Soul Stream

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.

Yes, but with this in your garage, where do you park the AMC Pacer?

Jim, you'll now have to be banned from your own website. Sorry, but your selfish inclusion of 2 Jimmy Smith records has made it impossible for your list to include maybe the best organ record ever made... Lou Donaldson's "Alligator Bogaloo"

Sad news. O.K. Grey....you once said Freddie Roach's "All That's Good" was schlock. I now forgive you (a sad wink, if there is such a thing). So sorry.

Dude...if it says Jimmy Smith or Lou Donaldson and Blue Note...get it. There ain't a bad one in the bunch. No sh*t.

I think they are a vast improvement over the old CD issues. Of course, just my opinion. But I don't think you'd be disappointed, especially considering how classic those sides are.

If you were to ask me where to START (and you did!)...there's only one place in my book. That's BLACK TALK! It's one of the ten most important organ albums of all time in my book. It was Earland's first solo album, and like so many other artists', his best by almost all accounts. It contains his monster smash hit that was one of the few organ hits (along with Groove Holmes' "Misty" and Smith's "Back At The Chicken Shack)...and that was his cover of Spiral Staircase's "More Today Than Yesterday." One of the best organ sides ever cut. BLACK TALK. BLACK TALK. BLACK TALK. BLACK TALK.

"Movin' On" with Jimmy and Grant is one of the best pairings in BN history imho. If you don't think so, listen to "Backtalk" on that LP....those guys trade choruses forever.

Jim, if your only exposure to Ian is through the Scone discs, I think your head might explode when you put the CD on! It's quite a different thing as you've probably guessed. Anyway, I've had the pleasure of playing with Ian...and he can play the blues or Cherokee with equal love. He's a real pleasure musically. Plays music, not tries to blow you away right off the bat. Shows you how tough New York City. Ian's been struggling there for a while (he's 31), and even though people are finally getting a little taste of him through his 2nd Sharp Nine CD, he still plays a lot of funk gigs (Hot Pants Funk Review, also just played Bari with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings on a european tour recently)....so it's tough out there no doubt. But Ian is always in a sunny mood and a great, likeable guy. Hope people dig him soon.

Thanks for the insight Larry. Hope you get a chance to see the Charles video soon. It's a brief show of Brooks, but great nonetheless.

Let me put in a plug for a friend of mine. And I'm not just recommending this for that reason. But Ian's new CD, a live recording from the Smoke club in NYC is a killer. Without knowing it was him, I heard "Memories Of You" from this CD on the radio and knew I HAD to pick this up. When the announcer came on a said it was Ian, I shouldn't have been surprised but was caught off guard. There's a killer group on this one with Ryan Kisor, Peter Bernstein, David Hazeltine, Peter Washington and Joe Strasser. This ain't pushin boundaries...just great swinging Hard Bop served up by some guys who know how to do it. If you haven't heard Ian Hendrickson-Smith, do yourself a favor and pick this one up. He's a wonderful Alto player, I think you'll dig. And a super humble and funny guy too.

Larry, I didn't check the notes until you mentioned them. Wonderful job you did. Wondered if you had any other information on Brooks that you didn't have a chance to share in your liners. Did you get a chance to talk to Oliver Beener? Also, is the Ray Charles concert the only footage of Tina Brooks now known to be in existence (Have you seen it yet?!). In relation to "Nutville," too bad they edited Doug's solo (and a bad edit at that, sounds very disturbing to me at least.) But does Watkins walk on that one or what! Beautiful.

Frankly, I thought it was more than "working it in"-it was the whole damn solo! Isn't that theft?? He didn't quote a snippet of melody, he just lifted it verbatim. Yes, he did play the whole head. Work song was so big back then I don't think hardly a blues-based solo went by without someone quoting it! But, yeah, the whole thing on top of Moanin'...guess Ray REALLY dug Work Song...

Is that the one with "Watkin's Blues" or something to that effect? The one that just starts off with Doug walkin' the blues for quite some time. His lines are terriffic on that.

Oh yeah....Dan, that is Work Song in case you weren't sure. Nice how he worked that in. Also, noticed that Oliver Beener is in the trumpet section. Beener was Tina Brooks big running buddy up in the Bronx. Beener probably had something to do with Tina being in the band or vice versa.

O.K...there's no "greatest" "Best", ect....I know...but DAMN...Doug Watkins has got it all. Tone, touch and beautiful intonation. Had to dig out some Tina Brooks after watching that Ray Charles DVD with him on it. And I forgot how great Watkins sounded on "Minor Move." I love his bass playing.

That IS fuckin' Tina Brooks!!!!!!!! Holy Shit. (Sorry, but sometime curse words are the only way I can adequately describe something this mind blowing.) Anyway, never saw that the insert had a personel listing on the BACK of it. Went to Birth Of A Band as suggested and realized it was him right away, even before I realized he WAS listed. Well, there's no mistaking that's him. And Man!!!!, to see one of your idols for the first time in a moving pictures....wow. O.k...I initially told everyone to "walk don't run"...now with Tina, you "should run over your grandma to get this! ..PS...Not to mention the other great musicians here....Wilbert Hogan on Drums (Fred Jackson's "Hootin' And Tootin" among other great sessions.) Also, Julian Priester on Trombone and Leroy Cooper on Bari...just to mention a few....WOW!

Hope you enjoy the sweater.

Merry Christmas Y'all!

Yeah, it's a pretty sad state of affairs.

The club used to be a blues club that had the B3 on stage at all times and was played almost daily. Now it's a "corporate" rock club where the B3 is only for "big shows" apparently, so it's tucked away and "off limits" now. Sadly, I learned to play on that B3 basically, now I can't even play it.

Here's a new one. Just played the only club in town with a house B3. However, management wouldn't let me play it. Had to schlep my crappy keyboard and amp down there, set it up next to the B3 and Leslie 122 and play. Jeez. What in the hell is this world coming to.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree Chuck. I respect your viewpoint. But as a musician myself, I believe commercially unobtainable music is fair game. I don't know a single music lover that has received all of their music from "legitimate" sources. Chuck, is everything you have a legitimate issue? No private tapes, airchecks, rehearsals, outtakes, homemade recordings of 78s, reel to reels of old concerts....? I feel you're putting me up to a standard I dare say you would pass.

Hey, I'm into that. If Chuck would post his address, I'd do just that.

As a musician myself, since when was not getting paid not part of the picture? This is music that is unavailable. When Lps or Cds are sold secondhand, the artist sees none of that money either. Out of the 64 bucks that was paid for the Freeman album on EBAY today, Freeman will see none. I talk to Geoge Braith quite a bit, he's always astounded at what his old Blue Note Lps bring on EBAY. "Hey, give ME some of that bread" he used to say. Well, when Blue Note reissued his CDs he DID get paid. Some back money too that added up to quite a bit. But getting on the soap box to a couple die hards trying to hear the MUSIC, that's a drag.