The Magnificent Goldberg

Kansas City Melodyaires - Softly the night is falling - Songbird MG

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Florida Mass Choir - Lord, you keep on proving yourself to me - Savoy MG

You're lucky. I've had no post for well over a week. MG

I wonder if Julius Hemphill heard it? MG Don't know about that, but I am currently listening to Abdulah Ibrahim's The Journey with a frontline of Hamiet Bluiett and Don Cherry (true, this would best be classified as African jazz music). That's kind of interesting. Don Cherry and Hamiet Bluiett are American. But so is Roy Ayers and, if he can make an LP with Fela Kuti and it's African, they can surely make one with Ibrahim and it's African, too. I guess the crucial point is who's in charge and what are they trying to do? All the Ibrahim I've got, whether it was recorded in South Africa, America or Europe (have I any from Europe? not sure) sounds to me like a somewhat sophisticated version of the township jive material that's been heard from fifties kwela bands to Robbie Jansen now (and that music has been getting more sopphisticated without becoming disconnected from its roots in the townships). So I reckon it's African. More African than Blues, soul or jazz, say. But to deny that Ibrahim plays jazz is silly. And the same is true for Jansen, Masekela, Rachabane, Masilela, Zacks Nkosi and the Elite Swingsters. Calling it African jazz music doesn't get it for me, because Super Biton, Bembeya Jazz, Mystere Jazz de Tombouctou, Momo 'Wandel' Soumah play very different kinds of music that can also be described, and some of it has been described (not terribly inaccurately if not terribly helpfully), as African jazz music. So I don't know what the answer is, but it's interesting. MG

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I'm not entirely sure you can dismiss this. My experience in Britain, which may not be the same as the US, but I see no reason why not, is that a hell of a lot of people are getting by on qualifications, rather than skills or talent. (Just look at the last 30 years' worth of jazz musicians ) What employers have been doing for the last thirty or so years at least, is deskilling jobs; breaking them down into a series of tasks; and paying peanuts to minimally qualified monkeys. This ain't just McDonalds folks; in every walk of life that I've seen, from precision engineering to political advice, this attitude has become supreme. In Britain, this sort of thing has become so generally recognised that the meme 'the computer says no' has become a joke. But it isn't. To me - and sure, I'm old school - a job is not a set of tasks but more like a set of improvisations, because you['re generally dealing with people (even if you're a lathe turner making widgets) and people are inherently unpredictable. But what happens when an economy gets a fucking great boot up the arse, as has happened over the last few years, is that there's fallout; crap companies falling by the wayside - we've seen loads of national chain stores (not just HMV) go belly up here recently. But other firms - of course - saying things are looking up for them, because they're doing something different. And doing something different requires a less prescriptive attitude over what a job is on the part of employers but also employees who can improvise to meet the unpredictable. And it's been tasked out of people. My 2p worth. MG

This evening Ike Quebec - Soul samba - BN (UA Blue moon label) Milt Jackson with the Thelonious Monk quintet - BN Lexington Pharoah Sanders - Live at the East - Impulse MG

I've been baking my own bread for decades. I try to avoid other kinds of bread. I use a bread machine, like you Moosey, but I've never trusted the timer on any of them, so I rise at six and get the machine on by 6:20, so it's ready by ten and has cooled down enough for me to have sandwiches for lunch. I bake more or less standard wholemeal bread but add a couple of coarsely chopped Brazil nuts, three halved almonds, a few walnut pieces and a few sunflower seeds, more for the texture than the taste. MG

I wonder if Julius Hemphill heard it? MG

I like 'em. I agree with Jim but also, sometimes I find something I didn't know I could get while seaching for something else. Recently, I found downloads of Maa Hawa Kouyate and Soundioulou Cissokho that I didn't know were available on Amazon UK. MG

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Bessie Griffin - Testimony - Nashboro - no image on web MG

Never seen a Savoy gospel promo. On LP, 45 or 78. Nor any of the Savoy gospel albums recorded by Rudy. MG

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Please Mr Jackson Headed & gutted MG

He was very good indeed; an original; possibly the GREATEST player of ballads on organ. Which is not to say he couldn't swing, of course. There's a lot we don't know about this album. A track list would be beneficial. If there are a good few ballads, I'll contribute. MG Actually, that's what worries me a bit. I saw Woodard a couple of decades ago - the man actually came to Cardiff! and he played a ballad that really knocked me out. But he and Brashear are a bit on the hard boppy side. WIthout a track list, I'm uncertain. MG

I agree - valued advice. After much thought, I've just ordered the Bechet set. MG

I'm ashamed to admit I consciously avoided this one, scared off by Yanow's AMG review - and the thought of what the Donald Byrd Singers might sound like. I actually think I might have snagged it as part of a CD trade a while back but never got to it - I've got to check as soon as I get home. Kinda cool to think of an unheard Grant Green, not to mention Byrd/Turrentine/Burrell/Hancock. Even with the Donald Byrd Singers. So Al this was a very good BFT since it exposed me to music I should have heard a long time ago and inspired me to finally remedy that oversight. Thanks, Dan! I'm really glad you enjoyed the BFT. I don't completely agree with Yanow's review (of this OR of the Grant Green LP that Verve issued on CD). Neither album is a major effort from the respective leader, but there is much good to be mined from both albums. And, FWIW, I'll take the DB Singers over his Blue Note albums that also featured singers any day of the week. They're fun albums, nothing more & nothing less, and the CD is well worth seeking out. Then again, you know my tastes, so you might wanna take that with a grain of salt! Verve issued the Green and the Byrd as a twofer CD several years ago. They put the Green album first, so I often take it off after HMKF has finished. Should leave it on a bit more often MG

True, though it wouldn't have been much of a shop if he hoarded the best LPs. I don't know about the UK, but the US changed the way inventory was treated for accounting purposes, and this was one factor in the decline of brick-and-mortar stores. True, though it wouldn't have been much of a shop if he hoarded the best LPs. I don't know about the UK, but the US changed the way inventory was treated for accounting purposes, and this was one factor in the decline of brick-and-mortar stores. That sounds like it might be interesting, if I knew what you were talking about. Would you mind explaining? MG

This evening Willis Jackson - Shuckin' - Prestige (reissue as illustrated) Willis Jackson - Neapolitan nights - Prestige green label (not this sleeve, the Fantasy version) MG