The Magnificent Goldberg

I downloaded an album from Amazon UK a few days ago and got an ad from them today for their 'Cloud'. It didn't tell me what a cloud was, but I know it's a prelude to rain. But it did tell me that I could import 250,000 of my own songs (purchased from iTunes or ripped from my own CDs) for a subscription of £21.99 a year!!!! Why would I want to do that? The ad didn't say. MG

OI have a US Fantasy copy and it looks fine. Sharp pics, everything clear. Also 'XXL' by Dex comes from the same session. Nearly. He made one track in Norwalk in November 1971, with Sonny Red, Sam Jones & Mickey Roker, issued on an album called 'Jazz at the Lyman's'. Lord's discography says this has no label or catalogue number. I don't know who else was on the album. MG

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The Atlantic New Orleans jazz sessions - just finished. I am SO glad I got this set. MG

Kerfala Kante - New system - Syllart This has been on my want list for quite a while. It was al over the Goutte d'Or in Paris last month at 10 Euros (£8.33), but I held my fire and downloaded it today from Amazon for £5.90. Damn good album. Hope I have time to play it more next month MG

We have three ice cream vans coming around our way during the summer. They play 'I'm forever blowing bubbles' - which surely no kid will recognise? 'Somewhere my love' - this one's even here in the winter. I was listening to Sonny Criss' 'The beat goes on' just now and his version of that tune inspired this. MOST eccentrically - 'The theme from the Third Man'. Wow! What a strange thing to have the theme from a classic film noir to sell ice cream!!! So, what do they play in your neck of the woods? Anything weird? MG

This afternoon Earl Grant - Nothin' but the blues - Decca - but my version doesn't have this sleeve, it has the French Brunswick sleeve Earl Grant - Tade winds - Decca (Brunswick UK) MG

Most of the morning, from breakfast to lunch What a really nice box this is! MG

Boxes today Breakfast and most of the morning with Lionel Hampton complete Victor sessions now on Sun Ra - Four classic albums plus bonus singles - Real Gone MG

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This evening Jimmy Forrest - Heart of the Forrest - Palo Alto Randissimo sounds great - like he's got a conga player alongside him on 'Annie Laurie'. next Hank Crawford - Tico Rico - Kudu (Polydor UK) MG

Arthur Scales - I'm a believer - I Am I see this is on Ebay for $7.20 (reduced from $8.00) Mine was marked at $3 from Jeff's local store but I got a discount because I bought so much stuff he'd never get rid of MG

Dunno what people thought of them in the late fifties - it was before my time and anyway Britain ain't the best place to learn what people in Newark or on the South Side of Chicago thought. There was a thread somewhere which dealt (perhaps a side issue?) with popularising the jazz organ with black audiences. As I recollect, Chuck came in to say something like lots of black guys were buying 'Sermon' and 'House party' from Jazz Record Mart and turning them in a bit trashed after a while. Those long tracks are good for parties, just before the partygoers got the Redd Foxx and Moms Mabley LPs on. Same as Kenny Burrell's 'All day long' and 'All night long' and a lot of the groove tracks on Gene Ammons jam sessions on Prestige, particularly 'Blue greens 'n beans'. (I suspect JOS' version of 'All day long' would have been another, but perhaps people would have taken it off when 'Yardbird suite' started, though it does have a nice groove, so I don't know.) A 'Blue Note for Parties' would be a nice selection. MG

Played this earlier and, looking at the sleeve.... Then thought of this MG

This evening, 2 doubles Les McCann live at Montreux - Atlantic Gene Ammons - The 78 era - Prestige (Musidisc) MG

Thanks, I didn't know that, Regis is a new name to me. Funnily enough, Regis appears to be a lot more obscure than its subsidiary, Manor. Irving Berman started Regis in '43 and seems not to have made any recordings after '46. He started Manor in '45 and continued until 1949. Savannah Churchill had several hits on Manor, including 2 that made the pop charts. No Regis records were hits. Berman started Arco in 1949 and appears to have continued the Manor numbering series on Arco. The last of the 1000 series on Manor dated in ARLD is #1195 (Aug '49); the first Arco is #1201 (Nov '49). No hits on Arco, either. MG

Yes, I forgot about those - Zappa, too. MG Yes, I listed Regis (Manor's parent label) among the R&B firms that made some pretty significant jazz records. I couldn't be asked to list every one of those firms' subsidiary labels MG

Thanks Jeff; never realised how little gospel AM recorded. Strike that one out then As to the date, the only record dated in Galen Gart's ARLD is #533, dated as released in July 1949, so I just took that as the only reliable date. No details given of the proprietor. In about 1959, the address was 600 Chartres Street, New Orleans. Is that the same firm? MG

Following Jim Sangrey’s interesting thread about Prestige’s folk and international labels, I thought it would be useful to start a thread on what other indie jazz companies did along similar lines. During the period when the first generation of indie labels was developing (1936-1954), jazz was becoming less and less of a good business to be in, as most leaders of big bands were closing down their businesses (Duke Ellington and Buddy Johnson being the exceptions). So most of the firms involved in jazz developed alternative lines to keep the cash flowing. The first indie to focus significantly on jazz was Commodore, which seems to have opened for business in 1934, reissuing other companies material, then Milt began making recordings in 1936. He also made pop records, on the Timely and Topical Tempo labels. There were probably also spoken word recordings issued on the Voices from History label. In 1939, Savoy made its first recordings. Herman Lubinsky was the first of the jazz label proprietors to get involved with a wide variety of music (he was a friend of Eli Oberstein, proprietor of Varsity, who influenced him greatly). On the Acorn, King Solomon, Gospel, Sharp, Regent and World Wide subsidiary labels, Lubinsky issued gospel records in huge numbers, and to such good effect that, from the late sixties, Savoy concentrated on gospel music exclusively. He also issued budget classical albums, on the World Wide label, most if not all of which were bought in from a Russian company. And it’s well known that he also made very successful R&B records. Less well known is the fact that he issued C&W records, as well. Keynote was the next jazz label to get involved in other music. As well as jazz, Eric Bernay and Harry Lim issued classical, folk and gospel records. In fact, the first record on an indie label to hit the R&B charts was a gospel record on Keynote. During the war, a fair number of companies came into being whose main focus was R&B, but who recorded plenty of jazz as well: Black & White, King, Apollo, Regis, De Luxe, the Rene brothers’ Excelsior and Exclusive and Eli Oberstein’s follow up to Varsity, the variously named Elite/Hit/Majestic label. Some of these companies’ jazz output was very important. During this period, Bob Thiele started Signature records. He also made a virtue of recording a wide range of material: pop, R&B, gospel, C&W, folk, international, spoken word and children’s records on the Hi-Tone, Shelton, Candy and Hanover labels. In 1944, Norman Granz entered the business with the first JATP recording, (initially issued on Stinson and Disc). Norgran, Clef and Verve eventually had a good pop output (including Ricky Nelson’s first single) as well as a very successful comedy line. Jewel, owned by Ben Pollack, and National, owned by Al B Green, opened up towards the end of the war and both were in the R&B, gospel and pop business, with National also making kiddies’ and C&W records. Atlantic was the next jazz label to record a wide variety of music. The company is well known for its R&B recordings, but also recorded gospel and pop music, as well as comedy albums and rock later in its history. American Music, which opened in 1949, and was well known for its recordings of traditional styles of jazz, also made gospel records. It was also in 1949 that Bobby Weinstock opened up Prestige. In 1950, Fantasy opened for jazz, R&B, comedy and classical music. Later, of course, rock. Also in 1950, Teddy Reig opened up (Royal)Roost records and, in addition to jazz, issued R&B and pop recordings on the Legende, Scooter, Showcase and 3 Deuces labels. The following year, Lester Koenig entered the field with Contemporary. Koenig made jazz records on the Contemporary, Good Time Jazz and California labels, and classical music on the Contemporary Classics and Society for Forgotten Music labels; the latter was run by Vernon Duke and some of his compositions appeared on the label. Next year, Richard Bock opened up Pacific Jazz. PJ concentrated on jazz, as did Aura, but World Pacific issued international, pop and comedy albums, with some success. Delmark started up in 1953 and is very well known for both jazz and blues. So did Riverside, which made folk, comedy, spoken word, kiddies’ and gospel records as well. Finally in this period, Bethlehem, which opened in 1954, was also involved in pop, R&B and C&W. Blue Note and HRS are about the only significant jazz labels from the early days of the indies to have stuck to jazz exclusively. MG

Surely Lou Donaldson would have played with Charlie Parker, at some time and on some stage, even if not recorded? After all, he was with Monk and Milt in the early fifties. MG

Found him on the internet: NY Times obit; the obit dates from November 15, 1995. Very interesting, thanks Hans. MG

I've got a number of Mainstream albums on CD - mostly Japanese issues from P-Vine CHARLES WILLIAMS - STICKBALL CHARLES KYNARD - CHARLES KYNARD CHARLES WILLIAMS - CHARLES WILLIAMS PAUL JEFFREY - PAUL JEFFREY NIGHT BLOOMIN' JAZZMEN - NIGHT BLOOMIN' JAZZMEN SOUL MAKOSSA - AFRIQUE BLUE MITCHELL - GRAFFITI BLUES - This one's a Sony issue, but a South African release I got in Namibia I'm sure there are lots more P-Vine issues. MG

It's very useful but devilish hard to search for unless you happen to remember the title. MG