The Magnificent Goldberg

link http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20080208...-6323e80_1.html MG

I wish I had that Schoolkids album. His dad was great, too. MG

Too late. MG

My daughter's on the BIY kick lately, & although I definitely see the advantages, I don't ahve the geek skills to fix it myself when something goes wrong. But if I did, hell yeah, build it youself! My son in law builds them himself. It was his fiddling that lost me two hard drives (one of which was the backup) irrecoverably, simultaneously, several years ago. I wont let him touch my stuff now. MG

don't the liner notes say so? I can see it now: "this album features the first recording of a tune that Oliver Nelson is going to record many times before his untimely death in..." Damn good stuff!!! If you gottem cheap, you gotta REAL bargain! MG

Yes! Ah, very interesting. Do you know what it's like, Mike? MG I never heard the Mainstream LPs, only have the Mapleshade CD, which is a rather nostalgic modern bop mainstream item, with Pierre Sprey's typical studio sound, if you ever heard one of his CDs. I found it mentioned somewhere, perhaps in the liner notes, that it is the same player. Never heard of Pierre Sprey. Is he a musician or an engineer? 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 of the things I really like and find very interesting about Parker is that, although he was a bopper through and through in terms of his style, his SOUND was that of an R&B honker. Had he wished, he probably could have been as big a name in R&B as Paul Williams. But he obviously didn't want to play that kind of thing. MG

Well, we are trying to find moderately obscure people, I think. Jazz musicians' careers are usually pretty long, if they don't die early or give up through discouragement, so most significant musicians will record for a number of companies over the years. MG

... Yeah ... I'll say That Cannonball "Plus" is a great album, yes? Indeed, but the album that REALLY got to me was the Spoon. I'm a big fan, but I've only got ten of his albums, so I've never seriously explored his work. "Baby, baby, baby" (really hard to type) was done before "Evening blues" and "Blues around the clock", both of which I've had for a long time, and I wasn't expecting something that would be anywhere near as good as those. But it's a beautiful album. MG

My third order from the Concord sale came in today. Another heavy day's listening Gene Ammons - Angel eyes. I have most of this album already, but not two of the tracks. So this is working towards a complete Jug collection. Blue Mitchell - Blue's moods. This is my favourite Blue album and I decided to upgrade my OJC LP to an OJC CD Bunk Johnson & his Superior Jazz Band. Absolutely full of feeling, this. Budd Johnson - Let's swing. And thanks to Big Al for introducing me to Budd last week. Cannonball Adderley Quintet plus. Terrific - but how many goddamn versions of "New Delhi" are there? Nat Adderley - Naturally. Really nice stuff! His version of "Oleo" left my jaw on the floor and me shoutin'. Ray Bryant - All blues. Woof - here's one I should have bought twenty years ago! And here's another I should have bought two decades ago! Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Al Grey & Harry Edison - JATP 1983. Phew!!!!! Jaws again - Trane whistle. I've bought a lot of Jaws in the last couple of years and I can't say this is my favourite. I much prefer him in a small group context. Not that I don't like this; I do. And yes, there's a different side of Jaws here - also different to his work with Basie, what I've heard of it. Is "The stolen moment" on this album the first recording of "Stolen moments"? Jimmy Witherspoon - Baby, baby, baby. Oh, and this one is just wonderful!!!! Two bands; east coast and west coast. The eastern band is Leo Wright (as), Kenny Burrell (g), Gildo Mahones (Gildo FUCKIN' Mahones!!!!) (p), George Tucker (b) Jimmie Smith (d). Wright plays THE most preaching solos I've ever heard from him, even with Gloria Coleperson. The west coasters are Bobby Bryant (tp), Jimmy Allen (who he? VG+) (ts), Ernie Freeman (p), Herman Mitchell (g), Jimmy Bond (b) Arthur Wright (hca), Jimmy Miller (d). Another great band. Bryant is one of my favourite trumpet players, anyway. Damn good day! MG

Yep, Porcy - 'Ray's Jazz' is actually located within the Foyles Bookshop (big book store) on Charing Cross Road, just up from Leicester Square tube. Very nice place to visit - best capuccino stop in London, recommended. This store is run by the son of the former owner of 'Rays' which used to be on Shaftesbuty Avenue until the mid-90s. 'Dobell's' used to be at a site on the opposite side of the road to Foyles but closed back in the early 80s at the time of the major recession. A legendary haunt of visisting US players apparently and Doug Dobell the owner used to dabble in vinyl with the '77' record label. He also did a Joe Harriott release for Melodisc. Doug Dobell was also the boss of Blue Note UK, when Liberty strted it up in 1967. He brought the price of Blue Notes down big time. My hero! MG PS it was a 22% reduction!

You're right - I misremembered a quote - here 'tis, complete with sammidge. "although interest in the baritone saxophone has centred around Gerry Mulligan in recent years the work of the lte Serge Chaloff should not be forgotten. Chaloff was the first musician to transcribe Charlie Parker's ideas for use on the larger saxophone..." Even so... (And no doubt you're right about drugs, Steve.) MG

Aye aye skipper MG

Thanks very much folks - I'll have a look for the Ocium. (Didn't know that was Andorran.) MG

There's no bad Leo Parker, but "Rollin'" is the one that gets me. He made a fair bit of stuff for Savoy in the forties. Mostly, that's been reissued under the names of his sidemen - Dexter Gordon and Gene Ammons. But he was really playing on those, too. It's really a shame that his records didn't sell better. I think Leo was the main victim of the popularity of the wet coast musicians, particularly Gerry Mulligan, who generally got credited as THE Bebop bari, instead of Leo, to whom the props reightly belong. MG

Have a look at the Gospel section of the Blindman's Blues Forum. There are discussions there about the quartets (what you've begun to get into); some choirs; preachers; guitar evangelists; etc etc... http://blindman.forumhoster.com/index.php?act=idx MG

Is that stuff going to be on the Mosaic? MG

I don't know about this Tom . I initially thought about setting the 'minimum number of dates' criterion at three , but even set at two , the list so far hardly numbers in the hundreds , which I think speaks to the correctness of my original decision . I'm flexible though ; if the list begins to get out of hand , then the criterion can be changed to a three date minimum . For now though , I'd like to add these names ( all of which would be excluded under a three date minimum ) : - Gus Mancuso - Leonard Gaskin - Rudolph Johnson - The Awakening Ah yes, forgot about Rudy Johnson. MG

YES! YES! A MOTHERFUCKIN' KILLAH! (And his best is really extraordinarily good indeed!) MG

Am I being morbid? Delmark is the last of the first generation of post-Depression independents. Though not as big as some of the others, an amazing variety (more variety than any other label I think) of incredible music has been issued. We're seeing what's happening to Fantasy. Some time, Bob Koester is going to quit. What happens then? Does Bob have any kind of succession plan? Or should we start panic buying Delmarks now? MG

Third, except that I'd hesitate to list the Otis Rush Cobra recordings as highly. Iirc, he kept rehashing the same music with different lyrics, and I believe there are a few alternates as well. I mean, I love his music but its not a little repetitive after a while. To each their own. This is all a matter of taste. To me the Otis Rush Cobra recordings are seminal electric blues recordings. He revived and rehashed those songs many times in later years, not always with inspired results. I selected the two Otis Rush albums I put on the list with some care, for that reason. Agreed, but I wasn't referring to rehashing the tunes later on, but to the fact that he rehashed the same music multiple times for that label, in search of another hit, and it grows wearying to hear them one after the other. Its unbelievably great music but for me, it has to be heard in smaller doses than one sitting. Dan: Maybe you are confusing Otis Rush and Magic Sam's Cobra recordings? Your comments make sense for the latter. As fine as they are, Magic Sam's Cobra recordings are a bit repetitive - "Easy Baby" is essentially recorded various times with different lyrics. But I would not say that about Otis' Cobra recordings. They are quite a varied bunch, and thick with masterpieces: I Can't Quit You, Double Trouble, Checking on My Baby, All Your Love, etc. It's true that there are also a few lighter weight pop tracks thrown in the mix. But the strong tracks are REALLY strong. As good as a number of his later records were, I would say that the Cobra recordings are Otis Rush's greatest legacy, and some of the greatest blues ever recorded. There are a lot of alternative takes of the Cobra tracks, and some collections present them all in a row. That could also give the impression of monotony. But it would be a false impression. Alternative takes are alternative takes. I agree with John - I've got the Charly LP of his issued takes, no alternatives, and I think it's fine. I also like the albums he did for Delmark - "So many roads" and "Cold day in hell". Haven't yet got round to the recent Delmark live album. (Suppose I should.) MG

Quite like the cover art m'self. I prefer Evan's new signature (now where's the smiley of a lecher with his tongue hanging out this morning?) MG

Pooh gosh! It's imitation Oxbridge! Shocked... MG

Be patient. Pretty soon, they will perfect the 33 1/3 rpm album, and you'll only have to flip it over once. Ain't technology grand? Loads of laughs from across 'ere. MG