The Magnificent Goldberg

I think "The Master II" was also issue in the U.S. by Blue Note. I have this one but not the first volume. Ah, never saw that. MG

Oh, I hesitate to derail; a happy birthday thread but you started it. What's this south Florida gig? I know about three issues, all from RIck's on the Lake, Chicago 19-21 Jul 1978. Live at Rick's - Aviva - the original LP Truly wonderful - Stash - CD, which I haven't got Night train - revisited - Storyville - CD reissue All of them have different track lists; about 3 tracks are on all issues. Al Grey/Jimmy Forrest Quintet Live At Rick's: Al Grey (tb) Jimmy Forrest (ts) Shirley Scott (p) John Duke (b) Bobby Durham (d) Live "Rick's", Chicago, July 19-21, 1978 Summertime Aviva 6002, Stash STCD552 [CD] In a mellow tone - Jumpin' the blues Aviva 6002, Stash STCD552 [CD], Storyville STCD8293 [CD] C.B. and me Aviva 6002, Storyville STCD8293 [CD] Truly wonderful (*) Aviva 6002, Stash STCD552 [CD], Storyville STCD8293 [CD] I can't get started Aviva 6002, Stash STCD552 [CD], StoryvilleSTCD8293 [CD] Salty papa Aviva 6002, Storyville STCD8293 [CD] You are the sunshine of my life Stash STCD552 [CD] What's new ? - Misty - Blues everywhere - , Storyville STCD8293 [CD] Take the "A" train - Night train Storyville STCD8293 [CD] Things ain't what they used to be - Body and soul - Milestones - Note: Stash STCD552 [CD] titled "Al Grey/Jimmy Forrest Quintet - Truly Wonderful". Storyville (Dan)STCD8293 [CD] titled "Al Grey/Jimmy Forrest Quintet - Night Train Revisited". Don't know about the one in Florida. MG

An aMUSEing evening Richard 'Groove' Holmes - Shippin' out - Muse (WEA France) Houston Person - Stolen sweets - Muse (promo - and cutout - how does a record get to be BOTH?) Gene Ludwig - Now's the time - Muse Lou Donaldson - Back street - Muse Sonny Phillips - My black flower - Muse (promo) MG

I never asked him. It wasn't until a couple of years afterwards that I realised that no one had his stuff and that the only places to get it outside West Africa were Paris or Brussels (there's an African shop there that used to have a bit of his material in the days when I went there frequently for work; though the shop was mainly geared to the Congolese market, so there was never very much). The feeling I got from him was that he was well geared up to exporting K7s to West Africa; at the time he had them duplicated in southern Italy very cheaply for export to Africa, where they sold at approx. a pound ($1.60 now, but possibly $2 back in the day). They sell at 2 Euro in his Paris shop now. CDs 10 Euro. Definitely cheaper on DL and no worries about the lack of sleeve notes from Amazon - there was very rarely a sleeve note anyway, generally only when he licensed material from other labels (and personnel only, which is not uninteresting to me). The thing is, he's issued well over a thousand albums (I don't understand his CD numbers) and has been making money at these prices for twenty-five years, so he obviously understands the market - both musically and industrially - very well indeed. Personally, I don't think he could have made much money out of the western market; organisations like Sterns and World Circuit seem to understand that the western market is mainly composed of people who want something that they can dance their brains out to, that represents 'cross-cultural' meetings, or that seems (but isn't necessarily) authentic, in the terms I put it earlier. CK7 doesn't do that material, and he may have realised he wouldn't make money on it. But the Amazon download route probably doesn't cost him anything very much, so a few sales will be more or less free money to him. MG

I’ve been interested in indie record labels since I started buying records. That interest continued when I started buying different kids of West African music and, as with R&B and jazz, I found that following particular labels would lead me to great music I’d never otherwise find out about. CK7 is one such label. I first came across it in 1993 when, on my first trip to West Africa, I bought an album by Sali Sidibe, (whose first eponymous album for Syllart I already had). This, ‘N’daya international’ (CK7 003) had CK7’s address in Paris, on the sleeve. The following year, armed with this address – 45 Rue Marcadet, Paris 18 – I went to Paris and found the shop, which is still open and still doing great business. I expected to find a tiny office in maybe a shop front. I didn’t expect a dry goods store/grocery! The place was choc-a-bloc with cans of coffee, oil lamps, lamp oil, batteries, torches, powdered milk, cans of beans etc and, most important of all, boxes and boxes of kola nuts, with a continuous stream of shoppers buying them. Kola nuts are such an important item for the firm that the trademark is CK7 spelled out in kola nuts. Oh yes, there were K7s a-plenty and VHS videos. There was one being shown in the shop; “Sa kunu sa’ (CK7 094) by Kandia Kouyate, who was singing (apparently) while sitting on the back of an ox, being carried through town, and of whom I’d never heard at the time. I had a whale of a time there and bought lots of stuff. I also talked to Kalle Camara for a while. He told me that he had started the firm in 1988 or 1989 (can’t remember which) and that his mission was to spread the music of Mali as widely as he could. He also issued recordings by people from other countries in the region, usually licensed from other companies. He normally picked artists singing in languages that were common in Mali, which Malian audiences appreciated; for example the Senegalese Peul band Super Diamono and the lead singer of the Senegalese Soninke band Sooninkara. Strangely, with his mission statement, Kalle Camara dealt with no one in the west. NO ONE. Not even with Nick Dean, my man in Sussex who sold practically everything that came out anywhere in Africa. But Kalle Camara was making a lot of albums. On my first visit, I bought a 2 K7 set by Ganda Fadiga from 1992 which were CK7 120/121. So, in four years, he’d issued 120 odd albums. Over the years, I kept returning to the shop on Rue Marcadet and never was disappointed with the music I bought there. And Kalle Camara’s business expanded; by 1999, he had three addresses in France and one in Mali listed on his K7s (and his catalogue numbers had reached CK7 426. By 2004, he was up to CK7 976. What’s prompted me to write about CK7 is that Camara has changed his policy about not dealing with people in the West. With increasing popularity of CDs in West Africa, he is reissuing some of his early material on CD and most of his albums seem now to be issued on both K7 and CD (the K7 sleeves have been stretched laterally for CD sleeves, giving a most peculiar appearance to the singers). One consequence of this is that many of his albums are now available as downloads from Amazon. They’re usually five or six pounds from Amazon UK; sometimes you get a better deal from Amazon France, but sometimes a worse deal J Prices seem a bit better at Amazon USA. Anyway, these are cheap enough for you to do a bit of experimentation. He’s still issuing the occasional album from Guinean artists: both Sekouba Bambino and Kerfala Kante have recorded for him in the past few years. The Sekouba Bambino doesn’t seem to be available on CD or download (I only got it on K7, on my last visit). Authenticity, to me, means appreciated by and intended for the contemporaneous audience in the place where the music lives. In Malian terms, that means for Bambara music, the Segou region, for Wassoulou, south West Mali, for Soninke music, all over Sahelian West Africa, as the Soninke dispersed widely after their empire was defeated by the Almoravids in 1077. That means that, to me, it’s OK for Ganda Fadiga to include an organist in one of his albums, or for others to include drum machines (though this is rare in his Malian productions). Your mileage might vary on this, however I'd recommend as a starter, this set by the greatest traditional Soninke musician, Ganda Fadiga. MG

See See Rider Ma Rainey Mr Snow

Tea. Twining's Assam. Smashing! MG

An afternoon with the Muses Jack McDuff - The re-entry - Muse Don Patterson - Why not - Muse Bu Pleasant - Ms Bu - Muse (promo) Willis Jackson & Von Freeman - Lockin' horns - Muse Mel Sparks - Sparkling - Muse MG

Sometimes you've just got to forget the words. Gene Ammons' version of 'A house is not a home' from the LP 'My way' is wonderful. On the other hand, even JUG can't make anything out of the title track. MG

The Master also had a Vol 2, issued only in Japan on Toshiba EMI on the Somethin'else label, done at the same 2 gigs in Osaka. Both are damn good! The whole two CDs won't fit on one CD. So what's on the new reissue? Master vol 1 Chitlins con carne It's alright with me Organ grinder's swing Preacher All day long Got my mojo workin' Johnny comes marching home Chicken Shack The cat Vol 2 Summertime Laura My romance Mack the knife A child is born Stormy Monday MG

'Rakin' and scrapin'' is (or was) available on the PR twofer 'A few miles from Memphis' (PRCD24288). (Just looked at Amazon UK Jeez, what fuckin' prices!) I like his Prestige material a lot, but REALLY like his Venus albums. Got the first one in 2002, when visiting Tokyo: 'Kiss of fire', which I still think of as my favourite Mabern album. But 'Fantasy', 'Don't know why' and 'Falling in love with love' please me very greatly, too. Don't forget, Mabern goes way back in Soul Jazz. He was on Jimmy Forrest's 2 Delmark albums, with Grant Green - 'All the gin is gone' and Black Forrest'. Real power in that piano playing! MG

He's busy making a mix tape... See? I didn't need to say it - y'all know MG

Well, that would be about all of them, wouldn't it? Universal and Sony together control all the Brunswicks, Sony has the Victors and the Okehs. What's left? gregmo There's the Durium, Cameo and Plaza recordings. (There may be more.) Someone on this Forum gave a complete listing and said-- IIRC-- that they were controlled by Sony. Unfortunately I've searched but can't find the thread. Cameo and Plaza were two of the labels that amalgamated (with Pathe US) to form ARC, so those are Sony owned. But Durium? I thought it was an Italian fifties label. MG

I've not read Larkin's poetry, but I have read 'All that jazz' - reprints of his jazz reviews for the Daily Telegraph (whose general style Larkin fitted perfectly). His views are interesting, particularly because they're so wrong. His style is an often brilliant melange of instantly dismissive sarcasm. Try this, from a 1971 review of Ornette’s “Art of the improvisers”: “I would agree that Coleman’s music sounds better to us now than it did then, but this is only because we have had much worse things to put up with in the interim – Coltrane’s hideousness, Shepp’s hostility, Davis’s Chinese-restaurant Muzak.” MG

Never heard of it. (This is my entry in the 'Least helpful post of 2013' competition.) MG

Glad I logged on to find this. Cash sent. The world needs Organissimo as much as it needs Paypal MG

Many happy returns, Dan. MG

Benny Carter Jack Train John Henry

Quite the point I was trying to make, Allen. Oversimplification teaches nothing. MG

Hm. I've said some harsh words about Verve and Granz in the past, and Chuck has complained about the lack of innovation in his recordings. But getting the JATP box recently has changed my view of Granz' early days. The first JATP session led the way to the honking sax players of the late forties. OK, a lot of people don't like that stuff, but it was innovative all right. And in the forties, to have Bird on stage with Roy Eldridge, Hawk & Prez was taking a pretty big risk. It's later that Granz became very conservative. But when Creed Taylor took over, the label began to move towards smooooothe jazz; long before it was called that. Again, an innovation you may not like... MG

Sonny Boy Williamson Sonny Boy Williamson Al Jolson

Yes, I agree. A very interesting book on this is 'What was the first Rock n Roll record?' by Jim Dawson & Steve Propes - 50 essays about records that came out up to 'Heartbreak hotel' which contributed something to the mixture. A personal selection, of course, but nonetheless interesting. Covers a wide range, from Illinois Jacquet, through John Lee Hooker, Hank Williams, Freddie Slack, The Orioles, Hank Snow, Les Paul/Mary Ford, Clyde McPhatter in various guises, Johnnie Ray, Johnny Ace & Ray Charles. MG

Just playing this... MG

This evening, inspired by the Twofer thread. Mango Santamania - The watermelon man - Battle (Milestone twofer) Contains 'Watermelon man' and 'Mongo at the Village Gate' Now, inspired by an exchange on the 78 thread, I dug out Al King - Think twice before you speak/The winner - Flag (Sue UK) But I found I'd got my 45s in that area of the alphabet terribly mixed up, so, to find it I had to sort out several inches of singles and, inevitably, I dug out a few others to listen to More R&B from the west coast Jimmy Johnson - Don't answer the door pt 1/pt 2 - Magnum (Sue UK) Jimmy Johnson - Black cat bone pt 1/pt 2 - Magnum Lighthouse All Stars - Big boy pt 1/pt 2 - Skylark now I've got to put all of them back in the right places without mixing them up again so I'm listening to Richard 'Groove' Holmes - Swedish lullaby - Sison Music MG

No - I know Heartsman's name but I've never heard anything he did. Chicago guitarist, wasn't he? MG No, he was a Californian - part of the Oakland scene. He was bluesman Al King's guitarist in the 1960s - that's west coast Al King, not the Stax artist Albert King. And Heartsman made a nice album for Alligator in 1991. But I just thought you might know "Johnny's House Party" if anyone here would - it was on the R & B charts in 1957, and it's just a really fun record. Oh, then I may have him on an Al King 45 - Think twice before you speak, which came out in the US on Flag. Would Heartsman have done the guitar solo, or King? MG That's a great record - I have the Sahara issue. (King leased his Flag recordings to Sahara.) Check out the composer credit on the flip side, "The Winner," and I think you'll have your answer.* Plus, King was "just" a singer; as far as I know, he didn't play guitar professionally. *For those of you without access to the single, yes, Johnny Heartsman wrote it, and plays guitar on both sides. Ah, interesting. Strange who you know that you don't know Thanks Jeff. MG