The Magnificent Goldberg

How about... Albert Ayler - Ghosts Fats Waller - Abercrombie had a zombie MG

No Hank Crawford MG

This turned up in the post today What a great set! Thanks Bill! MG

Received in the post today Spent most of the afternoon listening to this. A great set. Covers 1945-51. Essential R&B/jazz from LA. MG

Well, this one turned up today - two others I'd ordered earlier are still in transit (bloody German post) Anyway, I was really pleased to get this Many thanks to Hot Ptah, for including a track in his BFT, without which I'd have remained ignorant of this super set. MG

Finishing the day with Ronnie Cuber - Cuber libre - Xanadu I think this may be the best album Don Schlitten ever produced. MG

Hear, hear (though I'd invite Chuck and consider Joe ) After considering Joe, I'd invite them both - I'm in a generous mood this evening, it seems MG

Mo Mowlem Little Mo Five Guys named Moe

Mostly a vinyl day today Thompson Community Singers - Moods, images & reflections - Hob Revival Temple Mass Choir - Love lifted me - Savoy Larry "Wild" Wrice - Wild - Pacific Jazz Clyde McPhatter & the Drifters - Clyde McPhatter & the Drifters - Atlantic (Polydor UK) Lloyd Glenn - After hours - Aladdin (Pathe Marconi) Lonesome Sundown - Lonesome Sundown - Excello Don Drummond - Greatest hits - Treasure Isle New Jersey Mass Choir - Heroes - Light now Hugh Masekela - Home is where the music is - Blue Thumb (Island UK) MG

Coo... never heard of that one. playing Donald Vails Choraleers - Deep water - Savoy MG

Just finished Betty Roché - Singin' and swingin' - Prestige (OJC) Wonderful session with Jimmy Forrest, Jack McDuff & Bill Jennings. MG

Haven't got it yet - waiting for the postman. At least it's coming from the UK, Amazon UK sez. Didn't know Rushing recorded with Otis. MG

Smiler Laughing Boy The Laughing Cavalier

Richard "Grooooooooove" Holmes - Good vibrations - Muse Leeeeeee Morgan - The rumproller - BN DMM MG

From what I've read, Memory Lane was one of the few African-American-owned clubs in LA. Interestingly, the most recent owner of the establishment was actress Marla Gibbs, who played "Florence" on The Jeffersons. Sadly, the club is now closed, a victim of long-standing financial problems. Thanks Sonnymax. Yes, I have that; also one done probably in 1966 - "Takin' care of business" by Gene Russell (later the proprietor of Black Jazz Records). And of course, the two albums Etta James recorded there in 1986 with Cleanhead Vinson, Red Holloway, Jack McDuff & Shuggie Otis. Taken all together, those artists seemed to add up to a different clientele from the usual run of jazz clubs, which is why I wondered. MG

It's nothing unusual, although Moody's lowest note makes it sound a little exotic. It's F Dorian, which would be a common choice for a tune in F minor, as this one is. Moody plays it down to a low D, the lowest note of this scale/mode he can play on the alto saxophone. That means he ends on the major 6th of the key, which is not a "strong" note - that makes the scale sound more "foreign" that it really is. Thank you very much, Jeff. MG

I was listening to this earlier and, as ever, "Kush" really got to me. But it raised a couple of questions in my mind. First, Diz does a little bit of a rap to the audience at the beginning, about Mama Africa. And the way he's talking, I had a distinct feeling that a very large proportion of the audience was black. I looked at the venue and it was Memory Lane, in LA. Was this a black club? Or mainly so? I think Red Holloway booked the acts there, but perhaps not as early as 1967. Not sure when he started doing that. Second, James Moody, at the end of his solo plays a scale several times, up and down, getting slower and slower as he goes. It's not a scale I recognise, however. But it's something that isn't right off my mind. Can someone tell me what the scale is, please? MG

Pip Pippin Pepin

That looks like an album I would greatly enjoy. Never saw it before. Is it all Johnny Otis material? Is it still available? MG It can be found, but I don't think it is in print. It is a 3 CD box set of Otis' Savoy sides, plus a few on the Excelsior label at the beginning of Disc 1. It is a great set. I would predict that you would like it! It has a nice thick booklet, too. Oh wow, 3 CDs! I have a few of the Savoy recordings on "The roots of Rock & Roll" and a couple of 78s. Is "Harlem nocturne" among the Excelsior sides? MG Harlem Nocturne is the first song on Disc 1. Thanks - it's a bit pricey, now it's out of print, but I sprung for a used one for twenty-five quid. MG

Was just listening to Dizzy Gillespie - Swing low, sweet Cadillac - Impulse (DMM Germany - but I don't care ) I was enjoying it so much until I put the Groove Holmes LP I'd been intending to play next back in its sleeve and put on Dizzy Gillespie - Bahiana - Pablo (Polydor UK) And I'm enjoying this one so much, I may not go to bed at all!!! MG

That looks like an album I would greatly enjoy. Never saw it before. Is it all Johnny Otis material? Is it still available? MG It can be found, but I don't think it is in print. It is a 3 CD box set of Otis' Savoy sides, plus a few on the Excelsior label at the beginning of Disc 1. It is a great set. I would predict that you would like it! It has a nice thick booklet, too. Oh wow, 3 CDs! I have a few of the Savoy recordings on "The roots of Rock & Roll" and a couple of 78s. Is "Harlem nocturne" among the Excelsior sides? MG

Just finished listening to "Kush" by Diz, from "Swing low, sweet Cadillac" - Impulse. Candy Finch is a bleedin' MF! And Moody kills me! And Diz! Oh wow! Sixteen minuts of heaven! MG

Is that the 1944 concert, with Jacquet, McVea, Cole & co? MG

That looks like an album I would greatly enjoy. Never saw it before. Is it all Johnny Otis material? Is it still available? MG

Taller than me, too MG