The Magnificent Goldberg

Gerald Wilson - Complete PJ recordings - Mosaic A lovely day on the West Coast MG

I just ordered that novel. Hope it's good. Given the subject matter, I would think that MG will be all over this when it's released. Not sure. Had a quick shufti at the write up and shrugged. What did he say in the Rolling Stone article? Can someone link to it? MG

If you compare the recording dates with the release dates (which you can get if your local library has old copies of the Schwann catalogue), you'll find that the normal gap between recording and release was a bit in excess of a year. I guess it had to do with that gap and maybe Alfred didn't want people to think they were buying old music. So Blue Note was ALWAYS issuing music from the vaults. Don't know whether this is right. Second thoughts - PJ didn't either. Nor did Prestige for a long period. Nor did Atlantic. None of the RCAVictor or Decca or Columbia LPs I've seen (but I never bought much on any major label) have dates on them. The only labels I can think of where dates fairly consistently appeared are Argo/Cadet, Contemporary and Riverside/Jazzland. MG

Johnny Smith - guitarist Johnny Smith - aka Johnny 'Hammond' Smith - organist Wilbur Bascomb - trumpet player in the Erskine Hawkins band (also worked on a number of soul jazz alnums in 60s and 70s) Wilbur 'Dud' Bascomb - bass player MG

Hi Steve--Gibert doesn't have much. Paris Jazz Corner is exactly the same as always, and that's a comfort (I was there today!). But the big retail stores here used to stock more as little as a year ago, and I was struck by the change. That's why I posted. In the US, I get all my cds on-line, with the exception of an occasional visit to a used cd store. 'Course, I don't live close enough to go to Jack's! gregmo I'm afraid I was in Paris when Paris Jazz Corner were in the Ardennes or wherever they go for their hols That was good in one way, because I could spend more in the Goutte d'Or. CDs have taken off there quite well in the last few years. Although there are still plenty of K7s around, there are now a good many more CDs than K7s which aren't available on CD. I got 30 CDs and only got 1 K7 and that one wasn't available on CD. And, of course, in the Goutte d'Or, they're cheap. A couple of shops had sales, but the recommended price for a new CD was 10 Euro. But you make them an offer, and you can get them cheaper. Try doing that in Virgin Five years ago, in Paris, I bought 33 African albums - 15 on CD and 18 on K7. The contrast last month was quite noticeable. Africans are buying more and more CDs. Of course, the major companies don't notice this because they hardly do any business in Africa because their business is selling western style popular music to well-heeled westerners; only one of the 30 CDs I bought was on a major label (Lusafrica, part of Sony/BMG). Looks like the CD and K7 will only die when every African is connected to the internet - no sooner than the 22nd Century, at an optimistic guess. MG

I think that's true of Life of Brian - but maybe over here, not so much over there perhaps. MG

Oh, that looks very interesting. Thanks for posting that, Stefan. Very good set. Now out of print (very quickly went from released to out of print, the estate dropped its deal with Concord). . . not easy to find. Crikey! Glad I got it quickly! MG

Your cd/record collection? I loe those songs but hardly ever hear them played by jazz musicians. Start listeniong to more soul jazz MG

Morning and most of afternoone with this Various artists - The complete Felsted mainstream collection - Felsted (Solar) Now Sun Ra - Four classic albums + bonus singles - Transition & Saturn (Real gone jazz) Now on disc 2. MG

Played my newie - thanks to Jim for letting me know it was at Dusty Grove. Lionel Hampton - Off into a black thing - Brunswick MG

Dusty Groove's package arrived today Lionel Hampton - Off into a black thing - Brunswick Mind you, I think Lionel's always been into a black thing. I've never heard of a white bandleader leading his band out into the ghetto streets around the ballroom Nice stuff. Only one of his albums for Brunswick is included in Lord's jazz discography - 'Please sunrise'. MG

There are two Chester Thompsons, and I keep getting them mixed up. One is a jazz organist, who recorded the LP 'Powerhouse' for Black Jazz. The other is a drummer, who worked with Weather Report. MG

Damn, forgot about him. There are about a trillion music people called Jimmy Johnson. 1 West Coast blues guitarist - writer of the song 'Don't answer the door' which B B King covered a few years later. 2 Chicago blues guitarist - recorded a few albums for Delmark. 3 Jazz guitarist, worked on albums such as Shirley Scott's 'Soul saxes', 'Something', King Curtis' 'Great Memphis hits' and David Newman's 'Weapon'. 4 Jazz drummer - worked on Newman's 'Mr Fathead', Billy Butler's 'Night life' and 'Yesterday, today & tomorrow', Boogaloo Joe Jones' 'Black whip', Jack McDuff's 'Lift every voice' & Reuben Wilson's 'Set us free'. 5 R&B singer - lead singer with the Jayhawks ('Stranded in the jungle'). 6 Engineer at Fame Studios, Muscle Shoals. 7 Pop bass player. 8 Composer of 'Charleston'. 9 Another composer - co-writer of Erskine Hawkins' massive hit, 'Don't cry baby' - maybe same as 8, maybe not; different generation. 10 Tenor player in Duke/Peacock studios early 50s. MG

Well, at least I got the label right for the Paul Gonsalves. Heard little of him. MG

I'm late to the party - there was such a lot to listen to. 1 There’s something kind of Woody Herman-ish about this tune and the way the band plays it. Not that it I think it is Herman, but it seems to have been modelled after some of those ‘Four brothers’ things. I rather like this, except for the drummer, who I think is a bit too busy. Does that mean it’s Buddy Rich? 2 This sounds like a sixties update on the style of 1. And, after over 3 minutes of band intro (yes, I know it’s not an intro) we get an effin’ bass solo! Then 2 more minutes of band extro. Can’t be asked, sorry. 3 ‘I can’t get started’ played by a great unknown (to me) trumpet player. Actually, he doesn’t quite make me feel it. There’s something just a little hard about his sound that makes me think he’s putting it on. 4 I know the tune but can’t place it. I know the sax player but can’t place him, either. He’s a bit too full of chops on this for me to really enjoy him. Now he’s reprising the tune, I’m sure I don’t know it but I do know the song it’s based on, but still can’t place it. No more ideas second time around except to say the tenor player has been well influenced by Sonny Stitt. 5 This sounds like Gerald Wilson’s arranging. And a beautiful tenor solo by someone I’m sure I OUGHT to recognise. What a lovely cut! On a second listen, I‘m more sure this is a Gerald arrangement and #7 isn’t. Still a lovely track. 6 I feel that this track is a bit disorganised. Or maybe disjointed. It’s like a few musicians taking turns to solo, not to create a piece that conveys something to the audience. The girl friend of a former neighbour would have called this ‘jazz wanking’; I think she’d have been right. 7 Oh, this one sounds a bit on the Gerald Wilson lines, too. Well, I think this is Wilson so #5 probably isn’t. Nice piano player with a lot of Cedar Walton in him. But I don’t associate Walton with big bands, so it’s almost certainly someone else. Fair trombonist but not a specially recognisable voice. And a balls-breaking tenor player. No, this can’t be Gerald Wilson; there’s too much band. Gerald Wilson always made his arrangements support the soloists, not take over from them. I wonder if this is a McCoy Tyner big band? 8 This sounds like some late swing players getting with bebop. Nice, without being in any way overwhelming. 9 I don’t know what this is or who. The band is either absolutely thinking as one or the whole thing has been rehearsed to the nth degree. I think the former. It’s the true antithesis of #6. The trumpet player sometimes reminds me of John Hunt, which means it’s almost certainly not him. Well, I’m getting a Riverside feeling about this cut. 10 Oh, a real flagwaver here! Surely no one would put Basie in a BFT? Clarke/Boland band? 11 Gawd, wotta GROOVE! Times like this, I wonder why bebop didn’t take over the dance floors. Bebop as it ought always to have been. Well, not really, but… 12 Well, this is good all right, but it’s not holding my attention. I’ll give it another try tomorrow. On to the next. On a second listen, I have a Harold Land feeling about the tenor player, though I’m not so well into Land as to be anything like sure. Oh, there are apparently two tenor players, here. This is really very nice, but isn’t really getting through at the gut level, especially now the pianist has taken over. 13 ‘Strike up the band’ with an arrangement I think I know. It must be a bit borrowed from something, because I don’t know the soloists and, after the tenor solo, I don’t know the next bit of band. It all has the feel of a Ray Charles performance. But it’s not him. 14 Well, this is a live version of ‘All the things you are’, played by a modern band with a piano player who must be the leader, though the trumpet player is having the first solo. He’s a nice player with a nice swinging flow about him, not anyone I’ve heard before, I think. I like the space the pianist is using. Oh, he’s nice, too! He’s a bit of a nut case, as well. There’s stuff he’s doing, particularly after the trumpet player comes in, that reminds me of Earl Hines, but Shirley it can’t be, I am too inexperienced to identify Earl Hines. But that cut is WUNNERFUL! There’s a lot to enjoy in this BFT. Thanks Bill. MG

This afternoon's vinyl Randy Crawford - Nightline - Warner Bros (Europe) Jack McDuff - Do it now - Atlantic (Mono) now Don Patterson - Satisfaction - Prestige (Transatlantic UK) next Houston Person - Very personal - Muse (Promo) MG

Even more than Frank Kofsky? I didn't know Bob was one of Kofsky's heroes... MG

Mama Diabate (daughter of Maa Hawa Kouyate) Mama Diabate - La Biche du Mandingue MG

George is still with us. One shouldn't forget that there are probably a fair number of uncredited people playing with Bird in string sections still alive. There are also people whose death is unrecorded, whether because they're still alive or, if dead, of no interest to anyone, for example trombonist Sol Rabinowitz (with Machito for the 'Afro-Cuban jazz suite') who subsequently became the proprietor of R&B label Baton Records. MG

In my collection, it's 'Since I fell for you', followed by 'After hours'. MG

Mamadou Doumbia, alias Percey - Bambara singer from Mali - former lead singer with Orchestre Regional de Segou/Super Biton Mamadou Doumbia - Mandinke singer from Mali - emigrated to Japan amd made moderate career recording for JVC World Sounds. MG

Well, I hope he's recovered. As Chuck Nessa and Alfred Lion are heroes to some people here, Bob is to me. MG

Sekou Diabate (known variously as Sekou Bembeya Diabate or Diamond Fingers, guitarist of Bembeya Jazz National) Sekou Diabate (known as Sekou 'Docteur' Diabate, guitarist of Balla & ses Balladins & Les Virtuoses Africains) Manfila Kante - all singers and all cousins with the same grandfather Kante Manfila (guitarist and leader of Les Ambassadeurs - died last year) Kante Manfila (guitarist with Balla & ses Balladins) Manfila Kante (known as Manfila Kante Dababou - guitarist with Keletigui & ses Tambourinis) Fode Kouyate - Malian singer and kora player Fode Kouyate (known as Djeli Fode Kouyate) - Guinean singer MG

Warwick records was started by Morty Craft, after he'd left MGM (where he was director of single record sales) in high dudgeon in 1959. The label was most successful for the early recordings of an instrumental group, Johnny & the Hurricanes and later 'Wheels' by the String-Alongs'. Some jazz records were made, too, produced by Fred Mendelson, of which the first was the Andrew Hill and the second was by Johnny 'Hammond' Smith. Later jazz albums appeared by Teddy Charles, Cootie Williams, Curtis Fuller and Pepper Adams/Donald Byrd. The firm went bust in '62. Here's a link to a discography and bit of company history. http://www.bsnpubs.com/nyc/warwick/warwick.html MG

MG