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The advance files that I received to review labeled “Old Folks” as “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was.” I informed the label, which hadn’t printed the sleeve yet. Unfortunately, the liner notes mention the incorrect title, so I am unsure if a song was substituted late or the writer didn’t recognize the mislabeled song.

RIP

Ah, I'll only buy Apple laptops, they've moved away from USB charging. A weakness perhaps, but I love them, don't like Wiindows.

RIP Steve - you were an indispensable contributor to the magnificent "Stax" sound but my fondest memories were your (& the M.G.s) appearances on The Blues Brothers movie back in the 80s. He played here (Australia) at the Blues & Roots Festival (Byron Bay) in 2018

I just want to say as a regular compiler that while participation is down, we are fortunate to have @JSngry @tkeith @Joe and @webbcity as regular participants as their ears are a serious cut above.

Thanks for assembling this! I'm most surprised that I IDed Cowell and Parlan. I have likely listened and filed away the former record many times, but the latter is one I don't know. Time to rectify!

https://gearboxrecords.bandcamp.com/album/strasbourg-82 p.s. I corrected the spelling of the thread title.

Cropper's guitar sound was with me from the first years I started liostening to muisc. A Booker T. & THe M.G.s LP was among my first five LPs I ever bought. Here was a guy opti for a group sound rather than playing ego trips. That was a role model for me, even though I never played a guitar. R.I.P., and thanks for your great attitude.

👍- on my shelf:

Damn. Cropper was one of my favorite guitarists in that idiom. His work with Otis Redding and Booker T and the MG's was epochal. I'm struggling to think of a single Stax record that he featured on that I dislike - it's all eminently listenable.

Steve Cropper has died at 84. RIP. Steve Cropper, guitarist and member of Stax Records' Booker T and the MG.'s, has died at age 84

Thanks so much for your great insights and amazing ear!

That’s a great story Peter. Must have been a wonderful experience. Yeah I think that one really stands out in the already excellent Milestone catalogue. The Craft reissue sounds terrific

Would it be fair to say the theme of this BFT is bass and voices? Enjoyed the listen. Some blow-by-blow below. Track 1 That’s the kind of treble I associate with the era when AM radio still played pop music. Which is to say that I enjoy the time capsule nature of this. I don’t know the vocalist (who I won’t presume is also the songwriter…. but are they? … I mean, the singing is almost a dramatic recital. This singer is wanting to make sure that the meaning of these lyrics really comes across). I was maybe expecting the vibrato less than I was the near-scat. Will be interested to learn the answer to the singer-songwriter question. Track 2 Sounds like a late 80s or early 90s production, and the tenor is pretty reminiscent of David Murray. Hmmm, so the theme is one thing, but the solos are going to play out over the major mode from Trane’s “My Favorite Things”? Now that the tenor is soloing, I’m 99.9% sure its Murray, but this is not from a record I remember (or recognize). Could it be one of those Red baron dates? I’m not sure the high register stuff has aged that well. But when Murray dips into the gutbucket… solid. The drummer is the hero of this track. What he’s ding is evocative of Elvin without being an imitation of Elvin. Will be curious to learn who it is. Andrew Cyrille? Definitely a part of many Murray ensembles over the years. Would not surprise me! Track 3 I like riding this harmonic escalator! The strength of both hands makes me wonder if this is Jaki Byard, but I think not. Many moods here. Stanley Cowell perhaps? There’s some church music in that left hand to be sure, and some Afrocentrism, but both have been sort of abstracted. The rhapsodism (did I just make that word up?) comes from another tradition, at least partly. I’m guess I’m saying there’s some fascinating straddling in this performance, but it still feels very 70s to me. Oh, an overtly bluesy lick around the 6:15 mark. Good - very good - stuff. Track 4 Not Nick Drake, but the bass player has probably listened to Danny Thompson. Oh… this is John Martyn, isn’t it? I’m not sure why I’ve never gotten into him the way I have Jansch, Renbourn, Drake, and that generation of English troubadours, as Martyn is most overtly “jazzy” of them all. I guess his singing requires some taste acquiring. But this track reminds me that I should give him another try. So, heck, that very likely is Danny Thompson on bass. Oh, so they are going outside here at end? Interesting. (Yeah, and Martyn just said, “Oh yes, Daniel!”) Track 5 Spacey. Guitar tone screams (in a good way) Carlos Santana. As does the groove, when it comes in. Rhodes or Wurlitzer? Its the “Riders on the Storm” electric piano sound in my mind. Is this from CARAVANSERAI? Or maybe WELCOME? I suppose this could be Santana guesting on someone else’s record, but a stronger hunch tells me this is from the Tom Coster era of his band. Either way, I’m not familiar with the tune. No complaints, even if I don’t find it all that exciting. I think I like the keyboard progression on the fadeout best. Track 6 Ah, and now the fuzzy electric piano. And B-3? OK, how many keyboard players are there on this track? I feel like its meant to smolder, but its dragging a bit for me. The dynamics also feel more “rock” to me than not. I’m not saying this is full-on Keith Emerson, but there’s some prog here. Ah, now that the vocal has arrived: I’m guessing this is Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger. Nice B-3 solo, but that synth string sound - which I’m not opposed to on principle - is diluting my enjoyment of the rest of ther performance. Auger is a fine colorist on the B-3. No Shirley Scott, no, but no slouch either. Can’t really knock the musicianship, though. Track 7 Khan Jamal on vibes? The tune sounds kind of Jamal-esque (thinking here of DARK WARRIOR on Steeplechase). This feels very “indie” and also very much like a group of local guys splashing around in their pond. The drummer is just a little too straight for me. I’d like to hear what the horn players do with a different set of collaborators. Track 8 A very different vibes player. The presence of organ - even though they’re mostly playing accents - makes me think this might be Johnny Lytle, but I’m not really a big Lytle listener. Whoever it is has their own sound on the instrument. This is not Bags, or Dickerson, or Hutcherson. Kind of “cloudy”, if that makes any sense. Tight groove! And then tenor sax kind of out of nowhere. Guitar player is giving off some strong Melvin Sparks vibes, especially with the fast picked stuff. What era is this? It’s kind of tmeless, I’d venture. Track 9 “Soul Brother (Dedicated to Malcolm X)” by Marvin Hannibal Peterson, whose tone is just marvelous here. Have loved this tune since I first heard it on Andew Cyrille’s MY FRIEND LOUIS (DIW) - a rather more sedate version that this, the original. Fire. And Michael Carvin has a lot to do with that. Why don’t I listen to more Michael Carvin? (Not to neglect what Stafford James is doing here, with playing that’s both droning and propulsive.) Track 10 A very soulful version of “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.” This pianist really digs in, . I mean, it feels like they’re really probing and going deep, trying to overcome their ownpet phrases, to get to the emotional center of the tune. The drummer isn’t far behind. I mentioned Jaki Byard earlier… this sounds more like Jaki than not, and it wold make sense, given Jaki’s association with Mingus. But I don’t think Jaki would play some of the more stock-like phrases this pianist falls back on here and there. Really like what’s happening around the 4:20 mark. And between 7:15 and 7:40, too. Could this be Horace Parlan? With Dannie Richmond? I just saw an interview with Dannie from the 70s where he talks about how he spent much of that decade playing what he identified as rock and roll. And he said he enjoyed it because that music required him to play more of his kit than the jazz he had been playing did. I’ll have to see if I can find the clip. But I can hear a drummer playing all of his drums here. Track 11 Alicia Keys adapting Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We’ll All Be Free.” Covering Donny Hathaway is not for the faint of heart. Alicia does not embarrass herself… but a llittle bit less at the end would have come to more. But she’s young; she’ll figure it out. Also, scaling the arrangement back to just voice and piano…. the song loses a little bit of its ambivalence / ambiguity, or, better, its emotional complexity. But, again, I think she’ll figure it out, as she makes her fair share of good choices here.

👍 The Decca's are fantastic!

Peter, I haven't gotten started yet! It's been a hectic time.