Soul Stream

....man...I just don't GET it. Harry Potter hysteria? I don't want to sound like I'm knocking anybody. To each his own. But it's just one of those things I'll never understand...

Yeah, Leon Spencer Jr.....plus Idris Muhammed, Lou, Melvin Sparks and an obscure, but really nice, trumpet player. Well recorded live organ gigs, especially from this late in the heyday, are almost non existent. Making "The Scorpion" all the more enjoyable. Is there any way to hear the total gig? Obviously Michael Cuscuna has it as does probably Bob Beldon since he also produced the session for reissue. I wonder if Kevin B. could possibley talk to Michael C. about it?

I think acceptable on a "gig" level, and acceptable on a recording level are two different things from the record company's pov. That said, I would KILL to have the complete recording of this. The total rarity of this sort of live BN quality organ stuff from such a masterful working band is enough make it worth the while. Think about it... there's no live Patton stuff, no live Lou Donaldson BN-era soul jazz organ stuff except this (Live Buzzard's sound and band can't compete with the Scorpion.) Hearing the Scorpion is like "being" in a funky Newark organ bar in 1970. To have the complete 3 sets of this would be a real slice of history...not to mention a typical night with the best organ band playing in 1970, Lou Donaldson's.

Thanks Jurgen!!!!! I REALLY appreciate it!

Jurgen, since the issued CD of "The Scorpion" only has 6 tracks total, I'm curious as to what tracks are listed as being recorded that day....? The CD is recorded live at The Cadillac Club in Newark, New Jersey on November 7, 1970. The issued tracks on the 1995 Rare Grooves CD issue are: The Scorpion Laura Alligator Boogaloo The Masquerade is Over Peepin' Footpattin' Time

...up for air...anybody with the Blue Note sessions book out there?

...or you could think of it as the album of the month, but with 4 picks.

I've had my fill of comic book inspired summer "blockbusters." I won't be seeing this. Can someone tell Hollywood it's time to think of something else to do.

I wondered if anyone with a new Blue Note Discography could tell me if there are any unissued takes from Lou Donaldson's "The Scorpion?" Thanks in advance for any help....

Yeah, I wonder how he's doing? Does anybody know how to e-mail him to find out?

I know it's not "a" photo, but I could thumb through the Francis Wolff photo books endlessly. And do.

Both are great. Go back and pick them up. Like the others said, the Foster is impossible to find, and the McDuff is just good grease no matter how you gut it. Congrats on the score.

He's one of the NYC guitarists that really holds down the fort in that town. I heard some older work of his recently and was surprised at how Kenny Burrell inspired it was. He's really got his own sound now and, imho, is one of the best in the business.

When he came out I thought he WAS THE new king of r and b. He had it all...the voice ....the dance moves....the charisma...the look. But I'm not quite sure what happened. To me, he has more talent than all these other guys rolled up together. Saw him on Leno the other night and he seemed back on track. Singing his ass of and doing splits like a rubberband man. Plus his ego seemed to be in check. Which is why he probably didn't make it in the first place. That 1st album is a classic. Plus, I saw him on Letterman 15 years ago when that came out, he did Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World" and it was about the most amazing thing I had seen up until that time in my life.

...music isn't a competition...it's a form of self expression. In that regard, no one can be over or under rated.

Hey Jsngry....Is THE BOSS killing you yet? This is Jimmy's greatest moment imho.... And yes, WHEN ARE THEY REISSUING THIS????? Is there any place at Verve to e-mail and request this?

This album really makes me want to listen to "Good Gracious."

Frank Sinatra usually sticks very close to the melody. His versions of standards are some of the best to learn from.

I think you've hit on one of the main causes for jazz's declining popularity. I'm in my mid 50's now and when I was growing up the standard tunes that much of the jazz repetoire utilizes were still being heard regularly in a POP - NON JAZZ context. Singers on variety shows (remember them?) were still singing standards and Jukeboxes in diners and bars still had a lot of standards on them. In other words - even though Rock was begining to dominate the radio - there were still plenty of standards to be heard. When I got into jazz - the contrast of hearing the tunes in a jazz context was very appealing and the improvisations made sense because I "knew" many of the tunes already. Today's listeners face the problem you pointed out - only knowing the tunes in a jazz context and having to seek out and learn a body of work that an older generation had ingrained in them (if they were interested and were listening). I think all this adds up to making jazz a little harder to appreciate for someone growing up in today's pop culture brainwashing dictatorship. Another related problem - how are you going to recognize the "quotes" players often toss into their solos if you don't know this huge backlog of tunes? The quote goes right past you because you don't know the tune. If you've ever sat in a "hip" older black audience and watched a straight ahead jazz band, it's like going to another world. To see people that know the songs, catch the "quotes," and appreciate the musician's take on songs both audience and player are familiar with is something else.... Something I've only experienced one time, but it gave me an opportunity to see how jazz really "worked" in it's heyday. Those days are gone, sadly. People don't know standards for the most part anymore. That means players too, they weren't raised on them. So, we get a lot of modal...out...stuff that contains very little of the blues feeling that was stadard issue back in the day. Well, I could go on, but..... Jazz can't be the same because standard songs aren't known. And standard changes are what real jazz is based on.

Blue Note doesn't think there's enough demand for these things. Apparently, there's enough for some Spainish company to export them to the states to be sold for under $10 to those same "not enough" people like us.

These are being stocked at my local record store. I was surprised to see "Fuschia" with a blue cover for $9.99.

Once again, Deep adds a touch of class to the passing of a jazz great.

I'm not going anywhere. Like they say, you can't go home again. That said, I hope if it ever does reopen people will stick around here. Remember, it's the people that either make it or break it for any board. The people make this board what it is, and I hope they give themselves credit for making something from nothing. Blue Note built the BNBB, but WE built this one.

I got a 135, which I didn't know what that meant. Good or bad. It must be pretty decent if B3-er got the same thing. However, what's the point scale?

....Here's a funny Wilkerson story I heard from a lady soul singer from Houston I did a session with a while back.... In the 60's she had a gig where she sang and played a cocktail drum kit, a lounge-type gig. One day she had forgotten to pick her drums up at the club and Don Wilkerson said he'd be happy to go by the club and pick them up for her since he had a car and she didn't. Don never came back with the drums. After a couple of days, she found Don and asked where the drums were. His response...."I pawned those, you couldn't play them anyway."