The Magnificent Goldberg

On your head MG

Tommy Tucker. You have to wear a wig hat. MG

Ah, I can't be sure of that, one way or another. Jaki's in then. MG

I agree with you Chuck. I wouldn't want to count boots but, how would you know? Which of (I guess) the Harold Land albums is a boot? MG

That's 14! Then there are these also: but thankfully he makes the list anyway. Damn! And I used to have "Hear ye"! And nice to note that I can't count much better than when I was three. MG

When in Rome... No one's forcing anyone to go. MG

Mel hasn't (yet) made 15 albums, as far as I know. MG Shouldn't be too long, unless something terrible happens: 10 listed on Criss Cross as leader or co-leader 1 on Jazzland 1 on Savant Indeed! MG

So, I guess those are the Queensboro and Williamsburg bridges in the second photo? MG

I found, at long last, an on-line retailer in South Africa who sells CDs. Here's the link. http://www.kalahari.net/mus/front.asp?toolbar=none I'd been looking for Linda Kekana albums for Swinging Swede's discographical thread and this turned up, to my surprise. Some points 1 they don't (or aren't allowed to) export CDs of music not made in South Africa. That isn't a problem for me, because that's what I want (though there are some fairly cheap prices for Blue Notes). 2 the browsing facility isn't all that helpful - you can either have them listed in order of biggest sales (which means you wade through loasds of Norah, Kenny and Dianne Krall) or in alphabetical order of album title, which is also not too helpful. You can't select (or I couldn't find a way to select) South African artists or recordings. So you've got to slug. Sorry, but what else do you have to do? 3 postage - to UK this is 120 rand (£7.91), 180 to US ($21.11 Euro 15.92)) and anywhere else outside SA & Namibia. But the thing is, that's a charge per order, not per CD. So if you order a few, this is pretty good. 4 the delivery time is unlikely to be swift. The stuff is sent by international airmail. But our experience is that it often takes a month for a letter to get here from SA. I was so excited, I ordered 3 albums. The Linda Kekana that I haven't got - "Kodumela" and two by a tenor player I've never heard of: Ntemi Piliso - "At Mavuthela" vols 1 & 2 - recorded in 1975. Looking forward to hearing these albums. It's really HARD to get SA Jazz - or any other kind - recordings outside SA, so even if it does take a while for the stuff to come through, this is a real find. MG

OK, one more to add. Linda Ketana - Gallo Jazz, Gallo Urban I was looking her up on Google to find out whether her other album was also on Gallo Jazz, when I found a South African on-line CD (and other stuff) retailer! So, playing these silly discographical games isn't entirely a waste of time! MG

Did you check out her version of "Seven Nation Army"? Pretty freakin' great! Yes I have and it is! and I gather that pub MG frequents is the happeningenist! No. To mean to spend money on booze nowadays. But I can see the attraction of bands like those at your local pub or club. You'd have a bloody good evening/night out with them. So, good. MG

Oh dear Good! MG

Capitol is difficult, I agree. The firm recorded a lot of stuff. But it was still a small firm owned by three people: Johnny Mercer, Buddy de Sylva and Glenn Wallichs. And I remember reading, many years ago, in a Nat Cole bio (or autobio) that it was only Nat who kept the firm afloat. Relying on one artist for solvency doesn't match up to my expectations of a major. Perhaps it's appropriate to regard it, in those days, as a wannabe major. MG

for tapscott i just counted 15 albums on nimbus west http://www.nimbuswest.com/ so as he has four or five albums elsewhere (Flying Dutchman not a major?) he's in You missed my edit - yes, he's made loads. So has Harper. MG

Mel hasn't (yet) made 15 albums, as far as I know. MG

It's kind of the other way round. I do agree with you - most of the best music in jazz, blues, R&B, soul, funk, gospel, hip hop, reggae has been made by indies. The general story is that an artist develops while recording for an indie and, when a clear marketability has been attained, a major picks them up and (often) tries to make them even more commercial than they were. This tends to lead to crap, though there are honourable exceptions. This thread is trying to find exceptions to that general story. I've always thought of these musicians, whether I liked them or not, as being the real heroes. And of course, a few people who don't qualify because they happened to make a couple of albums for Verve after MGM bought it - Ammons and Stitt for example. MG

Gloria Coleman - Impulse, Mainstream Jimmy Coe - United (1 LP's worth in several sessions), Time (Indianapolis), Weeden International (Coe's name mentioned before Paul Weedon's) Bill Easley - Sunnyside, Milestone Ray Crawford - Candid, Dobre, United National Basil "Mannenberg" Coetzee - Kijima, Mountain Barney Rachabane - Jive Afrika, Jive Jazz (do these count as one or two?) Dave Hubbard - Sybarite Music, Mainstream (1 LP & 2 tracks on comps might have been same session) Bobby Forrester - Dobre, Lollipop Joe Carroll - Prestige, Vogue, Epic, Charlie Parker, Spotlite, Jazzmania (DAMN, there was a 45 as well as an LP for Charlie Paker!)

First, clarification - is New Jazz the same label as Prestige, Moodsville, Trusound etc? First contender I've thought of Grant Green Jr - Paddle Wheel, Venus, Jazzeteria MG

Happy Birthday! MG

Oh, I didn't think there was a conspiracy. The word when I was getting interested in jazz was that Basie's rep rested on about a third of the recordings the band had made. In the absence of someone actually writing out a list of what they were (and no one did that) I made the assumption that this would generally include the material that featured Prez quite prominently. So, what you're saying is there's going to be a wide cross section of the band's work, good, bad and indifferent, in this box. Now that makes me a lot more interested in buying it. MG One third? It is true that Basie, like other big bands of the time, recorded a share of obligatory shallow pop numbers. Indeed, a few of them will be on the box. But I would say that the reputation of the 1930s Basie band has much more to do with the overall sound that they achieved, as opposed to some limited subset of their recordings. No big band could swing as hard and effortlessly as Basie's. The rhythm section of Jo Jones, Walter Page, Basie, and Freddie Green just can't be beat. No big band could dig as deeply in the blues as Basie's. Then you had that lineup of soloists: Lester Young, Herschal Evans, Buck Clayton. Dickie Wells, Basie himself et al, and the best singers in Jimmy Rushing and Helen Humes. The brilliance of this band is usually clearly audible even on the lesser tracks. It just don't get no better. Thanks John. Looks like my view have been influenced by over-critical critics. But I still want a broad sample with a bit of everything. MG

MG

Brotzman surprised me - I thought he would have recorded for a Europen subsidiary of a major, but he didn't. Redd only made 11 albums plus about an LP's worth of EPs in Sweden. Reece only made about 12 LPs worth of material (though it's hard to count). Sonny Murray's "Big chief" was recorded for Pathe - French subsidiary of EMI. MG

Some good 'uns in there. But also some who don't qualify - Duke Pearson didn't have a twenty year recording career. Tal Farlow made an album for CBS/Sony in 1976. Jaki made an album for Chant du Monde, which I think is a French subsidiary of EMI. His first album was released by CBS/Sony, though I'm not clear who it was recorded for. Barry Haris recorded for Columbia in 1977. I only know of 13 albums by Harold Land: Land of jazz; Fox; West coast blues; Eastward ho!; Take aim; Folk music; Peacemaker; New shade of blue; Choma; Damisi; Mapenzi; Live at Junk; Xocia's dance; Lazy afternoon. Plus a few odd tracks on compilations. Lord has Art Pepper listed as the leader of a WB soundtrack to "The Gauntlet" - surely a mistake? Or is it? Red Rodney recorded for OheH in 1952. MG

Blue Note until it was sold to Liberty epitomized the idea of "independent" - small, not always having great distribution, and at the mercy of those distributors to pay for the product. And John Patton recorded several times after his Blue Note years ended - his Nilva album was the focus of one discussion recently as it appears to be set for a reissue, and there were two recordings for the Japanese DIW label. Edit to say D'OH! I got confused and thought I was in the other thread - yes, I'd say Big John qualifies. So would I! In fact, he was in the list I posted at the start of the thread! Now, I'm not sure about either Tapscott of Harper - did they make as many as fifteen albums as leaders? MG PS Yes - now I see that Tapscott & Harper both made at least 15 albums.

Silly me! Forgot to include Geoff Simpkins (Flyright) - another old mate MG