The Magnificent Goldberg

I bought a few of them a year ago. The Montgomery, Elmer Snowden's "Harlem banjo" and two Jim Robinson albums. I'm very happy indeed with them. I don't think you'll regret exploring these albums. MG

Brilliant! Thanks Chewy! MG

The Williams Singers - It was you, Jesus - Checker MG

I think in a strange way, the Beatles were a bit like Duke Ellington in their relationships to the main streams of their music. What each did was very personal and innovative but wasn't the starting point for some new thing. As far as modern Rock is concerned, the development was done by London bands like the Stones, Yardbirds, Manfred Mann, Cream and Led Zeppelin, who had come out of London blues bands like Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and the Mann-Hugg Blues Menn. Very little of that music seemed to me to owe anything at all to the Beatles, though everyone recognised the value of what the Beatles were doing. So the Beatles (and Duke) stood outside the main flow, always able to join in when it suited them, but more often than not, not bothering with that flow. MG

I CAN'T THINK WHY NO ONE - NOT EVEN I - MENTIONED JIMMY PONDER BEFORE NOW. PONDER IS A VERY UNDER-RATED PLAYER, POSSIBLY BECAUSE HE WAS FOR SO LONG ASSOCIATED WITH SOUL JAZZ AND ORGANISTS - AND MADE SOME PRETTY DUFF COMMERCIAL ALBUMS IN THE LATE SIXTIES/EARLY SEVENTIES. BUT SINCE MAKING "MEAN STREETS, NO BRIDGES" FOR MUSE IN 1987, HIS ALBUMS HAVE BEEN VERY STRAIGHT AND VERY INTERESTING, EVEN INCLUDING A COUPLE OF PHAROAH SANDERS TUNES. LAST YEAR, A BRITISH FIRM, EXPLORE, ISSUED A SOLO LIVE SET HE HAD RECORDED IN 1980 FOR THE JAPANESE CHEETAH LABEL, BUT WHICH HADN'T BEEN RELEASED. THIS IS "LIVE AT THE OTHER END" AND I'VE BEEN PLAYING IT A BIT LATELY. VERY INTERESTING STUFF INCLUDING A REALLY EXCEPTIONAL VERSION OF "FREEDOM JAZZ DANCE" WHICH I DIDN'T THINK WOULD WORK AS A SOLO GUITAR PIECE. BUT IT DOES. MG

AND MANY MORE!!!!!!!!!! MG

Oh good! PM coming. When I can get round to it. MG

Your by-line has had me giggling for several minutes. Satan will take the form of Excel spreadsheet cell G-14 this week and refuse to assume the proper formatting. Caption: "It's my bastard nephew, Pharoah" MG

Jazzmoose, Jazzmoose, we mourn thee. MG

MG

Surely it fits into the "men wearing hats" category? MG

Rufus Thomas - Live doin' the push & pull at PJ's - Stax King Curtis - Trouble in mind - TruSound (Red Lightnin' UK) Jimmy "Fastfingers" Dawkins - Fastfingers - Delmark MG

The original version is by Richard Barrett on Atlantic. Yeah! It had a reasonable B side, too, but I forget what it was. But why remember this now? MG

Oh, more sad news. "Bernadette" was THE Four Tops number. Even James Brown's version couldn't top theirs. MG

Still catching up and sad to see this news. Dolemite is one of very few videos (VHS) I ever bought. The only one of his that came out over here. MG

Florida Mass Choir - Jesus will never say no - Savoy Slim & the Supreme Angels - Why was I born - Nashboro MG

This is interesting, too. I have Tidiane Gaye's first album ("Waxonalako", 1997) as a leader of his own band ("Le Dieuf-Dieul") in which he sings "Abdul Aziz". Never knew he'd been involved in projects like this one beforehand. MG

Joe Henderson - Relaxing at Camarillo - Contemporary (yellow label) Kenny Burrell - Tin tin deo - Concord Jazz Della Reese - Live - ABC (HMV mono) MG

Here's another odd one I'm listening to now Della Reese - Live - ABC. With Bobby Bryant (tp), Bill Doggett (org), Gerald Wiggins (p), Herb Ellis (g), Ray Brown (b), Shelley Manne (d) MG

The Bobby Peterson you mention was from Chester PA and had an R&B with "Irresistible You" hit (later also a hit for Bobby Darin). I doubt if it's the same guy. He pretty much stayed in Chester the rest of his career. I really like these old reviews. Ah, right. V-Tone was a Philly label, so I guess that pins it. Thanks Harold. MG

Jack McDuff - Tough Duff - Prestige plum label stereo MG

Not yet - I seem to recall I bought one off Dan the other day, but haven't paid for the records yet, so I don't have it written down nice and handy. MG Oh, just looked it up and someone outbid me on it. Shrug. Will get it sometime. MG

But that's inevitably true of everything. What historians, in any field, do is find what's documented (in some way) and order and interpret it as best they may and say that's what "really" happened. The larger the frame they look at, the more that's true - for example economic history. And conversely, the smaller the frame, the less it's true and perhaps this is an example of that. But what Allen is proposing to analyse is in fact a commercial venture (or thousands of commercial ventures) so being stained by commerce may not be such a big problem. Come in Bev. MG

Good idea, Bill. And that review is interesting to me because it mentions a pianist, Bobby Peterson. I've got a 45 by a pianist called Bobby Peterson - "Rockin' Charlie" pts 1 & 2, which was issued on the V-Tone label, in the early-mid sixties. Is this possibly the same guy? MG

Not yet - I seem to recall I bought one off Dan the other day, but haven't paid for the records yet, so I don't have it written down nice and handy. MG