The Magnificent Goldberg

Yeah, Jack & Jim are the killers to mark at this game. MG

Throughout Europe, tobacco, cigar and cigarette packets all have to have big government health warnings of various kinds on them. A friend, when he's buying his ciggies, always asks them not to give him ones that say "Smoking kills" but ones that say that smokin while pregnant can harm your baby. MG

But NOT Paul Bryant's two LPs for Fantasy. MG

Yes, Coltrane Plays the Blues is a fine one, which sadly I don't own. That's the only one of his Atlantics that I DO own. MG

Damn! Thats something I've been meaning to do for ages. What does "normalise" mean in this context? I only know it in the context of relational database design. MG

BFT 56 Disc 2 Well, I never expected to have as many as three cuts in this BFT. It really cheered me up, y’know! 1 New Orleans jazz. I get a strong Jelly Roll Morton feeling about the way this is arranged. 2 Red Allen? It has that sort of feel, to me, though it would be strange for him to have a violin player. After hearing the whole disc, it isn’t Red. 3 Roaring tenor player! Leaping altoist! Has a funny sort of sound to it. Krupa on drums? Phew! 4 I’ve got this. Track 12 disc 1 of this. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Feat-P-W-Russel-Ge...1144&sr=8-1 5 Is that trumpet, guitar and harmonium? Or accordion, more like. Guitarist sounds like Django to me. Is that a drummer or foot-patting? 6 Nice alto sax player with piano & guitar. No ideas, but this sounds a like it’s European. 7 Solo guitarist. Can’t say I like this much. 8 “I’m forever blowing bubbles” – a fifties version, I guess. Les Paul? 9 Bass clarinet & marimba. Didn’t expect this! Definitely a shellac drop. Wow! After the long intro, it settles down into a wonderful relaxed groove. But the marimba player doesn’t have a lot to say. I suspect this isn’t a jazz performance, but it’s very nice. 10 Ravishing sound to that tenor player! And do laid back and mellow! Also the guitarist. At 2 minutes, it sounds as if it’s going to go on all night. Pity it didn’t. A lot like Hawk, but not quite. 11 Twenties vintage – good arrangement with all sorts of interesting bits. 12 Lazy mood. Very nice. Forties stuff, I guess. I should know the tenor player. 13 This one’s a bit to clever, I fancy. Coherent, but I don’t like it at all. 14 Another one to tax the dancers! Exhilarating! I bet this is someone like Charlie Barnet or Jimmy Dorsey. 15 “Liza” Another I’ve got. Don’t know if I can find a link on the web, chickie. 16 Basie. I don’t know this cut. 17 Kind of brash band. Brassy trumpet player. Boogie piano suggests early forties. Brassy trombone, too. Didn’t like it much. Harry James? 18 Piano & guitar; then mellow sax section. Cor, this is easy on the soul! Very interested in this band. 19 This is a bit too choppy to be really nice for me. But the soloists are really on the ball. And the arrangement, while complex, is very tuff. Is this Earl Hines? 20 Western Swing? Must confess I don’t like, or get, this, whatever it is. 21 This one seems a bit too busy. I think it’s the guitarist’s fault. Or it may be Colin. Yes, I think it’s Colin. [This paragraph dedicated to Tommy Cooper] 22 Oh, this is nice! That blues riff just GRABS you! Then the band comes in so easy and laid back – and then how it builds! Beautiful trombone solo. I don’t think this is modern, but it sounds so up to date, it could be used as a TV theme now. 23 It was you who recommended this band to me, so I guess you’d be disappointed if I didn’t recognise it. I’m not going to play through my 2 CD set to find out which cut it is, but it’s the one that always makes me think of Henry Mancini’s “It had better be tonight” from “The Pink Panther”. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Columbia-...1235&sr=1-1 24 I guess the song is “Sleep”, isn’t it? Is it the Boswell Sisters? 25 Kind of corny pop song enlivened by some hot solos. Charming singer, a cut above the average. 26 Another shellac drop. Ah, do I hear Adrian Rollini on hot fountain pen? In the sixties I used to have a landlord who was a jazz fan and he loaned me an album of 78s (a REAL album, that is) by Fred Elizalde, which featured Rollini and this reminds me of that stuff, so I’ll guess that’s what it is. Well, thanks for what I’m sure is going to be a very educational BFT, and one I’ve enjoyed a lot, even when I wasn’t enjoying it, if you know what I mean. MG

BFT 56 Disc 1 First impression if this is that it’s a very enjoyable compilation – we’ll start with a vote of thanks, Conrad! 1 A very nice swing side that sounds as if it might have been recorded in Paris in the thirties. Is that Bechet on soprano sax? 2 Funny noises – thought at first it was a didgeridoo, but I couldn’t imagine you having a jazz record with a didgeridoo on it! So it was the trumpet player making those noises? I seem to remember that Miles Davis did something like that on “Quiet nights”. Turns into a large ensemble and swings along very nicely. No idea who it is, except it’s NOT Miles Davis. 3 Interesting big band track with a tenor solo by someone I ought to be familiar with. There’s quite a “modern” feeling to this band. A very good alto player. I’m thinking Jimmy Dorsey or Boyd Raeburn; for no really good reason. 4 Proto R&B! This is a band I want to hear a lot more of! The groove on this is fantastic! I have got to get this! Towards the end, I get a Basie feeling about it, but the pianist isn’t right for Basie. 5 Unexpectedly modern pianist. No idea who. Also a modern trombonist. Great character to the trombone solo. Oh, this is a long one! Must be from the LP era; the scratches (which I don’t mind at all) are coming at 33 1/3. And now there’s a nice tenor player, whom I feel I know. There’s a lot of Jacquet about him. But the rest of the cast seem wrong for a Jacquet session.It does sound a bit like a JATP job, though, especially in the fours. Ah, did you cut this off just before the applause and announcement of the players? 6 Sounds a bit like Ellington, but the guitar isn’t very Duke-like. I think this may be a European band influenced by Duke. 7 “Tea for two”. I’d like to say the pianist is Fats Waller, but I didn’t know he worked with big bands. Very nice. 8 This sounds pretty old. A guess would suggest it’s Paul Whiteman. Great trombone solo! It’s very well recorded; bass player coming through a treat. Perhaps it ain’t 1920s stuff. This sort of thing reminds me of what a jazz musician friend used to say – “if you can’t say something in half a chorus, you can’t say anything in seventeen” – and these guys are all full of their stuff and can get it out quick. 9 Very snappy brass section to this. The dancers would have had a hell of a time with this one! Oh, I really enjoyed that one! A bit too long for a 78; from a radio broadcast? 10 Another quite early (twenties?) disc, it seems to me from that kind of choppy arrangement. Another for the Black Bottom brigade. There are times when I wished I had lived in this era and had learned to dance to stuff like this. Those bap! chords from the band behind the tenor solo are killers! 11 Very strange little tune, this. I don’t like the tune or the arrangements much, but those two trumpet players are wonderful!!!! 12 European-sounding style with Latin-type drums in the intro. Good grown trumpet player. Can’t say the tenor man moved me much, but I enjoyed the trombonist. The pianist reminds me of some pre-Longhair New Orleans R&B pianists. 13 I recognise this tune. It’s a jazz version of a classical piece. Electrified guitar – nice solo. Oh, it’s Sig Romberg’s “All alone” – is that light opera or what do you call it? Well, I really liked this one; the piano and guitar are so into it together. Late forties European, I’d guess. 14 Something from the early thirties, I’d guess. Kind of honky pre-Hawk tenor sax. The trumpet and trombone players both sound very assured. 15 Coo! That crackle just after the start really got to me – listening on a walkman – and this is a LOUD CD! But what a track! Is that Benny Carter on alto? Hawk on tenor? 16 Intro is oh so funky. Then it isn’t. No solos except brief remarks by trumpet, trombone and clarinet over the funky bits at start & finish. It sounds like someone’s trying to arrange the sections as if they were a New Orleans band improvising all the way through. Very interesting. 17 Too MUCH band arrangement for me in this. When the clarinet comes in, it’s fine. Then the reed section bit is really lovely. No idea who this is. It’s a bit long for a 78. A broadcast? Perhaps Artie Shaw? 18 A shellac drop? Too much band for me, not enough solo. But what there is of the tenor player is really great! 19 Beautiful! It’s a Hawaiian band, I guess. Very accomplished. Love it! 20 A Latin bit coming in here. Not so keen on this one. Very interesting. Looking forward to the results now. MG

Link http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20080408...25-6323e80.html Wales, as ever, hardest hit. Thank God we won the Rugby Grand Slam! MG

Sir Francis Drake Brian Brake Veronica Lake

Onzy Matthews this morning MG

Joe Meek Phil Spector Sonny Bono

Just got confirmation from Kalahari that my order has been dispatched - but the Bra Ntemi at Teal 1976 has been omitted because it's out of stock (I assume at Gallo). I'd be interested to know if you're getting your copy, Flurin. MG

Cardiff City in the FA Cup Final for the first time since 1927, when they won. Can they make it a double on 17 May? MG

There was another band called Spirits of Rhythm ?!? MG

Looks like you grabbed it, Jim. Well done. Let us know what it's like idc, won't you? MG

Jimmy Smith - Live at Club Baby Grand vols 1 & 2 - the RVG at last! Only two tracks I hadn't already got on CD, but, well... MG

Peter Knight (before you go to bed) Sonny Knight Sir Michael Scholar

Ahhh! Two days late! Happy birthday, Allen. MG

I thought you were talking about the Cardiff sixties rock band... MG

Got this overnight on an e-mail from George. I can't go, but YOU ALL CAN!!!!! (Never thought I'd post anything in this forum ) MG

Walter Bishop Mike Vickers "Don't tell 'em your name' Pope

I have an eighties LP reissue - German WB. I haven't played this for quite a little while. Daughter and grandson visiting most of today, so I'll line this up for tomorrow. MG

Yeah - the region is the music equivalent of Bollywood. MG

When I got home yesterday, found the postman had delivered my CD Baby order - YAY! Very nice evening's listening! MG

Struth!!!!! I've never HEARD of this guy! Though I do know songs like "Fine lil lass". Thanks so much Bertrand! MG