Soul Stream

Goin West is already in print in Japan, so maybe you don't need to wait? It's available on Dustygroove right now as a Japanese Paper Sleeve version. Which might or might not mean RVG. I'm not sure. Either way, it's the first time I've seen it available on DG.

From a musical standpoint, the "Trane" influence really only shows itself through McCoy Tyner. Larry's concept is so built upon stacked fourths that it's hard to pinpoint much else that is different.

To me, this era of Jimmy Smith may be the best jazz organ ever played. He's really, really, really great. And his sidemen are all wonderful too. Really raw and emotional playing. Plus it's SO new, you can almost hear the excitement of all involved.

I'm still pretty disappointed in the sound on the new Conn. of "The Flip." I guess the sound is just not on the tape. Still very tinny to my ears.

I would have to say "don't" rate Reuben by his old LPs. For a guy who has been doing it a lifetime now, he can really make the B3 sing. Flash, ground-breaking...no. But in the pocket grooving, that feel-good-thing,.. he's GOT it DOOOWWWN. Grooving the way Reuben does today may sound simple, but it ain't. Anyway check out... www.b3groove.org ....this has a steaming 50 minute video of Reuben, Bernard Purdie and Grant Green Jr. playing live. Watch it, and THEN tell me what you think.

Yeah, Leon Spencer is really a bad cat. But, having heard his work on Karl Denson's CD, I'm not sure he's what he once was. (But I'd love to find out!) Anyway, check out the live video I mentioned above Jim. I think you'll enjoy it. And it might give you more props for Reuben. He's much better today than he ever was on his old recordings. Of course, he's not breaking new ground, but combining the groove and some nice Jimmy Smith stuff together with his own thing. It comes out pretty happening. More interesting than Earland in the right hand for sure. But anyway, he's not talked about much. But like Lonnie Smith, is a much more complete player than his 60's stuff would lead you to believe. He's really improved over the years. AND he's got that thang!

O.k... Patton's gone. McDuff's gone. Shirley's gone. McGriff's had a stroke. Earland's gone. Groove's gone. And that's all been fairly recent. So...who's really left of the REAL guys. You can you SEE. Well, Jimmy Smith of course. Not really at the top of his game this days. Who is at the TOP of their game. Dr. Lonnie Smith. O.k....we all know that one. But someone EVERYONE has forgotten. Is Reuben Wilson. Reuben Wilson!!!! People maybe don't think of him. His Blue Notes were made when he was still kind of learning, getting it together. You know. His Groove Merchant stuff is some real forgotten shit. But have you ever SEEN that guy??? Lately??? He's about the best that 's out there. And here's why. He sits down at the organ and it's and instant groove that FEELS good. Everything sits right. You just don't hear that with younger guys. Lonnie can do it. I used to hear Patton do it. McGriff. If you don't believe me. Go to the Hammond Grounds (just run a search). There's a streaming video on the home page of Reuben, Grant Green Jr. ...trio thing. And they groove.

Picked this up today. The recording, although I haven't A/B'd to the Mosaic, seems a big improvement. This session is BAAAADDDD. Even "Street Scene" adds a touch of soul-jazz for those who might need a taste. This is a big improvement for me over some of the other more "out" stuff Larry did on "Contrasts," ect. The quartet thing really makes it happen for Young and he, and everyone else, excels. For me, this is about as good as "OUT" organ playing ever got without losing the groove. Larry is at the height of his powers here. And the rest of the band is about as bad as they come. Menacing. Beautiful. All at the same time. 5 Stars.

I know exactly what you mean Jim. Playing is like that...bit by bit...and then it's there. Like someone once said (maybe on this board perhaps), "when you're bored with it, that's when you know you've got it down." I understand all that. But Jim, don't you think that leap from his last Prestige recording to the first Green Blue Note is GIGANTIC!? I know you're on a listening haitus, so you can't really go back and listen to the jump he made. But put it on your "to do" list when you come out of the forrest.

I just cancelled my order and went and spent 18 bucks a pop at Waterloo Records (your one stop, full price record store) here in town. Didn't pick them all up, but CD Universe might get the idea that they need to stock more immediately in the future. I sure won't gamble with them next time. Especially since they didn't even e-mail me to notify me that they had to be backordered.

Smith was a prolific genius.

But just take a quick listen to the two versions (Prestige vs Blue Note) of "Talkin' About J.C." I mean, it's the same song, same organist....he's in the same territory stylistically but... I don't think Larry COULD have played the Blue Note version at that earlier time. Label pressure or no. I think he didn't have the concept together or his playing fully formed. It all goes back to the same thing. You can hear his style creeping up on him. It's REALLY getting close on the Booker Ervin/Pony Poindexter date. But just a short time after that he's THERE. Remember, Prestige didn't release that last date he did. Probably for those stylistic reasons (maybe, who knows for sure). But even on that he's not THE LARRY YOUNG yet. But in a few months he WAS. THAT is just plain freaky to me. He just didn't advance his playing...he leapfrogged a hundred fold. Because, think about it...he then recorded about 5 legendary albums pretty damn quick.

Patton did some great work with trumpet. And, of course, Lee and Blue played with Jimmy Smith. But, it's kind of uncommon. Why? I don't know. I think it's a beautiful combination. I actually used Jim Rotondi on my organ date and it was wonderful.

What's so startling about the change is....it's not so much that the concept just appeared out of nowhere. The Pony date proves that as well as the previous "Talkin' About J.C" on the Prestige date. But, it's just that the concept becomes CRYSAL clear by "Talkin' Bout" on Blue Note. I mean, execution, concept, ideas, touch...EVERYTHING. His bass playing wasn't always the greatest on the Prestige stuff, but on the Blue Note dates he's mastered every nuance of the bass. I just have a hard time conceiving the idea that he virtually changed overnight. He's so damn MATURE in his playing, whereas before he was immature in many ways. I just don't get it. SOMETHING happened to that guy. Maybe he just hit the woodshed. I don't know. It's pretty damn amazing.

Larry Young was a good, but basically undistiguished jazz organist in the early sixties. He churned out some unremarkable, Smith-esqe stuff for Prestige. I DO love those albums, I'm not saying that. But in the way I like a lot of guys. They could play badass bar soul-jazz. Johnny "Hammond" Smith comes to mind in this school. However, in January and Feb. of 1963 he cut his last album for Prestige with Booker and Pony Poindexter. It had quite a bit more of what would become the Young style but.....later that same year he cut "Talkin' About", "Into Something" and all those great Grant Green Blue Notes....virtually all at once!!!! Mere days seperating some of those sessions. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!!!!!! I mean how can anyway morph so quickly?????

Who would have guessed Omar was such a jazz nut! He seems like an unlikely candidate. Especially the really "out" stuff. He was the guy that really turned me on to all those Imuplse "New Thing" series.... Anyway, nice guy who I've seen in the jazz section at Tower almost more than anyone. Now if we can just get Dave to get more than 1 damn copy of these things!!!!

Wondered why my Conns didn't come in the mail yet. Checked my order, and they were all backordered. Forget what I said about diggin' CD Universe. It stinks. \ 6 to 9 days to get my stuff. Damn you CD Universe!

I think this is a wonderful date. I know Dan is a big organ fan, but I don't think "Mothership" would be included in his tastes. A little too far-reaching, which I could totally understand. Not sure how he feels about Young's earlier Blue Note stuff. That said, for those that like his outings such as "Heaven and Earth,... "Mothership" is a terriffic date and takes jazz organ as far as it can go, realistically, without turning into something else imho. One man's big disappointment is another man's treasure. I highly recommend it.

I actually heard a tape of that gig. And if you remember....Ronnie Cuber started that song off. Patton had to catch up. Cuber played the theme and Patton just sort of did his Big John thing to it. So, I kind of stand by my thoughts that Big John wasn't really into the Smith thing.

The more I hear about this one, the more I'm excited to hear it. I'm a Hill fan, but.... I'm not a musical genius, simplification of his concept might do me good.

I'll have to try and find my program. It was somebody I didn't know right off the bat. But, boy, he was one of the best things about the band. He REALLY was in the pocket all night and walked hard. A younger guy with a latin-sounding name... The gig in SA was $25 bucks and I was on the 14th row, so it was all good. My mother bought the tickets and asked me to go, so I happily obliged and was glad I finally got to see and hear what all the fuss was about. If you ever wondered what it would sound like if Louis Armstrong were on "Free For All" instead of Freddie Hubbard....well...I could tell you.

Although Patton was aware of Smith for sure. I don't think he ever got the chance to ever sit down and really study Smith's stuff in any way. My understanding from him was that Ben Dixon and Grant Green were his most influential jazz musicians. In that, he learned from them and others...most notably Lou Donaldson (listen to Charlie Parker is what Lou told Patton all the time) while he was DOING it. And thank god for us. He's really untouched by Smith except for the concept of left hand bass, pedals..and single note lines. Even his basslines are virtually all his own. As a boogie woogie pianist with Lloyd Price and others, I think he just had that natural gift for bass that translated to organ. Once I was sitting in his apartment listening to that Blue Note comp. "Organ and Soul" with him. I had brought it to show him that cool picture of him on the cover. Anyway,...The Sermon kicked in and Patton listened real hard and exclaimed..."woooow. I wish I had that kind of talent!" Of course I laughed and said..."You DO!!!!" Anyway, he admired Smith but never studied his stuff other than the odd song or two. Oddly enough "Alfredo" from Crazy Baby is the only song he ever mentioned playing. Although there might have been others.

Heck. My local TOWER has a new policy of only ordering 1 each of the new RVGs!!!! THAT stinks. It used to be 10 or so of each title. I don't know what's going on. If that's the RVG status, I can't imagine the Conn. situation. Needless to say, I want to support my brick and morter store...but now I'm a CD Universe guy when it comes to Blue Note.

I've had some of these same problems over the years. Lately, I've found ordering from CDUniverse is a really good and fast option. Something to think about since I, like you, used to bum about stores not stocking these items fast enough. Or if they did, not getting the ONE you wanted...or someone beating you to the ONE the store ordered.

Don't know if any of my fellow Texans saw their swing through the Lone Star State, but I got a chance to see them Fri. night in San Antonio. They came out with an arrangement of "Free For All." So I was pretty excited from the beginning. The show was a good one overall, but never really got off the ground it seemed. One thing seemed obvious, and even Wynton made an allusion to this....Ryan Kysor is a baaaddd car, more the trumpeter that Wynton is. THAT shouldn't have surprised me I guess. But not really having heard a ton of Marsalis records...well, I guess I thought the hype had some validity to it. Wynton seemed out-soloed by pretty much everyone in the band. It was really odd. Maybe an off night, or maybe that's the way it is. Anyway, I was more impressed with....Walter Blanding Jr. (that cat is bad), Ryan Kysor, the Bari player (forget his name), Herlin Riley (WOOOWWW), and last but certainly not least, Warmdaddy Anderson (HE"S the cat!!!) among others. Great band. I was surprised...Wynton didn't really talk much or solo much. Not the enthusiastic showman I pictured. Maybe he was tired. Anyway, great band and I really enjoyed what I saw, although it didn't quite live up to my expectations. The sound/lights in the Theatre I saw it at weren't very good, so that may have something to do with it. But kind of a cursery show it seemed.