The Magnificent Goldberg

Happy birthday Patricia! MG

From the liner notes: "Recorded and Mixed by Jim Anderson Recorded at Power Station, NYC, on December 26, 1995 ... Special Thanks to John Zorn and Thelma Patton Dedicated to our friend, Jimmy Anderson" I believe you're correct. Thanks Aggie - thought Jimmy referred to Jim. Never heard of the tenor player. MG

Yeah, but he'll see it when he gets settled. Good luck! MG

Aren't those old ads somethin'!!! Grease in the thirties! MG

Here's a complete discography of Orchestre Baobab up to September 2006, when Toshi last updated it. So it doesn't have all those recent reissues, or the new one, in yet. Must drop him a line. http://biochem.chem.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~endo/EABaobab.html MG

One of the most awful hotels I've ever stayed in - in North East Wales - zero light bulbs and soap and towel in bedroom, lousy dinner, one of my colleagues had some kind of disater with the furnishing in her room - made Fawlty Towers look like paradise. But it had this incredible funky - I mean real funky, y'know - muzak in the bar. But some things are unforgivable, even for funky music. MG

Which backwater was this? Enquiring and local minds want to know MG

The second of my Lucky Millinders turned up. Actually, the earliest of the three. So glad I've gone into this guy's music! MG

In honour of Elvis' birthday Fats Domino ( ) - Rare Dominos vol 2 - UA (UK issue) MG

I see the go-go dancers couldn't do the duck walk Was playing my Chuck Berry albums sometime over Christmas. MG

I agree - they're wonderful! Actually better than the studio recordings, I think. MG

Same here, only I heard Fats Domino first. So Elvis was never quite so riveting, for me, as for everyone else I knew. And it was four years before I started buying jazz albums. So I think I'll play some Fats later MG

Aha! "This one's for JA" was recorded on 26 December 1995 and issued on DIW919. Personnel is: Patton Dave Hubbard, ts Ed Cherry, g Eddie Gladden, d Lawrence Killian, perc The JA is Jim Anderson, who recorded and mixed the album at Power Station. It's a great album. So I'm going to play it as soon as the George Braith's finished MG

Adam is right. Her name is Olga Kurylenko. Not terribly interested in recent Bond films but I have to admit, she has exactly the right look. MG

Out of print Orchestre Baobab material (CDs only) On verra ca. An Amazon.fr seller is offering this at 35 Euro. It's worth it. It's a reissue of two albums made in 1978 for Abou Ledoux, for which, once more, Baobab haven't ever been paid. http://www.amazon.fr/Verra-%C3%87a-Orchest...500&sr=1-17 Roots & fruit. This is a beautiful (sort of) twofer, which couples a bunch of material from 1973-1977, some of which was previously unissued, with a 1986 album. The idea of the compilation is to focus on Baobab's two singers from the Casamance region. This is getting a bit expensive. This link is to the cheapest one. http://www.amazon.fr/Roots-Fruit-Orchestre...500&sr=1-19 N'wolof. This is, in my view, the most BEAUTIFUL Baobab album ever!!!! It was recorded in 1970. Most of it was unreleased until Ted Jaspers released it on this Dakar Sound CD in 1998. It's beginning to get expensive. But at 22 Euro, it's a fucking STEAL! (Amazon.fr has copies up to 76Euro - not sure I'd pay that much, but not far off.) http://www.amazon.fr/NWolof-Orchestre-Baob...500&sr=1-20 Finally The original Pirates choice on WCD014. You can't get this - not even through Amazon.fr sellers. But it might turn up. Basically, if you get this you're a completist and deserve to pay whatever it costs Mind you, the alternative takes are really alternative and also very good. MG

I thought it might be useful to run down what is available, one way or another, by Orchestre Baboab. In having a look round, I've found a compilation I didn't know about, which has quite a lot of stuff I haven't got - so that's nice, isn't it? Most material is out of print but a lot can be obtained from Amazon sellers. I'm posting links to Amazon.fr, because the best selection is there, of course. But since the sellers are the main source, you can probably get them from other Amazons. Made in Dakar - the latest album, issued a few months ago. It's fine; mostly (but not wholly) re-recordings of their classic numbers. The original ones are better but, well, the band's been together now for nearly forty years and they deserve to be cut some slack. And if you can't get the originals, well... http://www.amazon.fr/Made-Dakar-Orchestra-...3362&sr=1-1 Specialist in all styles. Last but one album (2002). Good. A bit better than above but with guest vocals. There are two sleeve designs as above (it was issued like that, dunno why). They're the same album. But the blue one is a lot more expensive now than the tan one (smiley showing collector shrugging shoulders). http://www.amazon.fr/Specialist-All-Styles...4039&sr=1-2 A night at Club Baobab. This is the compilation of stuff I haven't got. Judging by the titles (but it's clear that some have been retitled) there is stuff from all over Baobab's discography in here, including a couple of tracks from 1972. Looks pretty interesting though, since the firm can get this stuff, one wonders why they didn't just reissue two whole albums as a twofer. http://www.amazon.fr/Night-at-Club-Baobab/...4039&sr=1-3 Pirates choice - this is WCD064. http://www.amazon.fr/Pirates-Choice-Orches...4039&sr=1-4 Classic titles. Hard to make out the track list for this, but it appears to be the same as African nights. The two CDs are offered by sellers at different prices. This one is a bit cheaper. A lot of these cuts are from the "On verra ca" CD. Others I don't know. http://www.amazon.fr/African-Nights-Orches...948&sr=1-16 Bamba. Twofer of "Mohamadou Bamba" and "Sibou odia", recorded for Jambaar (and for the latter of which Baobab have never been paid, not even, apparently, for this Sterns reissue). Good stuff. http://www.amazon.fr/Bamba-Orchestra-Baoba...207&sr=1-13 Next post deals with out of print stuff, much of which you can get. MG

Baobab is a great band. But there are two CDs of "Pirates choice". The first one to be issued was in 1989 on World Circuit WCB014 (LP)/WCD014 (CD) - this was a reissue of the Diang MCA LP "Ken dou werente" (MCA 307), which itself was a compilation of half of two K7s the band made for Mbaye Gueye when it (the band) was known as Baobab Guygui 82 de Dakar. These two K7s are generally called "Senegambie" and "Ngalam", though they have no titles on the cover. WCD014 also contained alternate takes of "Utru horas" and "Coumba", which have not been issued elsewhere. In 2001, World Circuit reissued "Pirates choice" as a 2 CD set - WCD063. The tracks on disc 1 were the same as on WCB014 (ie without the alt takes). The tracks on disc 2 were all the other tracks from the K7s "Senegambie" and "Ngalam". This is a real drag, because you need BOTH "Pirates choice" issues to get the whole of the Mbaye Gueye sessions. And it's even more irritating because there is room on either CD for the alt takes, which amount to about 15 minutes. And to add insult to injury, it would have been better to have sorted the tracks out into their original album issues. In case anyone wants to do that on their hard drive, these are: [disk 1] Utru Horas (Senegambie) Coumba (Ngalam) Ledi Ndieme M'bodj (Senegambie) Werente Serigne (Ngalam) Ray M'Bele (Ngalam) Soldadi (Senegambie) [disk 2] Ngalam (Ngalam) Toumaranke (Senegambie) Foire Internationale (Senegambie) La Rebellion (Senegambie) Ndiaga Niaw (Ngalam) Balla Daffe (Ngalam) MG

On their early recordings, Magic System simply seem to have the bass line placed differently to Zouk. But on "Cessa kie la verite", there are tracks in 6/8 - and Zouk in 6/8 is REALLY invigorating! MG

Magic System is a group from the Cote d'Ivoire, one of the leading lights of a new music - Zouglou - being developed there. I bought Magic System's second album - the first I'd heard of - in 2001. Mainly because it was pressed on me by the friendly proprietor of a record shop in Africa. Cote d'Ivoire was not the main focus of my attention. I thought it was good, of its kind, but I wasn't terribly keen on Zouk music anyway, so it languished a bit on the shelf. That was "Premiere gaou" This recent CD edition of the album also contains the group's first, "Papito" and a bonus CD of remixes. I came across their latest album early last year and I got a kind of vibe off it, so I ordered it. That was their fourth "Cessa kie la verite" Now this one truly blew me away! So I got the "Premiere gaou" CD edition in double-quick time, and also found a copy of "Poisson d'Avril", their third album, now reissued as "Un gaou a Paris". And listening to all these, plus a couple of other albums from Cote d'Ivoire, I'm beginning to get a feel for Zouglou. Zouglou is derived from Zouk, which is derived from Soukous, which is derived from Congolese Rhumba But unlike all these other kinds of music, with simple, danceable, rhythms that have swept much of Africa, Zouglou rhythms are MUCH more complex and, to me, much more exciting to listen to. So, here's the NEW Magic System disc, "Ki dit mie" I've just ordered it from Amazon.fr. Astoundingly, it's coming from Caiman in the US, so all you Americans should be able to get copies cheaply and easily! I'll let you know what it's like when I get it. There are samples on the Amazon.fr site, but I can't be asked to listen to samples. MG

Have a real good 'un! MG

Thanks Paul. MG

Wonder if I could get a job in the Concord/Fantasy archives... MG

Blue Side Records was evidently a branch of Upside Records. Blue Side is the name on the label & cover. The copyright is Upside records & in small print - "Manufactured and Marketed by Upside records, Inc.". Thanks very much Dan & Paul. I'll have a look round for this one. MG Might be easiest to pick up the Alligator CD - still in print. I didn't see ANY on Amazon UK - does the Alligator have the same title - "One more for the road?" MG

I separate them by genre, and then, with occasional eccentricities, alphabetical by artist. Eccentricities are that, for example, Kouyuate Sory Kandia gets filed with the other Kouyates and Kante Manfila gets filed with the other Kantes and I sometimes ignore the differences between French and English orthographies in most African family names - and sometimes I don't I prefer to separate albums by genre because it is not a matter of indifference to me whether at some point in the day I want to listen to a sermon or Mbalax or Bebop. And it's really hard to remember all those African names and identify where a certain album comes in alphabetical order. If I know it's, say, a Mbalax album I want, which I obviously do, then I have only 325 to look through, not the whole collection! MG

You get used to it, I find. That one is pretty well transparently clear after you've been reading him a couple of years It's also good to poke fun at from time to time. Though I'm never sure if he notices... MG