Soul Stream

Laundry. In particular...folding it and putting it away. I've got 2 kids and a wife who wear a lot of clothes. Me, I'm happy to wear the same thing endlessly if it means less laundry.

Cool. Glad to hear there's lots of euphonium. I saw a musician playing a euphonium in a quartet the other day and it blew me away. The sound is so engaging.

He has 11 Milestone CDs available. Check AMG for details. I'd suggest "The Starting Five" and "McGriff's House Party." Although they're all wonderful. There's also a nice compilation that came out last year of his milestone work with Hank Crawford. Enjoy! ...one point you may consider. On some of McGriff's Milestones of the 90's he uses an XB3, and electronic B3 simulator....NOT a real hammond organ. But if anyone can make it sound good...Jimmy McGriff can and does. So it's not a bad thing overall. However, the CDs I suggested above have real Hammond on it....

Just ordered this. I'm really diggin' the euphonium and wondered if Bernard has any solo space on this one, or is he just there for the ensembles....

Let 'Em Roll is a masterpiece. Like you said. This is a perfectly tracked album. The playing is superb. About as beautiful a record as Blue Note ever made.

McGriff is certainly one of the greatest organist ever. I doubt anybody would say otherwise. However, imho McGriff suffers from not having been a Blue Note or Prestige artist with 3 or more albums. His Sue and Solid State stuff was really so commercially oriented, I think it turned off more mainstream jazz fans and still does. On record, he's had some of the worst sidemen ever. Terribly out of tune horns and guitarists who just don't cut the mustard. His albums just aren't as jazz oriented as the other top organists. I don't think it was until he got with Bob Porter and Milestone that he began to do some more serious jazz stuff. Those are really my favorite McGriff sessions. The more recent stuff from the 80's, 90's. Those are great sessions. All that said, he's a wonderful, wonderful player who is highly regarded by jazz organists all over the world. If he had the recording opportunities that the other's had, he'd be in more discussions. Alfred Lion producing 5 McGriff albums int he 60's would have made a big difference.

If Leon Spencer fits the bill for obscure organ dates...well...he's about the greatest funk organist there ever was. Not to mention just one of the best organists PERIOD!!!!! He's baaaad. If you're not familiar with his work, I'd put him at the top of the list of stuff to buy.

Hey man, have a good and safe trip. Why not stop by Texas on your way. It's just a dogleg right. Anyway, have a blast and when you get to the panhandle of Florida, don't think you're almost there, just a few zillion more hours to go.

It's part of baseball lore now. I do really feel for that guy--yet another reason I wanted so badly to see Chicago win tonight. That's a mistake he's going to be a long time living down. I wonder if that guy is having suicidal thoughts tonight. (I'm almost not kidding.)

I dig hill but on a much more limited scale than most here. To me, "Passing Ships" and his work on "Dialogue" are my favorites. I have a pretty short attention span when it comes to "working" on listening to what music has to say to me. Either I like it or not. Not much has changed for me with Hill's work. But perhaps some day it will.

The Lou Donaldson Argo date with Tommy Turrentine on Trumpet is nice. Available from Japanese import I believe. Also on the ARGO tip, I highly recommend the Sam Lazar records. Great, underrated player. Also the ARGO Baby Face Willette's are good while we're on it.....O.K...let me just say it...ARGO has a lot of great organ stuff people overlook. Blue Note and Prestige pretty much had the market sewn up, but ARGO did some cool stuff too.

I can't play the desert island disc game with Patton. Unlike Jimmy Smith, Patton's Blue Notes are all so vastly different from each other that choosing is almost impossible. The difference between Smith's "Back at the Chicken Shack" and "Crazy Baby"....well, they're all pretty similar. Great but similar. But as far as Patton goes... The difference between "Understanding" and "Got a Good Thing Going" "Lem Em Roll" or "Along Came John" (just NAME one)...well, that's a HELL of a lot of stylistic ground covered. Patton was a chameleon. Lowdown blues player one minute, avante-guard funkster the next, sensitive balladeer a minute later.... Hey, I CAN'T pick. Which do you like better, your hands or feet?

...I gotta get these.

Yes, I think you're right about that. I do think Lou's "Live on the QE2" is quite good and shows Lonnie live. However, nothing really does him justice on record. Part of it is his love affair with the audience. That'll never be shown on a CD. Now a DVD...Hmmmm. A Lonnie live DVD, I'd buy that...twice...just to make sure.

That's a very hard stop to figure out. I asked Big John about it and he said it was the 1st and last drawbards pulled all the way out. That's not right, and John couldn't remember beyond that. John was a total master. His basslines are legendary. They're perfect. Better than almost any other organist IMHO. Especially of interest are his basslines on "That Certain Feeling." Some of those basslines are SOOOO difficult rhythmically. Almost impossible to play w/o screwing them up when playing leads. He was so incredible. Unless you're an organ player, John Patton's genius may not be so apparent. Basslines, comping and leads are not things that would seem obviously difficult or genius to someone casually listening. But, getting on a B3 a doing it is something different. John did some of the most difficult basswork under flowing solos that anyone ever attempted. People just don't think so because he made is SOUND easy...It AIN'T.

Hey, we talk about Lonnie a lot, but he needs his own home here at the Organissimo BB. Here's a badass CD that is sort of under the radar. "Chartbusters." The one with Lenny White on drums. Some great playing by Lonnie. One of my favorite later dates by him. Also, I know we really harped on how unexciting "Boogaloo To Beck" was. However, I've given in a second try this week in the car radio. It's really growing on me. I don't know jack about Beck songs. But Lonnie sounds in the pocket and gets some nice sounds out of the organ on this one. Lots of dynamics too by the DR.... I'll go back on my word and say...GET THIS!

Harold Alexander did a couple dates as a leader on Flying Dutchman I believe (available from Dustygroove). He pretty much faded into the sunset after the early 70's but still plays and teaches at public schools to my knowledge.

Yeah, I keep seeing that as a reissued vinyl. Thought about picking it up, but heard some weired things about it as far as instrumentaion.

I'm too tired to go into much detail here. But I just got done wathcing the free DVD that came with the Monk at the Olympia CD. It's the classic footage, but I've never seen the whole thing. What really jumped out at me, beyond the fact that the whole band is so cohesive, is that Charlie Rouse really commands the music. He's such a vital part of the Monk package that I have a hard time imagining the band without him. Griffin and Coltrane were great interpreters of Monk's music. But Rouse really fit like a glove. He didn't seem to interpret Monk's music...He WAS Monk's music. ...and NO band ever swung harder than this one.

Finally, a "hands-free" masturbation device.

This ain't so hot. Almost a novelty-type album imho. Lot's of singing and....I don't know. I'd listen to it before I'd buy it. Personal tastes are different, but I'm pretty open to organ stuff, and this just didn't do it for me in any way.

Wow, I've never heard that. Of course, I'm not a musical insider in any way. If true, it's a shame. I thought he was a devout Muslim.?

yeah, I just got the same thing. THAT's a first for me.

Ouch. I'm a big fan of "Common Touch." Maybe a little commercial for some. But Bob Cranshaw's electric bass walking on "Blowin' In The Wind" is some of the baddest electric bass walking I've ever heard. Plus this group really grooves imho. Boogaloo is bad and Charlie Brown is happening!

I saw where Ron Blake has a new CD out with Joey Defrancesco doing a lot of Charles Earland stuff it seems. Just wondered if anybody has heard it. I thought the Organissimo guys might definately have gotten it since they're playing with him soon enough .