The Magnificent Goldberg

Sidney Bechet Select this afternoon. MG

Yes - those bands were around in the forties. MG

Wouldn't bebop be an obvious exception to this rule? It came from back musicians, but not really from the ghetto, and never had too much popularity there. I don't think that's true. If you look at the material played by soul jazz musicians in the sixties and early seventies - whose work was primarily aimed at the ghetto - you find a load of bebop tunes being played as part of a general 'menu' of entertainment alongside soul songs, blues, swing numbers and general pop songs. And don't forget that Diz and Bird and other beboppers got singles onto the R&B charts in the forties. MG

Now on disc 1 of vol 3 MG

No; there'll always be neo-jazz. MG So what is the cutoff year for "real jazz" then? If all new musicians play "neo-jazz" then that means at some point the original version ceased to exist and has been replaced by a facsimile. What year did that happen out of curiosity? 1994 OK, a word of explanation. When creative jazz ceases to command the enthusiasm of youth in the ghetto, the supply of talent dries up. Not that white musicians can't or haven't made fine contributions to the development of jazz, but the thrust has always come from the ghetto. Without that thrust the music is something else. The extent to which creative jazz engages the enthusiasm of young people in the ghetto can be seen in the jazz albums that make the R&B album charts. So, this little lot made the R&B charts in 1994. Kenny G - Miracles: the holiday album Us 3 - Hand on the torch Al Jarreau - Tenderness David Sanborn - Hear say David Benoit & Russ Freeman - Benoit/Freeman project Norman Brown - After the storm Gerald Albright - Smooth Najee - Share my world Bob James - Restless George Howard - A home far awy Paul Hardcastle - Harcastle Russ Freeman - Sahara Diane Reeves - Art & survival Everett Harp - Common ground Incognito - Positivity Jonathan Butler - Head to head Miki Howard - Miki sings Billie Nancy Wilson - Love Nancy Phil Perry - Pure pleasure Tom Scott - Reed my lips MG

Interesting... I've had dogs nearly my entire life, and not one of them ever got into a car willingly, or would relax once inside. Getting out was always a pleasure for them, at least! That's just plain weird. Every dog I've had loved car rides. I've always believed that the car represented separation from their family; therefore the opportunity to go in the car with the family meant they weren't being left alone. Chauncey, the Irish Setter we had from middle school past college, would run free if he had the chance, and the only way to corral him was to get him close to the car and call out "wanna go for a ride?" Of course, he eventually figured it out and wouldn't fall for it, but he sure loved car rides. Gracie and Coltrane are very mellow in the car once they get settled and realize they are in for a long drive. Our present pug, Henry, is OK on car rides but if he's looking out of the window he wants to stop and play with everyone he sees and shouts at them. Our first pug, Toby, hated going in the car, would scream the whole time. Going down to Sussex with him was a nightmare. But the cat loved going in the car. She'd curl up on the rear shelf and go to sleep. MG

Looks interesting; thanks Steve. MG

No; there'll always be neo-jazz. MG

Yes, we all owe Mr Sangrey a lot MG

OK, so what's your favourite novel? MG

Wasn't trad jazz more like a fad? I think some of its musicians were influential, not so much trad jazz itself (Ken Colyer also comes to mind). Its heyday was short-lived if I remember correctly (late 1950s-early 1960s). By the way, wasn't Alexis Korner more into blues? Yes, but he played guitar in Barber's band. Cyril Davies was in that band, too. And Korner had a wide appreciation of blues which included Charles Mingus and Jimmy Smith, as well as Muddy Waters and Champion Jack Dupree. I used to have a Korner album in which they played 'Haitian fight song' and 'Back at the chicken shack'. And I have a vivid recollection of one Saturday night (1962) at the Ealing R&B club (which was Korner's regular gig) in which Long John Baldry and Mick Jagger sat in and duetted on Ray Charles' 'I got a woman'. Oh, Korner also made an EP for Topic (a British folk music label) with Davy Graham - '3/4 AD' - one track of which was later appropriated by Simon & Garfunkel. MG

Sidewinder's right - kids could dance to it. That's one level. The other level was that it was all caught up with youthful rebellion; in simple terms, you could say a rejection of Perry Como, but that's too simple. Here's a paragraph from the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/20/newsid_3728000/3728225.stm 1957: Britons 'have never had it so good' The British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, has made an optimistic speech telling fellow Conservatives that "most of our people have never had it so good". That was definitely true, economically. But there was a serious view in left circles that what it all amounted to was complacency. From around this time, there was an interest, in those circles, in folk music - British and American. The revivalist jazz bands - Barber's in particular, through Lonnie Donegan - were able to pick this up and skiffle emerged in the late fifties. One thing that skiffle definitely had in that time was songs with interesting words; there was definitely meat in songs like 'Puttin on the style' which you didn't find in pop music of the time (and you don't find in the GAS either, for that matter). It wasn't just a British thing - it was happening in the US, too, with groups like the Weavers (definitely from the left) and the Kingston Trio. And the folk/protest movement grew out of those notions. But in Britain, the trad jazz bands were intellectually associated with those ideas and a lot of the two groups of people were friends, so they kind of got moved into centre stage. Unlike America, there was no black music over here and this may have made a difference, too; the nearest you got to black music over here - black music that was entertainment and dance-friendly - was those trad jazz bands (not the Hayes/Dankworth/Scott nexus). As you all know, I'm making this up as I go along MG

Ah, but there's the cosmic joke - what an artist "chooses" to play is only relevant to how they play it, and that's where technique IS what matters. Might as well say it again - this shit don't play itself, these instruments and these notes. Now, I certainly agree that the "end result" is the object of the game, but people who play the "I don't care a thing about technique, it doesn't matter one whit to me because I'm not a musician, all I care about is how it feels" are kidding themselves, because how it feels is a direct result of how it gets played, and that's a direct result of technique. You might be bored by the discussion and/or the specifics, but you DO care about it, whether you want to admit it or not. And make no mistake, there is no on "proper" technique" to making music. Technique is only relevant to the desired end, and desired ends vary widely, to put it mildly (and with a straight face). There's a lot of Romantic Notionhood about the "creative process", and ok, good, the mystique helps sell the product, and yeah, sometimes their is some magic involved. But between the magic happening and it making to/coming out of your speakers (or wherever), there's execution involved. Just good old-fashioned, you've-either-learned-how-to-do-it-or-haven't-(and-if not,-hopefully-you're-getting-better-at-it)-execution. Without it, you got nothing except ideas, just as without ideas, all you got is manual labor. That's all playing music is - manual labor. Whether or not it gets elevated to "art" at some point is entirely optional. Just remember that when some badass motherfucker who can genuinely play tells you that "it's not about the technique, it's about the music". They just tell you that because they know that if you knew about the actual work, you'd be bored shitless. So they game you, because boring people shitless is not a good career strategy, if you know what I mean. Well yes. As Sonny Stiff said, 'This shit ain't easy, baby.' But he made it SOUND so easy so, even though you knew it wasn't easy (because that statement is the TRUTH), he was like a great film director or novelist, who can make you suspend your disbelief and think you're not watching or reading a story he's made up, but something real. Now as for analysing what had been done in order to achieve that novel, film, or piece of music, you have to reverse that suspension of disbelief and that fucks the thing up; because all you're left with is the guy's skill and none of that content that drew you in the first place. Now a professional, whether novelist, film director or musician, HAS to do that because that's an essential part of them getting there. Maybe you, as musician and fan, can see both sides of this piece you've dissected; I'll believe it if you say that's true. But us oiks aren't going there anyway; we've got other stuff to do, other directions to take; we just want to pay our money and suspend our disbelief for what seem to us good reasons. A further aspect is that all the novels, films and pieces of music are reflections of a culture, which exists at a point in time and also as a past (and possible future) and that is also of significant interest. It's also not necessarily dependent on technique, in the sense that a poor writer, director or musician can reflect his/her cultural milieu as fully as (perhaps even more representatively than) a genius. (See Hippolyte Taine's 'History of English literature' for lengthy analysis of this issue.) I'm not saying you're wrong, only that I'm right But it's a different question. MG

In the end, all those bands knew the music they were reviving very thoroughly and tried (mostly succeeding) to be true to it, but at the same time they could put on a good show. It wasn't all funny hats, though - I saw Kenny and Acker at Ealing Town Hall in '60 or '61 and it was always good music (though I was by no means a jazz afficionado in those days - well, I'm still not, so there!) MG

Yep - Acker Bilk in his pre-"Stranger on the Shore" days had some success with "That's My Home" with his Paramount Jazz Band, and so did Chris Barber with his version of "Petite Fleur", and I'm sure there were others. Humphrey Lyttleton, too, with 'Bad penny blues' - a while before, though, in '56 I think. The Temperance Seven had four hits in the early sixties. John R T Davies was a member. And others, too, but I can't recall them. MG PS Acker had 6 UK hits before 'Strangler on the shore', 3 in the top 10. Alex Welsh had a small hit in '61. Chris Barber managed 3 hits. Kenny topped them all with 13 UK hits between 1961 and 1964 and another in '67.

Rail Band - Belle epoque - Syllart - discs 1 & 2 of vol 2 MG

Another one! And called 'Kiss kiss bang bang'! Wonderful! Must try to track that one down. MG Hm, seems to be a film. MG

Another one! And called 'Kiss kiss bang bang'! Wonderful! Must try to track that one down. MG

He reminds me of Prince Andrew, when he was younger, but I can't find any photos if him taken from an angle like that. MG

You wouldn't think that British dixieland revivalist bands would have been consistent hit-makers in the late fifties and early sixties... And even a film 'It's trad, dad'. RIP Kenny. MG

I can't begin to count the money it's cost* me in recorded music purchases, concert tickets...but it's all been worth it. * and saved Yes to both of those - 'but look how much I've saved' MG

I love it! It's great fun! One of my favourite Lonnie Smith adventures. And must be the only jazz version of the theme for the Alfred Hitchcock TV series. Recorded in 1992, originally issued on Paddle Wheel, my copy is a US edition, issued in 2002 by Sons of Sound. I found it hard to get in 2004 already. Oh, but I see it on Amazon UK £8.99 the CD, £7.49 download, now. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Agent-Man-Akira-Tana/dp/B00007L9NE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1362670665&sr=8-3 Maybe cheaper at Amazon.de. MG

Nice story Bill MG

The first 2 of this 5 CD set turned up this morning Fats Domino - The early Imperial singles 1950-52 - Imperial (Ace UK) Fats Domino - The Imperial singles 1962-64 - Imperial (Ace UK) My goodness, this is good stuff. Got a fair bit of the first set and used to have some of vol 5 back in the day, but the stuff I didn't hear before is as great as the classics! MG

Surely, for Organissimo, this one's more appropriate than the original? Congratulations to Jim and thanks. MG