The Magnificent Goldberg

Glad you liked it, Al. MG

Jane Austen Steve Austin Austin Powers

Indeed! Though, of course, it takes two to make a deal and, if one lives in the US and the other lives in Europe... MG

Screaming Jay Hawkins Coleperson Hawkins Ornette Coleperson

Thanks for the link. This has the ring of unvarnished truth, however. MG

I like shopping at Spillers Records in Cardiff - the oldest record shop in the world (est 1894). Decent selection of stuff the multiples don't bother with - not brilliant, but decent. And the people are so nice and eccentric. One of the young ladies is a rapt fan of Ella Mae Morse and Connie Francis! You can't beat a place with real people working there. MG

Billy Fury Marty Wilde Dickie Pride

Well, I largely agree with Chas except that the reality is that the law only sometimes expresses the true public interest. Often it expresses the interest of "interested parties"; and that's true of copyright laws, I think. So, if a law expresses the interests of a specific section of the public, it's arguable that it isn't a good law and that following it could be seen as immoral. MG

Even more important, in my view, is simply growing up with BOOKS. That's right. We always had a load of books around. My mother was into left wing politics - her father had been a Bolshevik revolutionary - so there wasn't a great deal for an eight year old there. But the one thing of hers I did read was "Monkey" by Wu Cheng En - I've still got her copy of that. And the Shakespeare. MG

1 Hammer Films strike again! I bet this is that British bandleader whose father was also a bandleader – who also did soundtracks. I know this sounds like Chewy, but I can’t help it. Oh, and I really dislike it, sorry. 2 This is a nice one. Arrangement is a bit heavy, but the 6/8 groove is there. But halfway through the trumpet solo, the arranger tried to do something clever and it broke the thing up rather badly. They do it again later. Don’t know why they can’t just let the musicians swing. I really don’t know who this is, but it has something of the sound of the Dankworth band as I recall it. But it might be Mike Gibbs, as well. Oh, applause at the end. Must be one of those fake live albums. 3 Rather like that tenor player. Drummer seemed not quite right on brushes – some wrong accents it sounded like. But later he was fine. I guess you took that off a 45. 4 Oh, a groove after my own heart! The technology seems to put this into the late sixties, early seventies. I don’t know who the organist is. That little bell-like percussion instrument seems to move it away from America into Europe, as I don’t think any of the American organists would have tried to set up that groove in this way. And a very nice assist from the vibes player. Damn good organist though. Listened to it twice on the trot with undiminished admiration! There’s a bit at the end that’s familiar. A few days later – I keep listening to this track. Really nice, but I’m not getting any further clues. 5 Well, I’ve got to say this is very nice. I love the 6/8 feel to this and the pianist is doing very nice things. But the band is kind of commonplace; like I seem to have heard loads of stuff arranged in this rather portentous way (even if I really haven’t). 6 Ah, some out stuff! But with a big band. Not my kind of stuff so there’s no hope of guessing who’s playing. But the alto and tenor players are both wailin’ quite nicely. 7 Another big band, doing a Bossa Nova, with piano lead. I think I recognise this. The arrangement, with all those flutes, is too screechy to be pleasant to me. 8 Another I’m entirely out of sympathy with, I’m afraid. 9 “Ill wind” sung by a lady whose voice I don’t like at all. The Latin rhythm doesn’t seem to fit this song at all well. 10 Sounds as if it’s something from this http://www.jazzscript.co.uk/CDs/harriott67ijf.htm Very nice trumpet player. 11 Bet this is Les Baxter! This is not my kind of stuff but I can get with this nicely. 12 “Body and soul” played rather urgently. I could do without the orchestra. Tenor player is fine – particularly in the unaccompanied coda. 13 Nice start to this. Big band with organ. There’s something familiar about this, but I really don’t recognise it. Ah, I think this is a Rhoda Scott recording I haven’t got (one of many I haven’t got) – the one she did with the Thad Jones band. Yes, I can see it was a mistake missing out on this album! Jimmy Ponder used to use a sound like this in the seventies, but I don’t think this is him; an impressionist, perhaps. 14 Well, “a-one, two, three, four” in a French accent – or is it Belgian? Very funky in a way. And everybody got something to say in half a chorus. I like this one a lot. Looking forward to hearing who it is. A very mixed reaction, I’m afraid, Bob. Some I like a lot, some I dislike a lot, and some that are just plain interesting, even if I feel neutral about them. Now to see if I can download disc 2 with an intermittent connection. (65% done! Doing well this morning.) MG

He did the song "I'd Rather Have The Blues" in the film noir "Kiss me deadly" Ah yes - that sounds the right sort of place for that song. MG

Chris Connor did a lovely version of "Blame it on my youth" on Bethlehem. Art Farmer has recorded it, too, as the title track of an album. I have a great fondness for the more R&B type of songs he was doing in his early days at Capitol with the trio. "Frim fram sauce" is a great piece of black nonsense. But "I'm just a shy guy", which he wrote himself, is one of my favourites. Another great song, which a friend had on a 45 way back when, is "I'd rather have the blues than what I've got". I think that was early/mid fifties vintage. It's certainly not the trio, because I remember strings on it, very moodily arranged. MG

Sonny Knight Rainy day woman #12 Rainy day woman #35

Ah, thanks - I thought he won a talent competition. The 1955 equivalent of "The X factor". MG

I do agree. But Columbia had 16 LPs on the pop chart in 1955. And "Satch plays Fats" was definitely a "smallie". Herman - 3 herds - #11 - 2wks Brubeck - Storyville - #8 - 6 wks Doris Day - Young at heart s/track - #11 - 6 wks Brubeck - Brubeck time - #5 - 22 wks Carmel Quinn (who?) - Arthur Godfrey presents - #3 - 10 wks Michel Legrand - Holiday in Rome - #5 - 16 wks Doris Day - Love me or leave me s/track - #1 - 28 wks (19 @ #1) Various - I like jazz - #5 - 10 wks Michel Legrand - Vienna holiday - #13 - 2 wks Les Elgart - Dancing sound - #15 - 2 wks Ray Heindorf & Matty Matlock - Pete Kelly's blues - #9 - 8 wks Armstrong - Satch plays Fats - #10 - 2 wks Paul Weston - Mood for 12 - #15 - 2 wks Norman Luboff - Songs of the west - #14 - 3 wks Andre Kostalanetz - Meet A K - #4 - 11 wks Brubeck - Red hot & cool - #7 - 3 wks How much were they paying Brubeck, Herman or Michel Legrand? No flash in the pans, these. In fact only one flash in the pan in the whole load of them. I mean, I raised this because GA and JG keep on at each other about chart action and how popular Louis was at the time but really, there ain't a great deal of it. MG

But wasn't it spread over ten years according to some formula that was to be discussed later? There was talk about the spread being heavily back-loaded. And that musicians' fees etc would come out of it. It still seems like a too large chunk of money, though, considering that Columbia only got two weeks on the pop charts with "Satch plays Fats". Don't know what Columbia's hit singles record was in 1955 - doesn't appear that he had any hit singles in 1955 but AMG is not too reliable. He had 3 hit singles (pop) in 1956: "Blueberry hill", which I think was on Decca, and got to #28; "Now you has jazz" (Capitol? - thought that was Bing) #88; and "Mack the knife", on Columbia, which was the biggest at #20. One hit album and one hit single seems like not a great return to me. MG

Damn interesting read, that! Thanks Joe. MG

Fats Domino - Legendary masters - Imperial (UA UK) Lloyd Price - Lloyd Price - Specialty (Sonet UK) Little Richard - The fabulous Little Richard - Specialty (Sonet UK) Chuck Berry - After school session - Chess (Vogue France) MG

Love Fats Domino! Yeah! Time to get the old Fats vinyl out for tomorrow. MG What, is tomorrow his birthday? No - I just suddenly felt like listening to Fats when I read the thread, but it was nearly bedtime. Easily suggestible, that's me. :rsmile: MG

You've reminded me that I read a lot of WWII stories - mostly about prisoner of war experiences - "The Colditz story"; "Boldness be my friend"; "Soochow the Marine"; "Bridge over the River Kwai" and so on. I always thought that was the best Robbins book I'd read. It was the source of "King Creole". MG

Delia Smith Clarissa Dickson-Wright Fanny Craddock

I didn't know the Latin Jazz Quintet made an album with Dolphy. Can't say I'm keen on him, but I might be interested in getting this separately, as I like the LJQ a lot. What's the original title and issue of this one, please? MG The Latin Jazz Quintet With Eric Dolphy Eric Dolphy (as, bcl, fl) Carlie Simons (vib) Gene Casey (p) Bill Ellington (b) Manny Ramos (d, tim) Juan Amalbert (cga) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, August 19, 1960 2408 Sunday Go Meetin' New Jazz NJLP 8251 2409 First Bass Line - 2410 Mambo Ricci - 2411 Blues In 6/8 - 2412 Spring Is Here - 2413 Caribe - * The Latin Jazz Quintet/Eric Dolphy - Caribe (New Jazz NJLP 8251; Fantasy OJCCD 819-2) = Eric Dolphy - Caribe (Prestige MPP 2503) For me, this session is a bit of a snoozer, though. Well... But thanks very much Zed. MG I noticed that there is another session of the Latin Jazz Quintet with Eric Dolphy that isn't included in the Dolphy Prestige box: Latin Jazz Quintet With Eric Dolphy Eric Dolphy (as, bcl, fl) Felipe Diaz (vib) Arthur Jenkins (p) Bobbie Rodriguez (b) Tommy Lopez (cga) Louis Ramirez (tim) NYC, 1960-1961 You're The Cutest One United Artists UAL 4071 Speak Low - I Got Rhythm - A Night In Tunisia - Cha Cha King - I Wish I Were In Love Again - Lover - Mangolina - April Rain - * The Latin Jazz Quintet (United Artists UAL 4071, UAS 5071; Latin Jazz & Dance Records PLP 145) perhaps it is less of a yawn. Interesting - same name, completely different band. But pretty well contemporaneous with the Prestige session. Phil Diaz had been on an earlier (8 July) LJQ session with Shirley Scott. And Art Jenkins was on the LJQ's December 1960 and May 1961 sessions, so it wasn't entirely a bunch of people who had nothing to do with the band... MG

When I was in Truro in the summer I was disappointed to see the one up from the Cathedral (beyond Smiths)...I think it was called Solo or Opus...had gone. It was there two years previously! However, in Exeter a few days earlier I'd noticed the shop in the same chain was on its last legs (a whole floor cleared, just a scattering of CDs in the upstairs part). The Classical shop opposite was still going. Nottingham had a fabulous classical shop until about two years ago - I believe it was a front for a mail order company, Europadisc. The mail order firm still advertises in Gramophone but the costs of keeping a shop open were clearly prohibitive. Interesting that the places classical shops seem to survive are the more quaint, university type towns - Cambridge, Oxford, Bath, York. Sheffield had a couple that really struggled, moved premises and then vanished all together. Not enough old fashioned dons in Sheffield! I imagine 'Record Collector' in the Broomhill suburb of Sheffield still survives - it balanced new with used discs and had a substantial jazz and classical section, though there didn't seem to be much of a system to what they had. It was in the heart of student bedsit land so did well from that market - are students still buying CDs? *********** My own town - Worksop - is a small market town. When I moved here in 1991 you could buy CDs in Woolworths and Smiths; there was a chain store called Our Price which, although not wonderful, was no worse than the HMVs in the big cities now. There were a couple of rock/pop independents. And, best of all, a music shop that majored in musical instruments and sheet music but also had a good classical CD collection. All that survives is Woollies and Smiths stocking the top 20 albums and TV advertised things; and the out of town supermarkets stocking much the same. I found a great shop in Birmingham in 1990, when I was there on a course. Stacks of jazz vinyl, though I don't think jazz was all they had. Not laid out in bins - on shelves like we file them at home, so you had to browse by looking at the spines. It was the last time I went to Birmingham for several years and, on my next visit, got lost and couldn't find the place. It was called "The Diskery" and was in Bromsgrove Street (still have their label on one of the items I bought - should have taken the album with me on my return ) Anyone know that one? MG

Love Fats Domino! Yeah! Time to get the old Fats vinyl out for tomorrow. MG

Georges Carpentier Battling Siki Sidiki Diabate