The Magnificent Goldberg

I don't think it's simply a question of these artists having earlier jazz accomplishments. It's quite hard, for example, to make a clear separation between George Benson's early recordings and those post "Breezin'" as far as jazz content went - certainly, the jazz content became less and certainly it became less interesting and vital, but I don't think it ever went entirely, even from his most commercial albums. And I don't think it's right, just because some jazz is not very good - or even bloody awful, as may be - to say that it isn't jazz. Nat "King" Cole is another good example. There are definitely Cole recordings with almost zero jazz content - "Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer" is one. But those are in the minority even in Cole's post trio work. Much of his work retains jazz phrasing, which was an intimate and essential part of his style. And it's possible to trace an unbroken development from Soul Jazz into Smooth Jazz, and to show how it came about, which I'll post about this afternoon. MG

Thanks Mike. I've got lots of Mongo, but NONE of those you listed! Which of the Mongo sessions has him on violin? (As near as I can find, the Boncana Maiga issued in 1997 or 1998; it's not even dated on the disc.) MG

Thanks. Appreciate it. I ordered the 1937-41 Classics release tonight after sampling to wet my whistle. This is a period (30s-40s) that I'm currently getting to know (and love), and big band is definitely no obstacle here. Some excellent bits of the Chu Berry box can be found on the Lionel Hampton Mosaic. There's also a serious amount of Chu on a Cab Calloway set I have. Personally, I think I prefer to listen to him (and others like Benny Carter from that era) within the context of each bandleader's work. So when Chu, or Benny, come on, you say, "WHAT!!!" Well, to each his own. MG

Thinking about this as I went to bed last night, I wondered whether those country club types were the same group (though perhaps not the same individuals) who filled the SS Norway for those Floating Jazz Festivals starting in the nineties, which were frequently recorded by Chiaroscuro. Because if it is essentially the same group, by then they were clearly happy to listen to the likes of Nat Adderley, Al Grey, Red Holloway, Junior Mance, Benny Golson etc. MG I think that this was in part because some of the people who played a role in booking the SS Norway things were older be-bop oriented guys. like Joe Segal of the Jazz Showcase. And any audience that liked the Gibson Jazz Party lineups and the Swing Kids players but then turned its back on the players you mentioned would have to be pretty aggressively stupid to do so. Ah! Well, yes I agree. And my collection of Floating Jazz festival albums would not exist but for Joe Segal & Co, so I'm grateful. Of course, people CAN be agressively stupid - there's no law against it MG

I recently bought some of Cal Tjader's fifties albums, among them "Blackhawk nights", and was blown away by the tenor playing of Jose "Chombo" Silva. I wondered what had happened to him. Just now, putting on the CD of Boncana Maiga "Best of Salsa" (Melodie), I happened to notice that Jose "Chombo" Silva is the first violinist on the album. What! Damn good solos! Not sure when that album was made, cos it's in the CD player now and there's no date on the sleeve, but I think it was about 1999 (must be before 2003). So I thought I'd check up on the personnel on the Africando albums, since Boncana Maiga was the musical director of that band. And yes, there he is again, playing tenor sax on "Trovador" (1993) and "Tierra tradicional" (1994)! Phew! Anyone else got any info about this guy? MG

I'm torn between Montreux and Kicker. For a solid groove, Kicker. But when I want something a bit stretchy, Montreux is one I always go for. Trouble is turning the LP over halfway through a track. I wish they'd reissue this on CD. MG

There was a CD from circa 1990 that had two bonus tracks. I have a fairly recent Japanese reissue (UCCU-5165) which also has those two bonus tracks. And the CD Universe listing also has two bonus tracks (could be in error from the previous CD reissue, I suppose). The original Argo album had 8 tracks, while these CDs had 10. However, Lord lists a total of 17 tracks of which 4 are unissued, so a complete edition would be the definitive way to do it. Not that Verve in 2008 will. I might be wrong about this, but think that maybe there's one that's only been released on a Chess/Cadet/Whatever 2-fer LP from the very early 70s called Cool Cookin' that was ostensibly a "best of" affair. That one had 2 previously unissued cuts, but I think that maybe one has since been reissued elsewhere. I have a 2-LP set in the Chess Jazz Masters Series called Recapitulation that sounds like the album you're describing. Side two of this set comprises six tracks from the Vanguard date, two of which were unreleased at the time: "Afternoon in Paris" and "Tricotism." On the album, it says these tracks are from an album called Man at Work. Did Chess/Argo/Cadet/whatever re-release the Live at the Village Vanguard album in the 60's? Yes, and the called it "man at work". I don't now about "Recapitulation". "Cool cookin'" had a frosty guitar ian ice block cover in the US. MG

Hank Mobley & Cedar Walton - Breakthrough - Cobblestone (Muse reissue) Leo Parker - Rollin' with Leo - BN DMM Wynton Kelly - Kelly blue - Riverside (Carrere) MG

Les McCann at Montreux - Kirk comes on for side 4, unannounced. MG

A morning with some of my recent vinyl Odell Brown - Plays Otis Redding - Cadet orig Odell Brown & the Organisers - Ducky - Cadet orig Shirley Scott & Clark Terry - Soul duo - Impulse promo mono Charles Earland - Charles Earland - Big Chance (Trip reissue) MG

Bling when you're minging!!!!! I MAY actually watch that! MG

Oh gawd! And I've got three of those! MG

The frog in our pond was calling for a frogette all yesterday afternoon and evening. And he's still calling this morning. He must be really randy. MG

?????? Ah, so you need this translated into American? I can't - don't know american well enough. It's a kids thing. "Your ma's got a fat arse!" "Same to you, with knobs on." MG

Damn, you are THE closest anyone's gotten. And yes, it is an edit I did myself. It's the cousin to "Pass the Peas." OK, so it's "Mo peas" from either "Doin' it to Death" or the complete track on "Funky good time: the anthology". I haven't got "Doin' it to death", only "Funky good time", so I don't know which bits of the complete track were edited out of the original. Oh, and I found out why I was having so much trouble hearing some of this stuff - the volume on the machine itself (not on the different players) was turned halfway down. My wife must have done that while I wasn't looking I thought I was going deaf! Or that the speakers were collapsing. MG

Then we really are thinking about this differently. And I don't understand the distinction you're trying t omake. MG

But that's the idea you were looking for, isn't it? People who think there's more to be said through an old style that, though it's no longer popular or cutting edge, hasn't been fully mined out. That's also why I didn't put JDF in there. He's also a revivalist but, apart from huge technique, doesn't seem to me to be bringing anything personal to the work. MG

I put him in because he didn't make his first album as a leader until the late seventies, by which time the organ room thing was dying, if not dead. MG

There was a CD from circa 1990 that had two bonus tracks. I have a fairly recent Japanese reissue (UCCU-5165) which also has those two bonus tracks. And the CD Universe listing also has two bonus tracks (could be in error from the previous CD reissue, I suppose). The original Argo album had 8 tracks, while these CDs had 10. However, Lord lists a total of 17 tracks of which 4 are unissued, so a complete edition would be the definitive way to do it. Not that Verve in 2008 will. I might be wrong about this, but think that maybe there's one that's only been released on a Chess/Cadet/Whatever 2-fer LP from the very early 70s called Cool Cookin' that was ostensibly a "best of" affair. That one had 2 previously unissued cuts, but I think that maybe one has since been reissued elsewhere. As I noted earlier - the UK version (a single LP) had only one previously unissued track. Thought there might be more on the US version. MG

Good clear presentation that, even to a techno-duffer like me, makes sense. MG

Thinking about this as I went to bed last night, I wondered whether those country club types were the same group (though perhaps not the same individuals) who filled the SS Norway for those Floating Jazz Festivals starting in the nineties, which were frequently recorded by Chiaroscuro. Because if it is essentially the same group, by then they were clearly happy to listen to the likes of Nat Adderley, Al Grey, Red Holloway, Junior Mance, Benny Golson etc. MG

Did any of them have long hair? (After all, this WAS the seventies.) The musicians, I mean, not the country club types. MG

I wonder if this research is trying to measure things by western standards? Well, I know it is. So, my wife was always on about how much more technically advanced Namibia is than we are. And what she actually means is that there's a very large proportion of the Namibian poulation who live in the desert, never (or hardly ever) come into any of the towns, don't have mobile phones or the internet and don't want them - just want to be left alone (particularly by Government people) to do their thing. But for the people living in the towns, I can recognise, from what she and our friends out there say, that what they've actually got there is arranged in a way that is much more convenient to them than what we've got here is to us, unless we happen to have everything in our own homes. Now that's a really hard measure to capture. And then again, our friends are white (though living on Namibian wages - so not rich). But I've seen the same thing in West Africa. Not everyone in the towns has the internet or even a phone, in fact very few do. But on every corner there's a place where you can use a phone or the web or whatever. And if someone phones you there, a kid races round to your place and gets you. So that access is convenient. I'm not sure that we should be thinking that economic development has to be done our way to be good or useful. So I wonder, if you could measure convenience of access, and take out the large populations that don't wanna know, how various African countries might stack up. MG

He plays some extremely UN-Coltranish stuff on Groove Holmes' "Shippin' out" on Muse; the best of Grooves excellent Muse albums. MG

Very true! When I look back I'm amazed by how limited my horizons were by what happened to appear in the shops. I alays felt as if I was being unreasonable trying to order something out of the way (if I knew about it via a magazine). I often met 'sorry, can't be found' responses. We may be at the end of the hard disc bounty - but if the download world is handled imaginatively the next era could be even more plentiful. Well, financial constraints will still be there. And time to listen will be even more at a premium. MG