Soul Stream

You tell 'em, Soulstream. Novices. Peons. FOOLS! Billy Gardner is way cool. What happened to him? I was listening to Open House by Johnny Hammond Smith the other day... what a great record. Billy Gardner died of an asthma attack in Chicago in the 70's. Yes, "Open House" is bad. But Jim, do you have "Black Coffee?" It will blow you away. One of the best organ ballad readings of all time is on that one "I Remember Clifford." It's a REAL "Live" disc and you NEED to have it if you don't.

Discriminated, not as you might think. What I mean is this. Out of all the great organists, for some reason Shirley was almost ALWAYS recorded with a bassist. Which, to me, is a drag since the couple I have with her playing organ bass are really, really great and head and shoulders above her w/bass recording. "Dearly Beloved" on Blue Note and "One For Me" on Strat-East along with parts of "Soul Song" are the only things I've heard w/ her on bass and she KILLS. I guess I wonder if the saddled her with bassists for the most part because she was a "girl."

Man, we're talking about the 10 greatest organists of ALL TIME and you're pullin' out Don Pullen (pun intended)? I mean, we couldn't even get to Johnny Hammond Smith or Dr. Lonnie Smith's solo recordings or Trudy Pitts or Rhoda Scott or even freakin' BILLY GARDNER (one of the coolest cats ever)...I mean, these ain't even mentioned yet and I'm hearing Don Pullen and Jeff Palmer???? Hell, why not be as clueless as the Downbeat Polls and nominate Claire Fischer!!!! (DISCLAIMER: I'M ONLY HALF SERIOUS) B-) P.S...BFrank...you've got 3 Larry Goldings CDs, 2 Bill Heid and NO Baby Face Willette or Shirley Scott! Dang.

Speaking of...Is Bill Mason still around?

I've been checking this out today... A couple of thoughts.... Like, MAN can we see the WHOLE Steve Allen Show footage!!!! Also, some of the other 70's footage I had never seen either. Cut all the boring Joni Mitchell interviews and show us THAT uncut footage. That ALWAYS bugs me when they show stuff on these docs. that is unreleased and only show a snippet.

Funny thing this time - on the way to the gig (about 30 highway miles) people were really driving nuts - tailgating, cutting off, really aggresive. On the way home everybody was very cool. That's because they were all in jail by that time.

Baby Face Willette on "Face To Face" is GOD!!!!!! (Well, so is Ben Dixon and Grant Green too). That's why it's one of THE greatest organ records of all time.

O.K...I'll play that game....

That's a cool site Jim. I bookmarked it. That's a nice tool and has some really wild scales too.

What...you mean the Real Book is WRONG sometimes~!?

No gig this year. But, it was actually VERY nice to be home on amateur night this time.

Vick's "Steppin' Out" is definately an organ "Must Have." But seriously, us "organ snobs" are as hardcore as serious "jazz snobs." If you claim to be a serious jazz fan and don't have "Kind Of Blue" or "Giant Steps"....I mean we can all pretty much agree those are acoustic jazz' 101. And by the same degree these Organ Top Ten are the bible of jazz organ in my book. If you don't have these, then you shouldn't buy the latest organ thing until you have these....just my opinion. Yes, these 10 (or 11-12ish) titles that I and Jim are going back and forth on SHOULD be in your jazz collection if you are a fan of organ. Roughly, they are... 1. Jimmy Smith "The Sermon" 2. Larry Young "Unity" 3. Don Patterson "The Exciting New Organ Of" 4. Lou Donaldson "Alligator Bogaloo" 5. John Patton "Understanding" 6. Charles Earland "Black Talk" 7. Jack McDuff "Live" 8. Jimmy McGriff "I've Got A Woman" 9. Baby Face Willette "Face To Face" 10. Groove Holmes "Soul Message" 11. Shirley Scott "One For Me" Of course there are MANY, MANY that are really, really damn close to these....definately 3 or 4 more ESSENTIAL Jimmy Smith titles including "Organ Grinder Swing", Johnny Hammond Smith's "Black Coffee", Lou Donaldson's "Natural Soul", Grant Green's "Talkin' About" and "Grantstand" and on and on.... But you should try and get these 10 or 11 first if you can. They are all easily available now (wasn't always the case), except for S. Scott's "One For Me" which has never been on CD. But Scott's "Queen of the Organ" is just as good place to start and then is VERY easy to find in most any used or new CD store. "Face to Face" is OOP, but the JRVG is around at Dusty Groove and comes up on EBAY pretty frequently.

Yeah, but did they play "Swingin' At The Savoy?"

Is Chris Foreman blind?

Of course, Richard Williams plays wonderfully on John Patton's "The Way I Feel" album on Blue Note (available on the Patton Mosaic Select).

Or Big Brothers... LOVE this record! Yes!! YES YES! Have you heard this one yet, Soulstream? I can't believe you have if you think she never made THE record. I hereby withdraw "Queen Of The Organ" and replace it with "One For Me". Well Jim, you are right in the sense that this is THE record for Shirley Scott. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be widely known. I do have it, and it's the one Shirley leader date I put on regularly. "What Makes Harold Sing"...now that's some sweet stuff.

Whatchoo talkin' bout Willis? Sam Lazar recorded three times for Argo: Playback Soul Merchant Space Flight The latter with Grant Green. Damn you Dan!!!! It's like being watched by "Organ Big Brother."

"The Honeydripper" LP is organ jazz at it's finest. Grant, Vick, ect... wow

Unless this turns into a top 11 list, I think Shirley might have a tough time. Because although she's surely one of the top organists of all time, imho she never made THE record that represented her thing. "One Of Mine" and "Dearly Beloved" come closest for me. But those still don't crack the top 10 unless someone has the guts to take McGriff off (which I don't). It's tough to get it down to 10. But I think the list is pretty tight like this... The 10 greatest organ recordings of all time- 1. Jimmy Smith "The Sermon" 2. Larry Young "Unity" 3. Don Patterson "The Exciting New Organ of" 4. Groove Holmes "Soul Message" 5. Jack McDuff "Live!" 6. Jimmy McGriff "I've Got A Woman" 7. Baby Face Willette "Face To Face" 8. Big John Patton "Understanding" 9. Lou Donaldson w/Lonnie Smith "Alligator Bogaloo" 10.Charles Earland "Black Talk"

Yeah, I mean...he's been a master for about 50 years....glad they finally got 'round to it.

Soul Stream/Dusty Groove writers = separated at birth? O.K....the secret's out.

If you want to hear some of the only CLASSIC examples of organ-wah-wah....get Earland's "Live at the Lighthouse." Now on CD, this stuff is smoking in a super 70's, let's-hook-a-wah-wah-up-to-the-organ kind of way. "You've Got Me Smiling" is monsterous and "We've Only Just Begun" sounds like Karen Carpenter making out with Magic Johnson.

o.k...here's a twist.... Greasy records you should have, but never will.... These are some of my all time fav underdog organ sides... 1.Sam Lazar "Playback" on Argo. Nobody knows Sam Lazar because he only made 2 obscure records. But believe me, "Playback" is one of the baddest, greasiest records EVER made by ANYBODY. He kills on this stuff. And then faded into obscurity. By comparison, Baby Face Willette is a well known superstar. 2.Baby Face Willete "Behind The 8 Ball" also on Argo. People think BFW didn't make anything worth listening to after the Blue Note glory days. Wrong. "Behind The 8 Ball" is one of the all time great organ sides. Maybe even showing more depth than his BNs (even those are classics, no doubt about it). 3.Johnyy "Hammond" Smith, "Black Coffee".....nobody talks about JHS too much. And that's a damn shame. Lost in the shuffle (literally). Anyway, GET THIS LP (it's on CD now) and give your Larry Young records a break. His shuffle version of "Body and Soul" should let anybody know this guy's one of the all-time greats. And for PURE grease, check out "Rufus Toofus" on this LP....Funky, lowdown shit. 4.Jimmy Forrest "Forrest Fire" w/Larry Young before he became "Larry Young." O.K., Larry's not breaking new ground here. But this is a classic organ-grinder album with a band that's tearing it up Ghetto Bar-style. "Dexter's Deck" is a standout, but the whole CD's A+ stuff from the guys who matter. 5.Trudy Pitt's "Bucketfull of Soul". A live affair that makes you realize what a PUKING organ in a shitty club in the 60's really sounded like. Nothing subtle here. Just balls to the wall (oddly enough coming from Trudy) badass jazz organ, club-style. O.K....that's just 5 off the top of my head. No, these are by no means essential. But just think, as you listen to "Unity" for the millioneth time....you could be diggin' "Amen" on "Behind the 8 Ball." But, you'll probably never hear it. Too bad for you.

This would have been a great hour-and-a-half movie...instead it was a mediocre 2 hours plus movie. Just my opinion, and I went in really ready to like this movie. That said, it IS different. And with all the same-ol-same-ol crap out these days, it's refreshing to see ANYTHING off the beaten path. This is definately that. The only movie I've seen lately that I thought was different AND good was "Neverland" w/Johnny Depp. I highly recommend it.

You're damn right Chuck. Baby Face Willette's "Face To Face" is one of the Top Ten for SURE. Knew I had forgotten somebody very important. O.K>Shirley Scott "Queen of the Organ" just got bumped to "honorable mention." Forgetting, Baby Face. Damn me to hell. No no NO no NO NO NO!!! "Queen of the Organ" is a KILLER date! It is worth the price of admission for Stanley's outro on "Just in Time" alone. If we have to take off one, take off Bashin'. Oh, I forgot to tell you..."Bashin'" was gone when "Alligator Bogaloo" HAD to be added. Now that Baby Face is on board, well....so long Shirley (Besides the best Shirley is actually Turrentine's "Dearly Beloved" where she is Little Miss Cott and plays her own bass AND kills on everything. )