Soul Stream

Yes, yes, yes Dan. THIS is Lonnie's GREATEST recording ever...hands down. It's HIM doing HIS thing, the way he plays on gigs today that never gets captured in the studio...except once...on THIS CD, "Lenox and 7th." This is the baddest, baddest stuff from Lonnie in a straight ahead style. Period!!!!

I wouldn't throw in the towel yet Conn on "Mozambique." It may turn out to be a favorite in years to come. It's certainly one of mine! I think Joe Dukes is killin' on that thing. And George, Ronnie Cuber and Lonnie really stir the pot and bring things constantly to a boil on Moz. Not really a straight ahead date. But I think it was a 1970 date and reflects what was going over in a Detroit nightspot at the time. Funk and energy (and not much has changed since then. B) ). Anyway, to get a firmer grip on Lonnie's current style, I'd suggest "Boogaloo to Beck." The material's not jazz, but Lonnie is LONNIE on this and it represents his "thing" more than almost anything else out there (sans the import Lenox and 7th) on CD. Give it a chance, if you're into Lonnie live.

"Live at Club Mozambique" doesn't have wah-wah guitar. It has George Benson burning in a conventional, straight-up style.... I guess I'll put my focus on the only guy I knew first-hand. I'm familiar with his way of thinking and personal concept of music. John Patton. The thing you first have to realize about John is that he was a Boogie Woogie R&B pianist who was the straw boss and musical director for Lloyd Price for several years. His first real professional gig was in the house band of the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C. His organ playing was initially just an extension of his boogie woogie piano style. Strong left hand thumping out the basslines and a blues-drenched right hand. Check out "The Natural Soul" or "Blue For Lou" to really get an idea of what I'm talking about. "Big John" off of Blues for Lou...take a good listen to that one. Imagine John playing the exact same thing on piano, THAT's his style at that point. Forget Jimmy Smith. John didn't have TIME to figure out what Jimmy was all about. He was already playing with Lou Donaldson before he was able to really sit down and listen hard to what JOS was doing. By that time, John's style was pretty much firmly in place. John's solo style was learned on the gig. Mainly from the way Grant Green played. Grant showed John A LOT. He taught him what was hip and how jazz was played. This is the first stage of John's development. The next stage happened when John started playing extensively in NYC and got hip to what Miles and Coltrane was doing. Jimmy Garrison was a good friend and influenced Patton's basswork. Jack DeJohnette also gigged with John and taught him a lot on piano as well. Really opening up John's conception. My point is this, John learned jazz from other jazz musicians...guitarists, horn players, bassists, piano players. He wasn't really listening to organ records or leaning over other organists' shoulders trying to catch what they were doing. Patton had a wide musical concept. Even from the git-go. Listen to his ride on "Sow Belly Blues" from "The Natural Soul." That's his first recording and that's pretty wild stuff even for a blues. Monk was always a favorite for Big John. In my mind, Monk and Miles were about as good as it got for John. When I asked him about his favorite jazz record once, he said "that Miles quintet record, the Prestige one with the blue cover. He DUG that concept. At John's funeral, Ben Dixon said something that stuck in my mind. "John was a melody man!" And that's the truth. He wrote original music, and his solos were ALWAYS aware of the song. No bs'ing for John. At the expense of flash, he played the song...EVERY time. Plus, John played WHO he was. The ultimate goal. He never was interested in being someone else. If someone played something John dug, like McCoy's fourths, he incorporated them into his own thing. He never aped somebody else's bag. Like John told me. "If you play somebody else's concept, what do you play when you're done with that???" THAT was Big John in a nutshell. A true original.

Good to hear from you Ed. I've been trying to post less lately and spend more time on other things. Nice to hear you're doing some productive things and it's paying off for you! Keep it up and keep us posted.

Hey Peter...thanks for the blow by blow! And welcome to the Lou and Co. fan club! These guys are wonderful and, as you so well described it, make you FEEL GOOD!!!! Something we all need more of. Long live Lou. And the Dr. IS in!

Talked to Fukushi Tainaka last night on the phone. Said it's been a nice week at the VV and that Ben Riley came out and sat in the other night. Wish I could have been there this week! I'd love to hear any reports....

That stinks. I love how musicians are always suppose to make the gig, no matter what...sickness, ect. However, club owners can cancel the gig up until the point you've already loaded in. I picked up a nice payday and a pretty cool gig on New Year's Eve (w/Bob Stewart playing drums, remember him Jsngry) up in Ft. Worth. Other than about 3 dates I landed in Dec., my gig calender still bites and my sudden income drop isn't pretty. I haven't hit the pavement yet, and won't really get a good chance until after the holidays, so I'll be picking up all those sweet Jan./Feb. gigs (you know how great a time of year that is!)

I'm down with this thought as well. Face it, most of us (to the derision of some) are "blue note queers." Blue Note rules. RVG rules. Two great things that go great together. I'd be into seeing some discussion on these classics. And lord knows most on this board have these in their collection. That right there is a good enough reason for this to happen. This doesn't even have to be "pinned" or official. Someone could just pick an RVG, start a thread and dive in.

When I moved to Boston a few years back, I thought THEY sounded like hicks. The closer you get to Maine, the worse it gets. When grown men and women describe most things as "wicked"....well, it made "fixin'" sound downright urban. Also, "r"s were virtually dropped from the language, unless that is, you include tacking them onto the end of words that don't have them.

...Yes, Jim. Please put me on the non-political list as well. Thanks.

You know, that's an odd thing to put on the cover of a mosaic. Roy checking out his embrochure.... Cool photo, but strange.

I'd give anything to be there. Have fun Peter. Lou, Lonnie and the band put on a great show, and also PLAY a great show. Hands down my favorite group to hear.

That's a VERY interesting mouthpiece. I noticed it right away and was curious as were others, obviously. Can anyone find out for sure what this thing is? I'm sure Jim's correct about the intent of the mouthpiece. However, it's an odd thing to see. Is this something trumpeters of Roy's generation used quite often? It's fallen out of use I'd say, but wondered if (Trumpet Guy where are you!) a trumpeter could tell us more about it....

Earl Van Dyke went on to become a key member of the Motown musical team that included James Jamerson and Benny Benjamin, ect.(the funk brothers). He's very hip on "Hootin' and Tootin'" and I would have loved to have heard more from him in that vein. Sadly, that's it. His solo album is pretty underwhelming and is musically in a much different direction.

Well, if he's acting as an objective moderator of the board, then his opinion should be left out. He closed the thread for the right reason. But supporting someone being mean to someone else in a board-related transaction doesn't seem too cool either. This board is acting as a clearinghouse for undergroundagents sales and trades. His treatment of fellow board members during such transactions should be concern for us all. The response of "don't do business with..." might have been wrong. But that doesn't change what was at the heart of the matter to begin with. Courtesy, or lack thereof. O.K. that'll do it for my input on this one. I know Jim and all concerned are doing this on goodwill. So I don't want to bog him or his brother down with more on this topic. I usually avoid this stuff, but every once in a while get sucked in like everyone else....

NOW we're getting to some important topics...Alligator Boogaloo! All threads should eventually end with some Lou Donaldson reference. I KNOW you'll dig it. Let us know...

Closing the thread is one thing. But to say the e-mail was in the right?.... In essence, Use3D is acting as judge and jury. Fine. But let's try civility in the buying and selling of CDs on this board. A simple "My prices are firm, thanks for the offer" would have sufficed. That's my opinion which I'm offering here on another thread since the other is closed.

Siding w/ Undergroundagent for sending a crappy e-mail to someone and then closing the topic. Lame.

That is abusive. You should apologize.

What did the abusive PM say?

I had to take stabs at a few of these... look at the list for gosh sake! I meant to type "Jimmy Smith" beside Organ Grinders. Its not important anyway. What's important is that Organissimo start working on MOONTRANE! I can't think of any grander gesture from a band. Has this been done before? This is way better than a "regular album!" Yes. This is the wave of the futue. Enough of letting the artist decide what we want to hear. I mean, I we could have had Larry Young doing Bob Dylan songs for god's sake!

All I can add is...good luck guys. I'm already dizzy lookin' at this rather eclectic list... Also, Organ Grinder Swing isn't a Patton number. It's an old swing number done by Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff among others in the organ catagory. Congo Chant is a Patton tune on "Understanding." Also, "Message from a Black Man" was on the live at the Keyclub Charles Earland CD. Also, despite other's objections I'm a big fan of stuff like "Laura." I'd be interested to see a list from the guys as to what standards they currently perform. Also, I'm all for current organ favs they do now like "Dem New York Dues" ect....

I've asked George already (great minds think alike Jim ). Anyway, as much as George has recorded live, he didn't record that one. Too bad. However, he does have recordings of Larry live at "The University of the Street" on piano. But the BADDEST recording he has is of a gig of his from the mid-60s at a little club in Harlem. He has 3 reel to reel tapes, sound is great. And the lineup is... GRANT GREEN, BILLY GARDNER (organ), HAROLD OUSLEY (tenor on a set), and I think HUGH WALKER on drums even though I could be wrong on that one. Anyway, the music IS SMOKING!!!!!! It's some BAADDDDD stuff that I've been trying to talk George into getting out somehow.

One thing I think we should keep in mind is that these guys are a working trio. There are things they do now, and feel very comfortable playing. They've "got them under their fingers" already as Joe said earlier. I think to include those along with maybe a COUPLE of more that are not already in their book would be fair. Working up a CDs worth of unfamiliar and difficult material not of your own choosing....well, that's a LOT of work. These guys are already working on a true CD, so they've got their hands full already. I guess my point, and my suggestion, is to go easy. Let's pick a couple of NEW tunes for them. And let them fill out the rest with stuff they already do. Maybe they could have TWO POLLS. One that would include the songs they ALREADY do. And one poll that would compile our suggestions, which we'd vote on and take the top 2 (or whatever number Organissimo thought reasonable.) These guys MIGHT be up for learning more. But if it were me, 2 would be plenty to start from scratch on and get ready for a recording. However, I could be totally off here. Jim, Joe and Randy....let us know. I'm just trying to put my 2 cents worth in here. Feel free to ignore....

Yes. This is just an absolute "must-have." For years I had an old beat vinyl version of this, then a TOCJ and finally a nice RVG w/bonus cut. That's what makes the domestice RVG progam so great imho. Funky Mama is right up there with Alligator Bogaloo as far as songs that define the term Soul-Jazz.