jeffcrom

I can (usually) hear the difference between mp3s and CDs, and the former will never replace physical media (CDs, LPs, 78s) for me. But that being said, I love my iPod, and think it's somewhat miraculous that I can carry around a large portion of my music collection in my pocket. Before long car trips, I used to agonize over deciding which CDs (or cassettes, before that) to take. Now I know that I'll have an incredibly wide variety of music to choose from just by grabbing my iPod on my way out the door. When I'm in my living room or music room, it's records or CDs for me. When I'm working around the house or traveling, I'm glad to have the choice of mp3s. I just hope it doesn't become the only choice.

Glad you like it, and you're right about one of the saxophonists - Sonny Stitt. The other one is not James Spaulding, but that's a great guess - that probably would have been my guess if I was hearing this cold. Is the other sac player Charles McPherson? Bunky Green, goddamn!!!! From Soul in the Night. OBO110X MG No it's not. It's Robin Kenyatta, In the bag, from Deuces wild. Well, I knew I had it. Encore OBO110X MG Got it on the second try. It is indeed "In the Bag," from Stitt's album Deuces Wild, issued on Atlantic on this side of the, well, Atlantic. Robin Kenyatta guests on two cuts; this tune is his. I have the Collectables CD reissue.

The mono portion of tonight's 45 RPM festivities: Leo Parker - Parker's Pals/Low Brown (BN) Bunky Green - By the Time I Get to Phoenix/Sweet Inspiration (Met) This record is not listed in any discography that I've seen, and I've been unable to find out anything about it. There's no real improvisation - Bunky plays the tunes straight, with just a little embellishment. But it's Bunky Green, and it's pretty soulful. John Handy - Lay Lady Lay/Spinning Wheel "Spinning Wheel" gets pretty out there. Then gospel time: Rev. Johnny L. Jones, "The Hurricane" - Let It Shine/Prayer #2 (Jewel) Rev. Johnny L. Jones, "The Hurricane" - Prayer for the Elderly/I Came to Preach a Sermon(Jewel) Blind Boys of Alabama - Something Got Hold of Me/Hop - Skip and Jump (Gospel [savoy subsidiary]) Blind Boys of Alabama - Our Revival Time/My God Can Do No Wrong (Gospel) Bro. Sammie Cheatam - Candidate for Heaven/Troubles of the World (Gospel Souvineer [sic]) R & B: Philip Upchurch Combo - You Can't Sit Down, parts 1 & 2 (Boyd) I'm not convinced that James Booker is the organist, as some have said. James Booker - Gonzo/Cool Turkey (Peacock) James Booker - Smacksie/Kinda Happy (Peacock) Bill Sinigal and the Skyliners - Second Line, parts 1 & 2 (White Cliffs) A very influential record in New Orleans; pretty much unknown elsewhere. Personnel includes Milton Batiste, James Rivers and Ellis Marsalis. Winding down with some jazz: Sonny Red - Bluesville/Stay as Sweet as You Are (BN) Freddie Roach - I Know/Googa Mooga (BN)

I'll spin that Sonny album tomorrow.

I have a Columbia white-label promo single of Dexter Gordon playing "Isn't She Lovely" - mono on one side, stereo on the other. It's Columbia 3-19565, arranged by Leon Pendarvis and produced by Michael Cuscuna. According to the Lord discography, it was recorded in December, 1976; He doesn't list any other issues except this one. The studio band includes Cornell Dupree, Steve Khan, and Mike Mainieri. Musically, it won't change anyone's life, but it is Dexter, and his playing is pretty damn good. So was this a promo-only issue? Did it ever appear on a regular single or album? Is it on the new complete Columbia album collection?

My wife is out town doing Important Science Stuff, so I'm taking advantage of her absence, as I often do, to pull out the boxes of 45s and play them real loud. I just finished the stereo portion of the evening, all jazz-related: Gold Sparkle Band - Plays 2 by Shipp (Nu) Great! With two of my close friends in the band. Reptet - Angendacide (Monktail) Go Johnny E! E. Parker MacDougal - Bitter Lemon/Foxxy Minor (Grits) With Steve McCall on drums. Nathan Davis Sextet - Slave March/To Ursula With Love (Segue) Charles Williams - Bacon Butter Fat/Please Send Me Someone to Love (Mainstream) With Bubba Brooks and Don Pullen on organ. Dexter Gordon - Isn't She Lovely? (Columbia promo) Mono on one side/stereo on the other. Has this ever appeared on an album? Rolling Stones - Waiting For a Friend/Little T & A (RS) I've always loved Sonny Rollin's playing on "Waiting For a Friend." I just changed over to the mono cartridge. I'll post again, just in case you can't wait to find out what other 45s I spin.

Oh, I think this hint just narrowed it down enough for a good guess: Ray McKinley, perhaps? Still wondering about the guitarist. If you confirm McKinley I may cave and dig up a discography to see who played with him in the mid-to-late 40's. Go, Alex! Ray McKinley and His Orchestra.

I think you've got the composer/arranger. Lay it on us! Eddie Sauter! Unfortunately, that doesn't bring me any closer to identifying the band. I know he arranged for a whole bunch of folks after the war, but I can't identify any of them as definitively being the ones on this recording. It is indeed an Eddie Sauter composition/arrangement. It's not Benny Goodman - this is from after the time ES wrote for Goodman. Sauter was the staff arranger for this underrated big band in the mid-to-late 1940's. I guess one of the themes of this blindfold test is "great, underappreciated musicians, bands and composers." I knew Sauter wrote a lot for this band, but when I finally picked up a collection of their work, Sauter's writing blew me away. (I know it's not quite your thing, Alex!) Hardbopjazz, you sound like my first wife. Whenever I'd put some early jazz on the stereo, she'd say, "Cartoon music!" Alex has identified the tune as "That's A Plenty," and it might very well have been used in cartoons.

I think you've got the composer/arranger. Lay it on us!

I can't write a masterpiece every year, so you get last year's. Happy birthday!

Played a bunch of nice ones today: Cab Calloway and His Orchestra - A Ghost of a Chance/Come On With the "Come On" (Okeh) Chu Berry is credited on the label of "Ghost." Claude Hopkins and His Orchestra - Minor Mania/Marie (Columbia "blue wax") King Oliver and His Orchestra - Stingaree Blues/Shake It and Break It (Bluebird) 1940-ish pressing of a 1930 recording. Red Allen has solos on both sides. Johnny Hodges - Latino/Through for the Night (Mercury "trumpet") Illinois Jacquet - The Cool Rage/Lean Baby (Mercury "trumpet") Hot Lips Page - Big "D" Blues/It Ain't Like That (Continental) With Lucky Thompson and Vic Dickenson. Louis Armstrong and His All Stars - A Song Was Born/Before Long (RCA Victor) Coleman Hawkins - Lost in a Fog/I Ain't Got Nobody (Decca) 1934 solos with piano - one from NYC, one from London. Trummie Young and His Lucky Seven - Rattle and Roll/Behind the Eight Bar (Cosmo) From 1945, with Buck Clayton and Ike Quebec. Hot Lips Page - Let Me In/That's the One for Me (RCA Victor white label promo) Some nice Paul Quinichette on these 1951 sides. And three 1930's discs by Chick Bullock and His Levee Loungers. Bullock was a middling pop singer, but I'll pick up any of his records I find for cheap, because you never know who will show up in the Levee Loungers. I heard bits of Bunny Berigan, Jimmy Dorsey, Joe Venuti, and a good unidentified clarinetist.

Benny Carter & His Orchestra (Almanac/QSR) 1943 broadcasts by Carter's great big band. I've had this one since about 1974.

As the month goes on, I'll drop some more clues about this band.

Miff Mole - The Early Years (Jazz Studies) I love this stuff - white New York jazz and poppy dance music with hot solos, from 1921 to 1930.

Yes, this is an adaptation of Smokey Johnson's "It Ain't My Fault." The original version on NOLA Records was a local New Orleans hit in the 1960's; since then, the tune has become a standard for the brass bands of that city. I'll give you the entire instrumentation: clarinet, alto sax, trombone, accordion, banjo, tuba and drums. This band has several albums and should be better known than they are, in my opinion. I have no clue. Not even a spark. Not many folks around here know about this band, which is one reason I included a track by them - to promote them a little. Is this band still together? Yes, this is an established working band.

Sometimes I wonder why I don't go out to hear more music here in Atlanta. Tonight I was reminded both of why I don't and why I should. Atlanta underground tenor sax legend Kebbi William's birthday celebration show was scheduled to start at either 8:00 or 9:00 PM, depending on which part of the internet you believed. I saw one of the musicians this afternoon, and he assured me that the music would start no later than 9:30. The first note was actually played at 10:15. But, damn! The music was so intense that I could only stay for one set. Kebbi had a ten-piece band, including Russell Gunn on trumpet and Oteil Burbridge on bass. (Oteil is the bassist with the Allman Brothers Band, although most Atlantans probably don't think of that first when they think of him.) They played avant funk jazz; the rhythm section was tight and complex, while the horns were very free over the base they set up. I never did figure out the time signature of one of the tunes.

Yes, this is an adaptation of Smokey Johnson's "It Ain't My Fault." The original version on NOLA Records was a local New Orleans hit in the 1960's; since then, the tune has become a standard for the brass bands of that city. I'll give you the entire instrumentation: clarinet, alto sax, trombone, accordion, banjo, tuba and drums. This band has several albums and should be better known than they are, in my opinion. I have no clue. Not even a spark. Not many folks around here know about this band, which is one reason I included a track by them - to promote them a little.

I'll give you the entire instrumentation: clarinet, alto sax, trombone, accordion, banjo, tuba and drums. This band has several albums and should be better known than they are, in my opinion.

Jamming at Rudi's, Vol. 2 (Circle 10") I like this Kansas City-style jam session a lot - Hot Lips Page sounds really good here.

Happy Birthday, dude!

James Booker's two German Aves albums, plus another recorded at the same time which was issued on Amiga, have been reissued by Black Sun Music - apparently only in mp3 form, unfortunately. Here's an Amazon link and Tom McDermott's review in Offeat magazine. I would have preferred a physical issue, or at least a FLAC download option, but whatever - I snatched these up right away. If you have lots of Booker albums, as I do, you hear lots of the same selections over and over again. But there are lots of tunes on these albums that he never recorded anywhere else. And as others have said, the performances are outstanding, full of those "he must have three hands" moments that I always have when listening to Booker. I would also recommend a CD nobody else has mentioned, except that it now seems pretty tough to find. 1978 - Live at Montreux on Montreux Sounds is excellent - I turn to it as much as any other James Booker album. One third of it is solo, the rest with a rhythm section. A New Orleans rhythm section would have been better, maybe, but Booker is in excellent form; I think this album contains the best singing he ever recorded.

Some blues, all of which I think I've mentioned before, so here's a summary: The Hokum Boys - Selling That Stuff/Beedle Um Bum (Paramount) Georgia Tom Dorsey, Tampa Red, and Alex Hill. Until I find a mint-condition Charley Patton or Son House, this is my best Paramount 78. Three Clara Smiths on the Columbia "Flags" label, 1923-24. Two of them are fairly recent acquisitions, but one I've had for probably 30 years, even if I didn't have means to play it for most of those years. Two Blind Boy Fullers, both much-played, on Conqueror and Okeh.

Bad link format. Ah - apologies. Corrected - so: Diz with Rivers! The very impressive yawn I mentioned in an earlier post is at 6:03 of this clip.