913 Don "Sugarcane" Harris - 1938 Paul McCartney - 1942 ***** Bud Collyer - 1908 Linda Thorson - 1947 (I saw her on Broadway in Noises Off.)

Thanks Jim! But damn, not a whole lot to it, is there?! Still, I was curious, so I very much appreciate your sharing it!

Sofia Goodman Makes a Deeply Personal Statement With "Receptive," Set for July 26 Release On Joyous Records Produced by Pascal Le Boeuf, Drummer/Composer's Third Recording Features A New Edition of the Sofia Goodman Group, With Nashville Players Blaise Hearn, Desmond Ng, Jovan Quallo, Dan Hitchcock, Alex Murphy, Leland Nelson, Jimmy Lopez CD Release Shows in Cleveland (7/26), Knoxville (7/27), Nashville (7/29)   June 18, 2024 Sofia Goodman continues her meteoric ascent in the jazz world with Receptive, her July 26 release on Joyous Records. The much-lauded Nashville drummer-composer presents on her third album a profoundly personal cycle of eight original compositions that explore the human values that she holds most dear. The team that augments her journey through her inner self includes the latest incarnation of the renowned Sofia Goodman Group—trumpeter Blaise Hearn, trombonist Desmond Ng, saxophonists Dan Hitchcock and Jovan Quallo, pianist Alex Murphy, bassist Leland Nelson, and percussionist Jimmy Lopez—as well as Grammy-nominated musician and recent Nashville transplant Pascal Le Boeuf, who serves as producer. Receptive represents a careful refinement of the rich, expansive approach that was the hallmark of Goodman’s previous album, 2023’s Secrets of the Shore. It offers the same panoply of grooves, lush harmonies, and textural colors, delivered in a variety of introspective moods (befitting their titles) as well as with a fresh compositional and conceptual confidence. She attributes this in part to the involvement of Le Boeuf, her first experience with an outside producer. “He’d want us to really experiment and get into new territory and get out of our heads to try new things,” Goodman says. “Having him in the studio raised the bar for everybody there, because he’s such an amazing talent.” Back row: Blaise Hearn, Desmond Ng, Jimmy Lopez, Dan Hitchcock, Alex Murphy. Front row: Leland Nelson, Sofia Goodman, Jovan Quallo. Let there be no doubt, however, that Goodman is the leader; Receptive is her vision. From the sweet warmth of the opening “Trust,” to the suspenseful stop-time and driving swing of “The Space Within,” to the knowing contentment (and again, driving swing) of the closing title track, the drummer’s presence both literal and psychic is unmistakable. But that doesn’t mean the other Group members aren’t powerful presences in their own right. Quallo’s gorgeous flute illuminates the charming “Allow,” both in his pacific reading of the melody and his gymnastic solo (which Lopez follows with a purposeful solo statement of his own). Nelson and Ng each offer sharp-eared melodic submissions on “Presence,” while “Socket” finds Goodman’s thoughtfully improvised drums leading the whole Group into a dark, querulous free counterpoint that calls upon the listener to be receptive indeed. Sofia Goodman was born December 22, 1987, in Michigan, but adopted as an infant by a family living near Boston, Massachusetts. There her musical pursuits began with childhood piano lessons. A friend’s drum kit, however, quickly stole both her ears and her heart. She was a punk-rock kid when she attended Berklee College of Music’s Summer Program—but a class there taught by bassist esperanza spalding turned her head. She enrolled in Berklee’s undergraduate program, determined to hone her craft as a drummer, and gradually made her way deeper into jazz as she was earning her degree in Drum Set Performance. Goodman’s postcollege life in Boston was suddenly upended by a fire that consumed her apartment in the city. Needing a fresh start, she relocated to Music City, USA, also known as Nashville, Tennessee. It was an ideal place for a young freelance musician to live and work—and, as it turned out, the city’s concert halls and recording studios were filled with far more than just the country music it’s best known for. Goodman plied her skills with musicians of all stripes, at the same time studying composition for a master’s degree from Belmont University. It was only a short time before she was ready to form her own band. Those early efforts would evolve into what is now the Sofia Goodman Group, building a following throughout the South and into the Midwest. Her first album, 2018’s Myriad of Flowers, received a nomination for Best Jazz Album from the Nashville Industry Music Awards. With Secrets of the Shore, Goodman’s 2023 follow-up, she won that award, and began as well to gain national recognition in the greater jazz community. Receptive, her third effort, pushes her further still on the path to success. The Sofia Goodman Group will be playing the following CD release shows: 7/26 The Bop Stop, Cleveland; 7/27 Preservation Pub, Knoxville, TN; 7/29 Analog at the Hutton, Nashville. Photography: Pascal Le Boeuf (group), Anna Haas (Goodman) Bandcamp: https://thesofiagoodmangroup.bandcamp.com/   EPK: The Sofia Goodman Group | Receptive  Sofia Goodman Web Site  

Thanks, Soulpope. What you write here is indeed broadly consistent with the story told in Bob Bowman's book as well as Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music. It is, in fact, a fitting end to a fairytale-like story that we might want to believe. The first part of the story is a Mom & Pop startup that somehow created an environment in Memphis in the early 50s where black and white musicians could work together in harmony like a small family, and end up creating something very profound against all odds. That part of the fairy tale is true. So it is fitting that the end of story should be that the shattering of this small family through commercialization, greed, expansion, and the rise of racial tensions following MLK's assassination in Memphis would bring a decline of musical quality and management that would eventually take the company down. That story feels very compelling...except that I am not sure that it is true. While I had always sort of accepted this story, I have always been bothered by the apparent inconsistency between this story and what I hear in the music. When I listen to volumes 1 and 2 of the complete Stax singles, I really don't hear a fall in musical quality at all. Only by the end of Volume 3 does it sound like something is not right, although some good music was somehow still made until the end. I really appreciated the recent documentary because it presented a different perspective, and mostly that of Al Bell. This perspective may also be biased but it feels more compelling to me in light of the extraordinary music Stax continued to churn out in the 1970s. On another point, the term southern soul is indeed used in different ways. The reference in my post was to the current musical genre of "Southern Soul" that still has strong popularity in the US South (Ms. Jody, Pokey Bear, Omar Cunningham, etc.) and is commonly referred to as "blues" in the African American community. Those Don Davis-produced Stax sides for Johnnie Taylor are still covered quite often in current Southern Soul circles, and are widely recognized as pioneering music for establishing the current Southern Soul genre.

I’m groovin’! Don Wilkerson “Preach Brother!” Blue Note Japan 85th Anniversary UHQCD 1000×1000 59.8 KB

❤️lovely❤️ ....

Ruben Gonzalez - Introducing (World Circuit)

I have just bought a copy of that due to the same discussion

Symphony No.3 and No.4

The discussion about the variations of Ellington Indigos sent me to my shelves where I rediscovered this gem -