The Magnificent Goldberg

Yes, when I first moved to London, at the end of 1958, that shop was my local record shop. A fabulous Bauhaus place. MG And not forgetting Imhof's in New Oxford Street that was similarly futurist in design. I think it's a Boots store nowadays. More on Dobell's ( with a great photo of the carrier bag ) from music journalist David Hepworth : http://whatsheonabou...last-great.html You're right about the design of Imhofs. I think I only ever bought 1 LP there - the 10" of 'Songs by Tom Lehrer'. I remember that DObell's bag. I think Mole Jazz had a similar thing on some bags at one time, but can't be sure. And a shop in Brighton I used to work in - Fine Records. MG

Oh, we have to get the pianner player, is it? Back later. MG

I don't think so. The shadow of his sax, falling over Hamps left side, seems to be at the same angle as the shadow of the mike. And, as Brownie pointed out, the bass drum pedal pointing the other way so Hamp could use it at the drop of a mallet isn't something you'd find in the Eckstine band MG

My thought precisely Like Ornette, I'm sure Bird knew where they were coming from - a place he recognised - even if they weren't going to the place he hadn't found yet. Bird did a tour with Gator and they jammed together for the finale - usually Gator stepped back after a few exchanges saying, 'you got it'. THAT, I would have loved to have seen. Anyone know when the photo was taken? MG

I doubt that this scribe has grasped what it really is all about for many of those who tend to become nostalgic. IMO is is not about being "consumerist" but about comparing our EVERYDAY LIFE experiences the way they were back then and the way they are now. And shopping invariably is part of our everyday lives, particularly if we (correctly or incorrectly) feel that back then buying real items in real shops - either to cover one's everyday needs or (even more so) to treating us to special objects for our hobbies etc. - was a far more pleasing experience if you look at it beyond pure convenience aspects. Considering that in many cases the choice of products has narrowed down considerably, quality hasn't really improved as much as we are led to believe, staff service likely was better in the past, etc. etc., we tend to become nostalgic (who wouldn't like to go back and buy this or that item that they passed up back then because they didn't know any better?), even though this nostalgia is sometimes a rose-colored glasses affair (many items have only become accessible fairly easily in the internet era, and much of what was around then and what we would like to buy now with the benefit of hindsight actually was much more expensive back then than we'd care to imagine). So to me the bottom line is that there is little surprise about having fond memories, and this is not limited to the record buying public. (e.g. just look at the numerous comments on SHORPY whenever an antique photo of some main street or shop interior is shown) Yes and no. The writer of the article is right that many (perhaps all) of those chains of stores, whether for music, groceries or overcoats, WERE rubbish and their demise shouldn't be regretted. HMV itself was fine - better than fine really as the old photos show - so long as it was what it was. As soon as they changed it into a chain (I think I remember an HMV shop in Brighton in about '73 or '74, just before I moved to Wales) it became the retail equivalent of Columbia or RCA; seeking to satisfy the easily satisfied majority. Indie retailers, like the indie record companies, tried to get to grips with their local markets. And the best of them at doing so have survived and maybe will continue to survive. MG

MG

No Cab at all. Sessions from June 1929- Feb 1930 Thanks - I may get this soon. (Well, I'd have got it anyway - Cab or no Cab ) MG

My copy of the Hutcherson isn't a cutout. Maybe the position was different in Britain than the USA? But it's a US pressing. Got it in '78 from one of the indie shops in Cardiff at the time. MG

The Missourians is the band that eventually became the Cab Calloway band. Are those cuts with Cab or pre-Cab? MG

But the guy's looking through the sound tracks & musicals section. You can see the sleeves of 'Hair' 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Kismet' in front of him. MG

Ah yes. The undisputed leader of the playing-piano-while-standing-up school! Well, there is Little RIchard... MG

A download for me, please. And my ears are the woodenest! Fancy thinking that KB was GG! MG

Glad you like it Michel. If you have Ray's Pablo CD 'Live in Berlin 1962' a comparison of the two versions of 'Come rain or come shine' is a revelation. (By the way, it's the other CD ('Rock + soul = genius') that has the shitty sound on the first 3 tracks. I've always thought 'Genius + Soul = Jazz live' had very nice sound.) MG

This BBC report on the economics of this is interesting http://www.bbc.co.uk...siness-21023602 Also interesting, from the HMV pics the Guardian had in their article, was this one In the fifties, no one needed to be told who Miller and Waller were. (And their material, at the time, was available on HMV.) MG

Jerry Lee Lewis - The essential Sun collection - Sun (Charly) A bit of nostalgia in a way. I had almost all of these singles as a teenager, even the later ones you probably won't know, and they never left me; I still know all the words to 'I'll sail my ship alone', for example. This stuff is beyond good. Saw him in Boulogne in 1963, and was standing about eighteen inches from his right foot - the dangerous one MG

Sun Ra - Four classic albums + bonus singles - Real Gone Jazz now near end of disc 2 MG

A few more views of the HMV Oxford Street shop interior. MG

Yes, once tried, never tried again. MG

Yes, when I first moved to London, at the end of 1958, that shop was my local record shop. A fabulous Bauhaus place. MG

Bleedin' 'ell, Chewy, I am salivating all over my t-shirt! Are there any more where you got that one? daaaaaaam. did u find that on the hunt, or on the ebay. is it a different mix than the production version? I got it at Mole Jazz in 1983, amazingly enough. Soul Jazz was not well enough thought of in those days for it to be expensive. It's the only copy I've ever had of this, so I don't know if it's the same as or different to others. It has the usual Prestige matrix numbers in the dead wax, however. Perhaps someone knows whether several test pressings were done of each LP for Prestige. Christiern? MG

Lionel Hampton - complete Victor sessions. All time favourite Mosaic, this one. MG

No more calls, please. We have a winner. Oh yes, I'd say so, especially since it includes that ninth song. Actually, that and the first one would make a nice single...er...double....er...single........ Actually, Greg, those are bands/artists, not songs - this is apparently an anthology. This old dude has actually heard of about one-third of them. El Vez bills himself as "The Mexican Elvis." Really? This one just gets better and better! gregmo No more calls, please. We have a winner. Oh yes, I'd say so, especially since it includes that ninth song. Actually, that and the first one would make a nice single...er...double....er...single........ Actually, Greg, those are bands/artists, not songs - this is apparently an anthology. This old dude has actually heard of about one-third of them. El Vez bills himself as "The Mexican Elvis." Really? This one just gets better and better! gregmo SOmeone's going to prove it's Wynton's trumpet, soon. Or Willie Mitchell's. MG

I agree with whoever said you needed them all. You should also try to find this one (not too hard to find, I think) It's an incomplete (31 mins including an alternative take of one tune) trio session of Larry with Booker Ervin and Jerry Thomas on drums, tacked on to a Pony Poindexter album with Booker, Al Grey & Gildo Mahones, which is not at all bad. Yes, the coupling is pretty much what Collectables or LOnehill Jazz might have done, but this session really wouldn't have come out otherwise. Recorded Feb 1963. Fantasy waited until 1999 to bring it out for the first time. As valuable for Booker Ervin as for Larry Young. MG

Clearly Cold War vintage. It's a clarinet, not a rocket, Bev! MG

What's the sound like on that one Brownie? Worth having? I think it's excellent sound. Great music from start to finish, too. Sorry I missed most of it back in the day. MG (AKA Brownie )