The Magnificent Goldberg

Thanks for that, Iain. I'm very sorry to hear about M Sylla's health. He IS one of the great producers of music, period. MG

These turned up this morning Ray Bryant - MCMLXX - Atlantic (Collectables) One I was thinking of getting from the new batch of Japanese reissues, but this was cheaper at Amazon UK. Another nice commercial release. Ricky Ford - Saxotic stomp - Muse Listening now; a lot going on, but accessible. Glad I got it. Harry Edison/Buddy Tate - Swing summit - Candid Looking forward to hearing this next. Last two from Jazztropic's sale. MG

I used to have a nice Telefunken LP called 'Great composers own performances' by Debussy & Ravel. As I recollect, both sides were made from piano rolls, not just the Debussy. MG

Thank you Iain. Your graphs mean almost nothing to me, I'm afraid. But I can see a difference at the 20-25 Khz region, where the tail-off is stepped on the Syllart version and smoothly declines on the Sterns version. I guess this is the high treble area of the sound. I also guess that this is a graph of one particular moment of the song, since time is not a component of the graph. Is it this that causes your ears to be tired? I must say that, over decades of listening to poor recordings, I've never found my ears getting tired (and Syllart is the most played label this year so far in my collection, so I listen to this stuff A LOT). I can certainly tell the difference between a deep groove mono LP and pretty well anything else, but it's not enough to make me seek out such LPs, and certainly not to make me pay big money for them. I doubt whether any of the African customers of Syllart and other Guinean labels feel any differently to me. Of course, I understand perfectly that Sterns aren't trying to sell records to Africans. So your view that Sterns is 'a company that is trying to treat this music with some respect' only has relevance to its target audience, which, as far as I'm concerned, is not the audience that counts. I've been buying Sterns albums since the company started, about 30 years ago. I've never seen any Sterns records licensed from any of the important companies involved in the Guinean music scene except Syliphone and Syllart and one album licensed from Bolibana. If you can point to albums Sterns have licensed from: AMC/TAT Audio Visual; Super Selection; CDS/Gris Gris; Sonia Store; or D D United I'll be most interested in acquiring them (unless I've already got 'em on K7 ) But I bet they haven't. Similar considerations apply to the music scenes of Mali and Senegal. If you know anything about the US R&B scene of the 40s and 50s, you'll recognise that these music scenes parallel that one most interestingly. What Sterns do is equivalent to deciding that Chess and Modern were the only firms that mattered in the R&B scene. Treating the music with some respect means more than picking up a few items and releasing them to an unsuspecting world that doesn't get the connection but doesn't want tired ears. MG

I dare say that, if I download 'The griot's craft' and compare it with my rip of 'Diatiguyw', I'll not notice the difference, will I? Perhaps I should just download 'Kaba mousso'? MG

I'm glad you're liking the album but, I confess, a couple of things you wrote in your original post have tweaked my tail. Everybody's entitled to their own opinions including "What would Sterns do without Syllart?" although how you're qualified to say that I have no idea but, just to be clear, Sterns have done a damn sight more to this album than "rejig the running order, given it a new sleeve and a title that don't quite fit." The last comment is, again, your own opinion and that's fair enough but if you compare the audio of the 'The Griot's Craft' and 'Diatiguyw' you'll realise that 'Diatiguyw' was mastered from MP3s whereas 'The Griot's Craft' comes from uncompressed and full bandwith audio files. To me that's a fairly big difference and deserves some credit. There's also the track "Kaba Mousso': on 'Diatiguyw' it comes in at 03:57, on 'The Griot's Craft" it's 05:30. Sterns have restored to its full length. Not exactly earth-shattering, for sure, but added together surely it indicates a company that is trying to treat this music with some respect? Sorry if I come across as a bit grumpy and, yes, I do some work for Sterns, but this post comes fairly high up if you do a search on <Sekouba Bambino> and I'd just like the record to be straight ... are at least a little straighter than the tone of what you're suggesting. Iain Scott Thank you Iain. Always glad to be corrected by someone who knows his stuff. Please look in again; we can use some more people with an interest in this music. MG

I must give that another listen. Damn good but I haven't, so far, rated it a masterpie. I VERY nearly put that one in, but kept thinking that, really, the masterpie is Freddie McCoy's. MG Glad you got into that! (Glad someone did ) MG

I love that one. I already had that LP, and some other material of his, but it was when I saw him at the Brecon Jazz Fest in 2000 that what a nice guy he is came across to me. MG So you were there! I still have a videotape of television coverage of Junior at Brecon, backed by Steve Brown, who must be my favourite British drummer. Were you there too? MG

Great sleeve, but the car's actually blue; the white strips are just decorative strips. Carp, carp MG

The answer is at the bottom of the page - "Label established by Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York, 1950. Bought by the Welk Music Group in 1986." That remained the case in 2005, when Ace reissued the Pazant Brothers' LP in the UK. MG

I probably don't like masterpieces much, but there are several tracks that really get me. Illinois Jacquet - Blues - from the first JATP concert. The HONK made REAL! Sonny Stitt - Deuces wild - from Just the way it was; live at the Left Bank. So much excitement and togetherness. Grant Green - It ain't necessarily so - from Nigeria. Well, just because it's great. MJQ - One never knows - from One never knows. Martin Williams complained that there was no exploration in this cut, but the exploration is sonic, not thematic, rhythmic or harmonic, with Connie Kay in the lead. Jack McDuff - A real good 'un - from Live. Just the blues, not an exercise in anything, just the motherfuckin' BLOOOOOZE! MG

And there was a third direction: soul jazz, exemplified by recordings by the Players Association, who had a couple of albums on the R&B charts, and the Pazant Brothers. MG

I could be mistaken, but I don't think there's any change. That's what I thought. I thought we were going to lose the subtitles, but they're still there. MG

So it must have happened already by now? Or maybe I'm more than ordinarily confused. MG

I love that one. I already had that LP, and some other material of his, but it was when I saw him at the Brecon Jazz Fest in 2000 that what a nice guy he is came across to me. What's an 'authentic' blues player that Mance isn't? MG

Here's the lowdown on Sekouba Bambino Diabate, generally, but not invariably, known as Sekouba Bambino. Here's a discography which I'm afraid Lydia andI haven't updated for a few years. http://www.geocities.ws/lydia_gaertner/Diskographien/Sekouba_Bambino.html After a few years singing with Bembeya Jazz National (recordings made for Esperance, (not listed in the discography because we didn't have more than a couple of those albums) some available on vol 2 of BJN's 'Belle epoque' (Syllart), he began making albums under his own name in 1991. The first was 'Kessaly' recorded for Super Selection. The next, in 1992, was 'Le destin', also a Super Selection K7. 'Le destin' has been reissued on CD by POpular African Music, and including a few tracks from 'Kessaly'. Both K7s are pretty short and Gunther Gretz could have issued both - it would have made a CD of just over an hour. But he didn't, so the only way to get any of Sekouba's earliest albums is on the PAM CD. It's damn good, though I've not bought it, because I have both K7s. On my first trip to Africa, in early '93, the girl behind the till in the restaurant of the motel I stayed in was playing 'Le destin' one evening while I was having dinner. I liked it so much I asked her what it was. She showed me and, after I'd eaten, I asked her for a loan of the sleeve, so I could get a copy myself in the market around the corner, without making a mistake. No there was no mistake. In the mid 90s, Sekouba made a football (proper football, that is) K7s for Super Selection: Syli National is the Guinean national football team. He started recording for Syllart at this time and 3 K7s were issued: 'Bonya', 'Kassa' and the wonderful 'Diommaya'. Syllart also issued a CD - 'Kassa' which also came out on Sterns, and which is a compilation of some material from the 3 K7s. I haven't got this CD, as I have all the K7s. 'Diommaya' is all accoustic and is the best, but only 1 track was included in the CD. Another football K7 came out in 2002, again on Super Selection: 'Soutiens au Syli National'. MUCHO drum machines!!! I love it! That's also when 'Sinikan' came out, on Syllart, on both K7 and CD. In 2004, a grand compilation - 'Ambiance ballon' was issued on CD by Syllart and also on Sekou2004. This is a compilation of some cuts from the earlier Super Selection football K7s, plus a couple of new tracks. It was accompanied by his 15th anniversary album on Syllart. I've seen quite a few of these tracks on Youtube, so you can do a search for them, if you want to hear them. Yet another football album came out in 2006 - 'CAN history' - on SUper Selection and was issued on CD by Syllart. If you love Sekouba's football records, this is the best! (CAN is the African Nations Cup.) It's undated, but I suspect the next, 'Ma Guinee' probably came out a couple of years ago. This one is on his own label, SBD Productions, issued on CD by Tandjigoura World SOng. I only came across it in August. A very nice album. This year has seen the issue of two Sekouba albums. 'Innovation', supposedly his 20th anniversary record (though the years don't add up). It features loads of guests doing duets with Sekouba. Some of them are very good and I'll try to follow up on these people. And 'Diatiguyw', alias 'The griot's craft'. As far as his accoustic albums are concerned, I think this one is nearly as good as 'Diommaya' MG

Oh, I must get this. I've quite a few RBT albums, but none of these tracks (as far as I can read 'em) are on them. A great album. Watch out for the drum machines! MG

Happy birthday Jeff - have a real good 'un MG

I like it, but I do like drum machines in this kind of music. He does an interesting version of 'It's a man's man's man's world'. But I prefer his more recent albums and his earliest. Will put a little thing together after lunch. MG

King Curtis - Blow man blow: the Capitol years - 1962-65 - Bear Family MG

£3.78 is a jolly good price, even for a mediocre album, which this ain't. MG

I say the same about South Wales And the East Midlands is a LOT more prosperous than South Wales and has MUCH better weather. MG

Thanks Hans. Anyone know what the SOnny Sharrock 'Black woman' album is like? MG

Posted this yesterday, but it's gorn, so, here we go again. Got an e-main from Sterns to say they'd just issued this Sekouba Bambino - The griot's craft - Sterns Well, not exactly new. It's this album Sekouba Bambino - Diatiguyw - Syllart All Sterns have done is rejig the running order, given it a new sleeve and a title that don't quite fit. But it's a fine album; all accoustic, so no drum machines to get on other people's nerves. But some of the musicians were recorded in Paris, others in Bamako, so it's not like 'live' stuff. Sterns have this on offer for 8 quid for the first 2 weeks on release, then it goes up to possibly 9 (which is what Amazon UK are selling it for from next week). Or you can get the original from Amazon UK for 8.63 (which is only pence (plus postage) more than I paid for it in Paris in August. No doubt Sterns and Amazon in the US will have similar offers on these two discs. Downloads are available, too, on the Sterns release but not, apparently, the Syllart version. What would Sterns do without Syllart? MG

Teo said to his secretary (you know, the one who didn't burn this stuff and the Louis Armstrong material Chris published a year or two back) 'Memo to John, Joe and Phyl, about the new Miles project, "Miles just called..."' And then he went on to the next jazzman to schmooze with. And the secretary, who wasn't like us computer people, but could type with all ten fingers and make up letters that were grammatical and easy to read, which Teo probably (well, maybe) couldn't, shoved it (and other things) under his nose just when he was going home, or out for a drink with Orrin Keepnews, and he signed it, just like that. Now, instead of serried ranks of secretaries, who got things done, we have serried ranks of database engineers, system programmers, project controllers, webpage designers to make sure that, if anything NEARLY gets done, the system falls over at the exact time you need it NOT to fall over. And they get paid an awful lot more than secretaries, so everything costs a lot more, too. But there's still widespread unemployment. In part, caused by the manufacturers of labour saving devices like hoovers, dishwashers, washing machines, steam irons, etc, who have persuaded people to substitute themselves for workers, and who, consequently haven't got the time to enjoy life. What the western world needs is a new initiative - The Ironing Initiative - to create more work and more leisure time. MG The Armstrong papers were sent to me by Liz Gilbert, who was John Hammond's secretary and should have kept them on file. Teo's secretary, Corinne Chertok, was one office away. She, BTW was married to Dave Chertok, the film collector. I knew there'd be a connection Those offices weren't anywhere near as big as offices get now. MG