The Magnificent Goldberg

Leo Parker Leon Spencer Beebee Daniels-Lyon

Do J&R ship abroad? MG

That's right - that show was often quoted by exiles as being the turning point. Actually, I think the sleeves you posted were of the original on Gallo. I think the Decca version had a pic of a man on them. Tried Googling for it but couldn't even find the one you did - but there were some ripe birds in bikinis. MG

Yep! Just put in my third order in this sale! Bunk Johnson - & his superior jazz band Cannonball Adderley - Cannonball Adderley quintet PLUS Nat Adderley – Naturally Ray Bryant – All blues Budd Johnson – Let’s swing Jimmy Witherspoon – Baby baby baby Eddie Lockjaw Davis – Trane whistle Al Grey/Edison/Jaws – JATP 1983 Gene Ammons – Angel eyes Blue Mitchell – Blue’s moods The last 2 are upgrades from LPs, but I don't have any of the others. MG

Yes, it came out in Britain in the late fifties. I think it was on the UK Decca label. MG Correction to say it must have been early sisxties. But I recall seeing it in shops.

Har! Just try that in Africa! MG

Lovely cat, Ubu. Fuzz therapy. Stroking dogs and cats is known to have very relaxing effects. MG

Nyah nyah! Told you they wanted blues A Little Walter song - maybe they wanted BLUES. MG MG

Lonesome Sundown - Been gone too long - Joliet (P-Vine Jap issue) Bill Doggett - Hot Doggett - King (Odeon France issue) Bobby Bland - Touch of the blues - Duke (MCA reissue) Bobby Bland - Soul of the man - Duke (MCA reissue) MG

Well, era means the whole thing to me. And if one looks at later Soul Jazz periods, I don't feel there was nearly as much going on for me generally - although the Soul Jazz of the sixties and seventies is my meat entirely. But in the sixties and seventies, there was a lot of Hard Bop, which is kind of only a bit to my taste, and Jazz Rock Fusion, which is a LONG way from my taste. On the plus side, of course, in R&B there was the development of Soul and Funk, (but also Disco... hm...) and in Gospel there was the beginning of the development of the community choir movement, but that really didn't start to get really good until the mid-seventies. But what was happening in Blues at that time? Nix. Well, the invasion of the white guitar heroes, you could say. Or the conversion of Blues to something that was played on college campuses. Ho hum. So, when I look at the sixties and seventies, Soul Jazz, Soul and Funk were by and large the only game in town for me. MG

Here we are, Al, for disc 1. An entertaining mixture with a couple of very frustrating ones that I can NEARLY identify... 1 There’s something very familiar about this. It reminds me of the theme from “Gurney Slade” – a British TV comedy series starring Anthony Newley, before he started singing and writing songs. But the trumpet player is a bit to Dizzy-like for it to be that. In fact, this is a lot like some of those Afro-type things that Dizzy did. But with a big band. So, IS it Diz? Oh, here comes the tune. I KNOW that tune, so familiar, but can’t place it. Oh yes, it’s “Big noise from Winnetka”. 2 Very prominent lead trumpet in this band. Sounds like a much more modern band trying to do something late forties. 3 “Hit the road Jack”? Not quite. Very slinky alto. If this is an arrangement of “Hit the road Jack” it’s a wonderful interpretation. 4 Now this sounds like it might be the same arranger, if not the same band, doing something a bit more adventurous. Is it the same alto player? Definitely not with the trombonist who’s just practicing stretching his chops. Tenor player is OK but doesn’t seem to be showing much character. This is the first one I haven’t greatly enjoyed, Al. 5 “Running wild” in a modern interpretation. They’re trying slightly too hard to inject some humour into this, I’m afraid. All big bands so far – is this a theme? Almost certainly not, in view of what you said in the sign-up thread. 6 “Good bait” – or another Tadd Dameron tune. Tenor player trying to be as fast as Stitt. Drummer is a bit too enthusiastic, I fear. This isn’t saying too much to me. 7 I’ve got this one. Oh no, I’ve got some other version of the tune. Can’t recall the title but I think it’s a Blue Mitchell number. Can’t say I like the tenor player. Oh, that’s Blue on trumpet. Maybe I HAVE got this. No, I don’t think I recognise this solo. Damn! I wish I could recall the title of this piece! Best I can come up with is that it’s some Duke Pearson arranged band thing with someone, not Blue, as leader, but with Blue in the band. 8 Another one I think I know. But again, it’s not the version I’ve got. I definitely haven’t got this; I’d certainly remember the trumpet player’s foul-up at the start of his solo. But it’s another Duke Pearson type thing. I don’t think this version is quite on the mark compared to whatever it is that I’ve got – that I also can’t remember the title of. 9 This guy sounds like that guitar player who did some stuff with Diz in the seventies and made a couple of LPs for Milestone - Michael Howell - which I heard when they came out, but couldn’t be asked to buy. Quate nace, but nowt special. 10 This is him again, I think. Piano player is a bit familiar. As above. 11 This has the feel of another Duke Pearson job. I think I recognise the alto player as one of his regulars. And it’s Blue on trumpet. I think it’s Duke on piano. 12 Freddie Hubbard? Sounds a lot like him to me. I like the piano player. I like the tenor player , too. But somehow, overall, I don’t like the whole thing. I think it’s the deliberate way they slow down halfway through each solo; the slow parts don’t seem to relate organically to the fast ones. It’s just like they’re trying to be clever. 13 What’s this, a trombone choir? Oh, there’s a trumpet or so in there too, I think. A very brash, somewhat rough sound that rather wakes you up. So does the tenor player, when he starts soloing. Yes, they’re all trying to make sure we’re not falling asleep. That trumpet player is a bit familiar. Gawd that’s Hawk! So what the fuck IS this? I didn’t get who the third tenor player was but I’m getting a strong Basie feeling about the pianist. But it all doesn’t match up. Second listen now. The pianist’s first solo doesn’t strike me as Basie but someone more modern doing Basie’s thing. Could the first tenor player be Frank Wess? I ask myself. Clark Terry? Yes, really Hawk. After the drum solo, someone who’s gentle and honking. Ben Webster did that, but it ain’t him. Not Basie but someone doing his stuff on piano. 14 Tenor player with vibes, piano & rhythm, and a Bossa Nova, but not Getz. Could be anyone. Pleasant lounge music. The pianist perks things up a bit with a bit of Cuban stuff, but that isn’t his natural idiom. OK. 15 So there’s this nice vibes player, who sounds a lot like Milt Jackson to me, but the band’s kind of interfering with him – or with me listening to him rather. Not keen. 16 “The good life” piano trio. Doesn’t seem to me to have quite the right feel for this music. Maybe this isn’t the right tempo for the song because it feel a bit rushed.

For me, THE era is the period 1942-1954. This is the period in which Swing split up into Bebop, Soul Jazz and R&B. But also, it’s the golden era of the Gospel Quartet, and the most important period in the development of City Blues. (It’s also the period in which Country music developed, though I confess to having little interest in that.) Furthermore, the period saw the efflorescence of numerous regional styles, which contributed their own special feel to the overall scene. And, perhaps closely related, it’s the period of the first generation of indie record companies specialising in contemporary black music of one type or another. One of the striking things about that period, to me, is that the musicians and singers were not confined to their boxes; the boundaries between the different genres of black music were extremely permeable in those days. Clearly, there was some money in this for a jazzman who was wanted on an R&B date. But the sense of the era that comes through to me is that this wasn’t entirely a matter of being paid for the gig; that the musicians were willing participants; because they sensed the unity of all that music that was exploding into creativity at that time. And the black mass audience accepted this situation with enthusiasm! If you look at the R&B charts for that period, of course, they’re dominated by Louis Jordan, Nat “King” Cole, the Inkspots, Lionel Hampton and Duke Ellington (the top five chart acts of the forties). But you also see Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Cecil Payne (!), Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, the Original Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, the Trumpeteers, the Angelic Gospel Singers, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, King Pleasure, Billy Eckstine, Gene Ammons, Bing Crosby, Illinois Jacquet, Johnny Hodges, Sonny Boy (John Lee) Williamson, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, Memphis Slim, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Erskine Hawkins, the Andrews Sisters and Buddy Johnson. To me, that era says that people (and I mean the artists as well as the general black public) felt that there was one kind of music - black music – with many different but closely related ways of expressing it. The artistic implications of this period are obviously interesting. But for me, it’s impossible to look at this period without thinking about how it all happened; about what was going on that made this era so creative in so many directions at once. In my view, the key point was the mass migration of the thirties, and continuing later, out of the rural areas into urban areas. This arguably did even more for black prosperity than the New Deal – not only for those who moved, but for those who remained. And much of this new prosperity was directed into luxury areas – zoot suits, wide ties, two-tone shoes and, primarily, entertainment. (It also had the effect of concentrating the black population so that it could be reached more easily by small organisations, facilitating the emergence of the indies.) The migration also superimposed one set of regional styles over another, giving rise to the wonderful variety that is seen in those days. But there is a psychological point to migration, too, which I think was important in the way black music developed in this period. Migrants look both forwards and backwards. Especially since, even though things were a lot better, Chicago, Detroit, LA, Oakland, Newark, New York, Cincinnati or Philly were not, in fact, the promised land. So there is homesickness, even for Jim Crow country, as well as the excitement of the new, sophisticated and hip. And because there were patterns to the migration, there were usually plenty of people from back home, wherever that happened to be, to make music that was from home but also firmly placed in the here and now. (Although I’m not a Country music fan, it’s interesting to note that there was a similar migration among whites at this period, which had a big impact on Country music. I recall an interview Dolly Parton did on British TV in which she talked about her family moving out of the Appalachians into the Midwest, and making the point of this migration’s impact on that music.) Of course, migration was not the sole factor involved; the war was important, as was the general increase in the prosperity of the US as a whole, following the Depression. I also have a rather tentative feeling that something else may have been going on, which may have had an impact. In the twenties and thirties, Harlem (and possibly other ghetto areas) had been a “tourist” destination for well heeled white people attending highly profitable clubs like the Cotton Club. I think this stopped and, in New York, the musical centre of gravity moved to midtown. To a large extent, I think ghetto residents were left alone to do what they liked without having to make music that would be generally commercial, because you could make plenty of money just out of the black market, as Herman Lubinsky intended to do when he set up Savoy, and succeeded in doing. One of the things that can be seen during this period was that it became more and more difficult for black artists to get records on the pop charts and for white artists to get records on the R&B charts. To some extent this may have been because the majors controlled the pop charts while, increasingly, the indies controlled the R&B charts. But I also think that black music and pop music were really diverging at this time. MG

I thought of these too , but a check of the discographies disqualifies all three of these . Really? Come on then Chas, cough. I really want more of all of them. MG

Well, to me there's a BIG difference between someone who plays an instrument that may be played in a microtonal way (and sometimes is, as a result of slight misfingering or whatever, or as part of a musical language that includes it as a normal element, such as bottleneck guitar) and someone who actually does play that way, deliberately, in order to get somewhere else. I haven't got anything against the latter group of people, I'm just not there. MG

A Little Walter song - maybe they wanted BLUES. MG

Fela Kuti - Expensive shit - Sound Workshop (Makossa Sounds US issue) John Coltrane - Coltrane - Jasmine UK MG

Singers/instrumentalists Mildred Anderson - Bluesville Paul Bollenback - Challenge Joe Castro - Atlantic Nat Dixon - Sax Rack Jean DuShon - Argo/Cadet Caesar Frazier - Eastbound/Westbound George Jenkins - Tampa Billy Larkin - Aura/World Pacific Onzy Matthews - Capitol Grasell Oliphant - Atlantic St Clair Pinckney - Ichiban Art Porter - Verve Billie Poole - Riverside John Wright - Prestige/New Jazz Bands The Blackbyrds - Fantasy Brass Fever - Impulse Freedom Sounds - Atlantic Funk Inc - Prestige Fuse One - CTI Members Only - Muse Organissimo - Big O Players Association - Vanguard The Real Thing - Real Thing Three of a Kind - Minor Music And some I'm not sure of Papa John DeFrancesco - Muse & HighNote/Savant (all owned by Joe Fields) Bobby Pierce - Cobblestone & Muse (both owned by Joe Fields) Earl Neal Creque - Cobblestone & Muse (again) Charles Williams - Mainstream (but an alto player with the same name made an album in 1996 - same man?) MG

James Brown - The unbeatable James Brown (1956-59) - King (Polydor France) Etta James - Etta is betta than evvah - Chess (All Platinum) orig Johnny "Guitar" Watson - Ain't that a bitch - DJM (UK) MG

Axel Villiers de Lisle-Adam Joris-Karl Huysmans

Well, maybe not you, but that's what happened to me. Seriously? MG No -- but look at what "JazzDrummer" says in the post just above: "It's nice to see that many jazz musicians would like to come to Andalucia and jam with me! Come on! I will pick you at Gibraltar airport (low coast on British Airways and other european companies). I'm trying to organize a network for jazz musicians around the world: bed, food, drinks and music for some days..." Hmmm. Well... MG

Yeah, the lush sound of the tambura drone and the development of the early slow movement (the alap section) are pretty important. I love it, but it's been a while since I've listened. Microtones are small intervals of less than a 1/2 step and microtonal refers to tunings other than 12 tone equal temperament. The notes between the keys on a piano... Thanks - that's what I meant by the spaces between notes. I have the vision of someone trying to walk IN the lines on the pavement. But the bears keep catching him... MG

I've not interested myself in Gurtu either. But this looks like a possible. What label is it on? MG

When my parents married, in 1936, they lived in hotels all the time. It wasn't until I came along in 1943, that they decided to have an address. MG

7/4, is the fact that you like all this Indian stuff anything to do with playing your guitar microtonally (which I think means in the spaces between notes)? I must say, I can't get on with it myself. MG

WOW!!!!!!! Goodgawd don't apologise for posting that!!!! It can be posted hundreds of times!!!! I never knew that happened. I guess it was mid-seventies. Anyone know? Phew! Saw Jerry Lee in Boulogne in 1963 - I was about 18 inches from his right foot - except when he was playing the piano with it. A KILLER indeed! And when Ray came in with his vocal chorus to "Jambalaya", oh gawd! Thanks, thanks! MG