The Magnificent Goldberg

So, was Thom right about Kenton? MG

I approached this one with a bit of trepidation, since I hadn't liked a lot of what was on disc 1. But blimey! I was wrong. 1 Sounds as if it’s going to become “One note samba” and it does, well, nearly. Tenor player I should recognise, I think. Trumpet player who reminds me of Thad Jones – well, it’s a flugelhorn, I think. Alto player and another trumpet player – Blue Mitchell-ish - then a pianist and guitarist. Look how good I am at identifying instruments! I’m getting a strange Louie Bellson feeling about this band. Very nice, thanks. 2 Pooh gosh, the way that alto player came in is just wonderful! This is a player I’m completely unfamiliar with, I think. But he’s really very nice indeed. Is that Tony Williams on drums? Actually, I think it’s a tenor player. Immediate rinse and repeat. Fuck, it’s Coltrane, isn’t it? No, you wouldn’t put Trane in a BFT – everyone except me would guess it. And it’s not McCoy. Well, maybe it’s Alice. And if it’s Trane, then it might be Rashid Ali on drums. I dunno, sounds like Trane to me. And it’s surpassingly beautiful. 3 Don’t know who this guitarist is. He’s a bit too musicianly for my taste. Very pretty. 4 This one has the punchy feel of a Gerald Wislon arrangement. The alto player reminds me of Earl Anderza, to give me more of a Wislon feeling, but on his second chorus, he doesn’t sound like Earl. Oh, the trumpet player sounds like Bobby Bryant. I think this really is Wislon. Oh, perhaps the trumpet player has a few too many chops for Bryant on his second chorus. Guitarist has that seventies technology sound that I’m not greatly enamoured of. This whole thing is still saying Gerald Wislon to me. A more recent (probably much more recent) job than the PJ stuff I’m familiar with. Lurvely! 5 R&B type riff from a sax section. Busy Jonah Jones type trumpeter. Now a vocal. I think this is some west coast blues/R&B singer with some bebop musicians in the band. Love it! No, it can’t be a well known singer, or I’d probably recognise him. There were a million and twenty-seven singers like that in the late forties/early fifties. So he’s not the leader – unless the leader is singing, and I think that might be the case. So I’m going to say Jonah Jones on vocal, too. 6 “Easy to love” – don’t hear that song much. Jeez what a GROOVE! I know this player. A few more spins and I’ll probably get him. No, got him in one. PR7192 (OJC701). I’d have been bloody ashamed of myself if I hadn’t got this. On to the next. Is this a drop from an LP? It sounds a hell of a lot better than my CD (and I’m listening through the speakers on the laptop). I’ll compare my old DG copy later. 7 Sorry, very nice orchestral stuff, but Andre Kostalanetz doesn’t grab me. I’ll make a cup of tea while this is on. 8 This is kind of nice, but then when Milt Jackson comes in, it becomes more than nice. But he doesn’t solo for long enough and it’s back to the alto player, who I don’t find all that interesting. And another vibes solo. Good vibes, less interesting alto. He’s good, but I don’t care, really. 9 Now we seem to be getting into Hard Bop territory with that bass & drums intro. And the tune, when they get to it, has that Blue Note thing, but not as smoothly done. Ah, then the Latin bit comes in – not Blue Note, then. Is that Benny Golson on tenor? Not a Golson tune, I’ll warrant. Does sound like Golson’s sax. Trumpet player seems too forthright to be Art Farmer. This must be something from the eighties or nineties – Golson playing with some unusual people, I’d guess. Is that Dave Holland on bass? 10 Very busy little big band number and arrangement. I visualise lots of little men rushing around in a video game. Some nice voicings in the arrangement. Oh, who’s that tenor player? Pretty good. This is seventies or eighties, too, I guess, but the tenor player is from an earlier era. 11 Funk groove sounds like it’s going to go somewhere. Then the band comes in and it’s so mellow! Nice piano. And strings, too! Nice trumpet. Cor! I’m really digging this against my better judgement – it’s going to be someone I hate, I think. No clues about who this is. But, shit, it’s great! Time for a fag break, as I see the next one is 11:49 12 Right away, I knew I was right – this is going to be a demanding listen. A classical piece, yet! Reminds me of a Shostakovich nonet I heard in 1968 in a concert. Oh, now it doesn’t when it breaks into jazz at about 3:40. OK, well, I don’t see the point, honestly. And the band’s too loud for the tenor soloist. OK, you can hear him now he’s really solo. Oh, I thought he was going to break into “People who need people” just then. And another soloist, on baritone I think, but it’s hard to hear him, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the band. No, this just ain’t doing it for me. Trying to do too many different things within one framework – and heavily! Pity, I think I could get with those sax players in a different context. 13 Lovely Latin groove. I think I know the tune. I think I recognise the style. But I don’t know. Great roaring tenor player, playing his heart out. And a different one now, I think. No, maybe it’s still the same man. But someone I don’t know. Yes, there do seem to be two tenor players here. Good ending, though, Bob! Ah, what about CBBB with Griff? Rinse and repeat. The band’s a bit loud to hear with certainty. Tentative result, CBBB plus Griff. Well, this is certainly the best BFT disc I’ve ever heard! Zowie! I think there’s only been two tracks that I haven’t liked at least a bit. And most, I’ve liked a lot. Thanks very much for this one! MG

We always get our boiler serviced during the summer. The guys are always out doing someone else's emergency if you want a routine service in winter. MG

Count me in. (I swear I'll get round to BFT 60 disc 2 pretty soon ) MG

Another thought - most Brits would find it equally incomprehensible. The cultural context of most English people owes more to American popular music - be it Bing, Frank, Elvis, Otis or Madonna - than to anything native. I'm not sure about that. I realised in 1967 that American music was pretty well as foreign to me as Nigerian. The fact that the songs are sung in a language that more closely approximates to English than Pidgin does is, I feel, deceptive. And people are easily deceived. MG Oh, I'd argue the basic diet of the English in popular culture (music and cinema) is either American or American influenced (I'm talking Sinatra, Elvis, Rodgers and Hammerstein and what used to be called Top Twenty pop here rather than Howlin' Wolf). We've been singing pop songs in cod-American for decades. Ah, I see what you were getting at. Yes, that's not what I was thinking of, as you guessed MG

Thought I recognised that one! MG

this afternoon Dave Bailey - Gettin' into somethin' - Epic (70s pressing) Charles Earland - Boss organ - Choice Paul Bryant - Groove time - Fantasy MG

Apparently, only until it reaches you, Dan. Do you have a sign on your door - "the fruitcake stops here"? MG No, because anyone who has given me a fruitcake has gone off the gift list thereafter. The lesson is learned pretty quickly. Oh, I misunderstood your post completely! Must be Jim with the fruitcake sign on his door. (Just realised what I've written.) MG

Another thought - most Brits would find it equally incomprehensible. The cultural context of most English people owes more to American popular music - be it Bing, Frank, Elvis, Otis or Madonna - than to anything native. I'm not sure about that. I realised in 1967 that American music was pretty well as foreign to me as Nigerian. The fact that the songs are sung in a language that more closely approximates to English than Pidgin does is, I feel, deceptive. And people are easily deceived. MG

Yes - any time of the year. When I was at work, members of the Retirement Fellowship from the office used to come in and hold a fair several times a year in aid of a charity. One lady always brought in fruitcakes she'd made. And I always bought two - one to take home and one to share with my staff (though I confess to usually getting two slices of that one) - what's the point of being boss if you can't have two slices of fruitcake? MG

Hampton's got to be one. The other big boxes aren't so completely full of wonderful stuff as that one and some of the Selects, so I'll go for John Patton Curtis Amy and Bennie Green Yes, four - well, since the Selects are small, I'll make them all second equal MG

Before lunch Illinois Jacquet - Midnight slows - Black & Blue Perri Lee - A night at Count Basie's - Roulette Blue Mitchell - Blue Mitchell - Mainstream now Willis Jackson - Funky Reggae - Trip MG

Apparently, only until it reaches you, Dan. Do you have a sign on your door - "the fruitcake stops here"? MG

Lots of the records I like OUGHT to be guilty pleasures - but I just don't feel at all guilty about loving, for example, Sonny Criss' disco albums. MG

I LURVE Christmas Pudding! (That might be what Glenn called fruitcake - but usually brandy goes in it over here.) They keep well, so I usually manage to get my missus to get an extra one so I can have it in July! MG

That's the way to listen! American music is like that to us Yurpeens, don't y'know? MG

Ass backwards, Jazzmoose. Anything that's collectable is worth counterfeiting. MG

Jamono Plus Super Diamono Lemzo Diamono (explanation - diamono is the Wolof word for light)

Chris, when you look out of your window, do you ever think of that little video game they had about 18-20 years ago of the two gorillas on skyscrapers chucking bananas at each other? MG

Just as I was on my way out for a shopping expedition in Cardiff, the postman brought so I put it in my bag and took it with me. Listened to it while walking around the shops and over lunch. They must have thought I was crazy in Cardiff, walking around going, "YEAH!", "Ohhh!", "WOW!" Yes, Prez got to me a bit. It's not even slightly surprising that out of the four singles from these sessions, three would have made the R&B charts. I'll have another listen to the Aladdin material, but I think I prefer this set by about ten miles. And many thanks to Bentsy, for finding this for me! MG

MI5 CIA The Spanish Inquisition

Eddie "CLeanhead" Vinson - Hold it right there - Muse MG

Please explain! Why is Jazz Record Mart a shadow of its former self? I have not been there in several years--what happened? They kept getting squeezed on the rent. Now they are in a walkdown location with maybe half the space of the old location. I just find it claustrophobic. The used CD area is generally a big mess. The staff are far less approachable than before (maybe because they sense more hard times for the store -- hard to know). It's probably still the best dedicated jazz store in Chicago, but I find it so much less pleasant that I don't want to go in anymore. How long ago did they move to this new location? I didn't notice an address change in recent years on my copies of Rhythm and News. They don't send me Rhythm & News regularly - I've had a couple of copies, that's all. If they sent it more regularly, I'd buy more stuff from them. Last lot I got included some really ace Gospel stuff, including "I fell in love with a prostitute", a magnificent sermon from Rev Jasper Williams. MG

MG

Got this one on a t-shirt, too MG