The Magnificent Goldberg

Norman Bowler Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker Arthur Fiedler

First and foremost, Link Wray & the Wraymen - the first guitar hero. I have "Rumble" on a 78. Fabulous sound!!!! It's the only one of these I've kept through thick and thin, so as far as I'm concerned, it's in a different league to the rest. There are some good Duane Eddy tracks, too. His version of "Peter Gunn" is a total classic! But also: Ramrod The Stalker 3.30 blues All originally issued on Jamie. Dick Dale & the Deltones - the great surf band. Go get his version of "Miserlou" (Capitol). The Wailers - Tall cool one - Golden Crest (some good tenor playing on this one, too) The Busters - Bust out - Arlen. The B side - "Astronauts" is like a rock guitar version of "Honky tonk". Good tenor playing, too, on this side. (Actually, I've still got this one, too ) The Virtues - Guitar boogie shuffle - Hunt The Fendermen - Mule skinner blues The Fendermen - Don't you just know it Not instrumentals - though I seem to recollect they had instrumental B sides - but some real nice guitar playing anyway. MG I was a big Duane Eddy fan once, but in retrospect, much of it was crap. But there are some gems. I'd try to find 45s because I bet a lot of B sides have been left off compilations and the B sides were usually better. MG Another bunch of stuff you might find interesting are the instrumental B sides to Phil Spector hit singles. Just a bunch of studio musicians playing. MG

Weren't almost all of the 45s edits, except for releases like the vocal version of Senor Blues that was included on the CD? No - my copy of "Back at the chicken shack" is a two-sided affair and the same as the LP version - only with LOTS of scratches and surface noise, because it was on a juke box in Alabama for seven/eight years before I had it MG

Ouch! I didn't say I did! (Not until I saw the one with one cut featuring Gloria Coleman, anyway.) MG

We never saw any Blue Note deletions around here except for some seventies stuff - you could always pick up a Bobbi Humphrey cheap. What we did get at a long-since-closed indie store were very odd deletions. One day in 1980 I went in to find scores of Peacock/Songbird gospel LPs and sermons at two quid. I bought a few. A week later, all the rest were still there, but 1.50, so I bought some more. Then they went down to 1.00, and I bought some more. I bought them all when the price reached 0.50 That was the beginning of a serious Gospel collection, because I started ordering LPs from Ernie's of Nashville after that. MG

That includes me probably. I'm waiting for them to discover, as in The Sleeper, that red meat, cigarettes, and the uncorrected Kind of Blue are all really *good* for you. As for the fake/modified covers, they are quite amusing in a way. Filling out some of the discs with much rarer tracks is ingenious, but, you know, who cares. Different covers on classic jazz albums is a great British tradition, quaintly begun by Esquire in the fifties MG

Ruth Fainlight Fanlight Fanny George Formby

As it so happens, I just read the booklet for the Takin' Off RVG the other day. Herbie had been working on the song during 1962 and actually played it in an unfinished form while working with Santamaria in that year. Alfred Lion heard the performance and was floored by the tune and encouraged Herbie to finish it, which he did. Obviously, it was the cornerstone of the debut, which was recorded May 28, 1962. Mongo's version was recorded later that year. I never knew he was working on it with Mongo - very interesting. Does lend support to my idea that Mongo didn't need to have waited for the album to be issued in order to know the tune. "Hey, Mongo, my record's coming out soon; the one with that "Watermelon man" song on it." "Good, I've got a session coming up..." So, in the end, Blue Note could have issued "Takin' off" with those stickers and a 45 offer as a brand new release. It doesn't necessarily follow that what that seller has got isn't an original first pressing. MG

Coupled together on the Prestige Willis CD LEGENDS OF ACID JAZZ, which Newbury's currently offering for $3.49 plus shipping. Definitely a good deal. MG

George Freeman - New improved funk - Groove Merchant - with Von (and John Young on some cuts). What can be sed? MG

I missed the cherry blossoms when I went to Japan 8 years ago. But I didn't miss the Japanese tourists - they were everywhere! Well, of course, I was largely in tourist places (except for the record shops) too MG

Dexter Johnson Lekan Amimasaun Ebo Dadson

Francis Poulenc Raphael Mostel Zero Mostel

I tend to side with Brownie on this, but I don't know when "Takin' off" was released. As far as I know, Herbie's single wasn't a hit. Mango Santamania's version was making noise early in 1963 and entered the R&B singles chart at the end of March. I don't think he would have had to have waited for Herbie's LP to come out before he recorded it - surely Herbie was working gigs and playing the song all through 1962. MG

I'm going to make sure MG gets a sample of real southern barbecue at Harold's, Dean's, or the Old Brick Pit in Atlanta. Oh.... Er.... MG MG, relax! No one has died at any of those restaurants this year...so far! I too would like to meet up with you, but my finances right now are...lets just say really, really sucky! Do you like McDonalds??? Talk about your great food! Yes, Conrad, but anywhere but MacDonalds MG

Or, if you really didn't want to be offensive, you could simply say the obvious, that they are different players with different conceptions. Stating that Gene Harris "could only dream" of playing like Jamal implies that he wanted to or tried to and failed at it. I could just as easily say that Jamal could only dream of playing like Gene Harris or driving an audience into a frenzy like Gene did. Uh, no. Crosby and Fournier were something special, and so were Bill and Andy. Different doesn't in anyway mean better. I think you've listened to one too many Eric Alexander Venus lp's. Excellent non sequitur. Thanks for playing. Dumb ass. Insulting other members who don't agree with you doesn't make your arguments stronger, on the contrary. True - but the remark about Eric Alexander wasn't exactly polite, either. As it happens, though I'm not (perhaps merely not yet) much of a Gene Harris fan, play Jamal's stuff more, and will be getting this set, I agree 100% with Dan's point. I also agree that a Mosaic box may not be the best way to appreciate Jamal, because there's too much and a lot sounds similar. Lots of people thought Jamal was a cocktail pianist. Well, of course, he's not, but he sure as hell sounds like it if you're just listening to him. But if you LISTEN to him, it's very rewarding. The hundreds of thousands of people who bought "But not for me; live at the Pershing" and kept it on the pop charts for over two years, making it the first monster jazz hit album, certainly weren't LISTENING; there probably aren't that many LISTENERS (to any kind of music) in the world. None of which means that Jamal is better than Harris. Mosaic wouldn't release a Gene Harris set (or a Les McCann set) because MC don't like that kind of stuff. OK, it's his company, he's entitled. But don't get hung up on the idea that, if Mosaic doesn't issue something, it's poor quality. Mosiac stands for quality only as far as authorised masters is concerned. For unauthorised masters, use your own judgement, not Mr Cuscuna's. MG

I'm going to make sure MG gets a sample of real southern barbecue at Harold's, Dean's, or the Old Brick Pit in Atlanta. Oh.... Er.... MG

I know that even into the 70's he took "anonymous" sideman work dates on pop dates. Offhand I can't think of any Jazz dates where he was a sideman. He did make a sideman date in 1957 for King, with Bill Jennings as leader. 3 issued and 2 unissued tracks. But, generally, I agree - after he left Cootie Williams in about 1950, he was leading his own band. He was on quite a few R&B singles in the fifties. Some of the more memorable R&B singles with him in the band are Ruth Brown - Teardrops from my eyes (Willis and Ruth were married for several years) Ruth Brown - 5-10-15 hours Ruth Brown - Daddy, Daddy Little Willie John - All around the world (aka Grits ain't groceries) Little Willie John - Need your love so bad (I wish Gator had recorded this song himself) MG

Sarah Palin Michael Palin John Cleese

"Mingus dynasty" was the first I heard and I return to it with great pleasure each time. "Ah um", "Black saint & sinner lady" and "Blues & roots" are all up there, too and "Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus" not far off. "Ah um" because of "Goodbye pork pie hat", one of the most moving pieces of music I've ever heard. "Black saint" because it's as thick as a Pharoah Sanders album. "Blues and roots" because it's so damn funky. Well, I can only make four, not three As Guy remarked, I like Mingus' textures and sounds too. I've never got on with the solo piano LP. Does "Money jungle" count? Duke, Max and Mingus seem to be equal partners in that one. If it does, that makes five MG

Terrific! MG

Been busy ripping stuff for my ipod, so I haven't listened to this. But I've got it, anyway... MG

Yeah, I put "Niamani" into a BFT a couple of years ago. MG

Happy Birthday, Freeforall!!!! MG

I’m visiting the US next month. I’ll be going to New York, Atlanta, Austin and Dallas/Fort Worth. No secret about this – I’m coming over because I’d like to meet lots of fellow Organissimo members. So, if you’re going to be around anywhere near where I’m going, PM me and let’s try and get together. Here’s my detailed itinerary. Fri 2 April – arrive New York (actually the previous evening) Thurs 8 April – leave New York for Atlanta Mon 12 April – leave Atlanta; lunch in Austin Sat 17 April – leave Austin, lunch in Ft Worth Thurs 22 April – Leave DFW evening. I doubt if I’ll be contactable in New York, since I don’t have a phone number for the hotel, so if you want to meet, please PM me with a contact phone number and I’ll try to work out what a dial tone, ringing tone and engaged tone are ! I think I should be contactable elsewhere. Here’s where I’ll be staying and phone numbers: In Atlanta, I’ll be at the Highland Inn – 404 874 5756 In Austin, I’ll be at America’s Best Value Inn, Austin South – 512 441 0143 In Fort Worth, I’ll be at the Park Central Hotel – 817 306 2011 Greatly looking forward to this trip. MG