The Magnificent Goldberg

Oh, I'd forgotten about Lil Green. MG

Hm, Jimmy Snith? MG

Odell Brown & the Organisers - Raising the roof - Cadet orig Odell Brown plays Otis Redding - Cadet orig ShirleyScott & Clark Terry - Soul Duo - Impulse promo mono MG

Like many others, I tend to go to places others wouldn't. The first time I visited the US, I went to Newark NJ. After a couple of days, I went into a bar there and there was a trio of plain clothes policemen there. We chatted for bit and, after while, they asked why I had come to Newark. I said, "some people read Uncle Remus when they're young, and ant to visit The South. Other read Zane Grey and wind up on a dude ranch in Arizona. When I was young, I read Amiri Baraka." This was DEFINITELY the wrong thing to say. They got their fuckin GUNS out!!!!! MG

Very nice! MG

I'm going to have another go at listening to Night Lights, now I've found out that my wife played me a sneaky trick with the volume on the laptop I hope that the fact that you didn't mention Una Mae Carlisle and Camille Howard doesn't mean you forgot about them! Una Mae had the #1 most bedroomy voice of all time! And she swung! MG

Just be glad I don't live in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which means "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave". MG

Back to the groove. Two points. First, growing up in the forties and fifties, I wasn't specifically exposed to jazz as such. But jazz informed a lot of the pop music that was around. People like Sinatra, Cole and Peggy Lee - even Doris Day (especially Doris Day) - weren't actually doing jazz, but from all these singers, and many others, you'd get a feeling of jazz that formed part of one's general perceptual background. So hearing real jazz didn't actually require the listener to make that big a leap. Equally, the R&B & Rock & Roll of the fifties had a lot of jazz feeling, and a good many real jazz solos from the sax players. It's really not that far from Little Richard and Fats Domino to jazz, but a bloody long way from MC5 to jazz. Second, one has to wonder why it matters. Jazz arose as a response to specific socio/cultural/political/economic situations. OK, so it arose out of circumstances, most of which have changed in many ways. Wouldn't you expect different circumstances to give rise to some other kind of music? Exposure to jazz doesn't actually determine anything. The musicians and public of Senegal were greatly exposed to jazz in the forties, when Dakar was used as a US naval base. Many Senegalese jazz musicians started their careers then, as did some who moved there from other parts of West Africa including, a Nigerian, Dexter Johnson (a tenor player if you couldn't guess ) who started The Star Band, playing jazz. But eventually, through many incarnations, it evolved into Les Super Etoile de Dakar, Youssou Ndour's band and, through the course of those intervening years, developed an entirely different kind of music, Mbalax, in response to their specific circumstances. Jazz has no particular virtue that needs to be preserved in the face of a changing world, any more than does any other kind of music. If jazz doesn't reflect these changes, then some other kind of music will do it. Good. MG

Slouching is definitely me. I've always got a backache from NOT slouching. MG

Oh yes - I definitely want to be in this one. Mucho to learn, I think. PM on way. MG

And another belated one from me - Happy Birthday! MG

Happy Birthday!!!!! MG

TV documentary the other day about The Great Omani. I remember this geezer being padlocked into half a hundredweight of chains and thrown into the sea off the end of the West Pier in Brighton every Sunday - my dad used to take me when I was a kid 55-60 years ago. He died while they were filming the programme, last October. I particularly like "Sorry I can't stay to watch you lie on a bed of glass, but I've got a sick pigeon down my bra". I also have to admire the guy for having, at the age of 90, a bevy of nubile Brazilian girls around him. Here's the link. http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page_i...0p117p155p.aspx MG

There's a certain way of standing... MG

Happy St. David's Day! I never knew Lionel Hampton was Welsh. And Hershel Evans. And Sam Jones. And Walter "Foots" Thomas. And Tony "JPR" Williams. And Pee Wee Elis. And Miles Davies. I'd forgotten it was St David's Day MG

only a pedant would not want to shit their ears all over this. though these are pretty boring tunes. It's interesting to consider why George Butler may have thought this not worth issuing. It couldn't have been because the music was poor - Butler released plenty of duff albums on BN. And indeed, this looks to be right up BN's seventies street - Blackbyrd members, Mizells, Franklin; what more could George have been looking for? Perhaps the sound is fucked. MG

Does this strike anyone as odd? 1 He makes a good living. 2 He's injured in Spain, a member state of the EU and, as a British subject, should have been entitled to medical treatment on Spain's National Health Service - or Britain's anyway, if he returned here for treatment. 3 All these other geezers have been coughing up cash for private treatment. MG

Lionel Hampton discs 1 & 2 over brekkers. Happy March! MG

ALA used to distribute a number of Johnny Otis' labels - may even have been owned by Otis. MG

MG - I find that some of my old LP compilations on Blues Classics, Yazoo, etc. are more enjoyable to listen to than the single artist CDs that are the norm today. Those recordings were originally issued on 78s, and weren't meant to be listened to 20 to 25 tracks at a time. Compilation LPs broke things up and helped to recreate some of that earlier time listening experience. I think that can often be the case. But it depends on how it's put together. This has stuff from all over the place, timewise as well as placewise, and feels a bit jerky to me. Individually the tracks are all great but it just fails as a collection. Final LP tonight Professor Herman Stevens - The poet of the Gospel organ plays your favourite hymns - Savoy orig (Stevens was a big influence on Baby Face Willette and you can sometimes hear it.) MG

Lynn Hope recorded for: Premium, a Chicago label bought by Chess; Aladdin; and King. There were 8 tracks in the Premium session, two of which came out on Chess. Of these 8, 6 have been reissued on CD - "Morocco" on Saxophonograph. Most of his recordings were done for Aladdin. On LP, Aladdin issued a 10" "Lynn Hope and his tenor sax" and Pathe Marconi expanded it to 14 tracks. Imperial issued an LP called "Tenderly" with 12 tracks. This compilation, on Acrobat, has 25 of Hope's Aladdin masters, including two (3 really, because one is a two-parter) that were previously unissued. Tracks and sources (kind of shorthand, and a bit wobbly, I'm afraid) Blow Lynn blow 1. Free And Easy Morocco 2. Way You Look Tonight/Jet 3. Blow Lynn Blow Hope & TS 4. Blue Moon Hope & TS, Tenderly 5. Blues For Anna Bacoa Hope & TS, Tenderly 6. Eleven Till Two Hope & TS, Tenderly 7. She's Funny That Way Morocco 8. Too Young Morocco 9. Hope Skip And Jump Hope & TS 10. Driftin' (Going Home) Hope & TS, Tenderly 11. Don't Worry 'Bout Me Hope & TS 12. Move It Hope & TS, Tenderly 13. Tenderly Hope & TS, Tenderly 14. Morocco Morocco, Tenderly 15. Swing Train Tenderly 16. Broken Hearted Morocco 17. Rose Room 18. Brazil Tenderly 19. Girl Of My Dreams Morocco 20. C Jam Blues Tenderly 21. South Of The Border Hope & TS 22. Shanty Town Prev unissued 23. Blues In F Tenderly 24. One More Time pts 1 & 2 Prev unissued 25. Miserlou Hope & TS Not in comp but in “Tenderly” & "Hope & TS" September song Not in comp but in “Hope & TS” Summertime The scrunch Not in comp but in “Morocco” Song of the wanderer (Premium) Tenderly (Premium) Poinciana (Premium) She’s funny that way (Premium) More bounce to the ounce (Premium) Stardust (Premium) Please Mr Sun (Aladdin) Sentimental Journey (Aladdin) Broken hearted (Aladdin) Cherry (Aladdin) Not in any album - From Premium session Mona Lisa Bonga boogie From Aladdin sessions Blues for Mary Temptation All of me Tippin’ in Unissued Begin the beguine Unissued All of Lynn's 15 King sides, including 2 alternative takes and 1 previously unissued track, have been included in "Juicy" - a compilation with 5 Clifford Scott tracks. And that's it for Lynn Hope. 60 sides - 45 of which are now out of copyright in Europe. It's about time someone put a two CD set together without all these duplicates, so I could chuck away all my various bits and pieces (Note to self - get "Juicy") MG

The first piece of non-sleeve-note writing by Amiri that I ever saw was "The screamers", his short story about Hope coming to Newark from Chicago for a gig and causing a riot. I'd never heard of Lynn Hope; thought it was fiction (it appeared in an anthology that was all fiction apart from this piece). MG

Fela Kuti played piano, sax and drums. (he sang a bit, too) MG

A couple of preachin LPs Various Artists - Singing preachers and their congregations (1930-1956 - Blues Classics - it's a bit of a hotch-potch, but some very fine stuff! Rev Roy Easley - The World Series (sermon) - Songbird orig - a WONDERFULLY SPIRITED sermon! MG

Noj, I bet you didn't know that Groove Holmes' recording with Gerald Wilson was the first jazz organ with big band recording. I had thought that the first was a Jimmy Smith with Oliver Nelson effort, but I was wrong. Milt Buckner played organ with Lionel Hampton's orchestra a decade before Wilson's recording with Holmes . And Count Basie played organ with the Count Basie band in the thirties. I knew Basie recorded on organ with the orchestra in the Fifties but I cited Buckner because I thought he did so slightly before Basie . The Basie organ recordings from the Thirties were with smaller groups not the orchestra weren't they ? Dunno - I noticed Basie playing organ on a track featuring Jimmy Rushing. I'll check whether the whole band's there when the present CD stops. MG OK - I just checked. On the cheapo comp I've got, Basie plays organ on "Nobody knows", with the whole band (or a lot of saxes and trumpets and at least one trombone) behind Jimmy Rushing. No idea how many other tracks there are like this; it's the only one on this CD. MG