The Magnificent Goldberg

Was Alamac one of those labels you were referring to in that thread about Don Byas sessions? MG

not one of which made the top 30 MG

Is this the thing JSangry is on about never having got from Santa? MG

Never heard of this before. We don't have Thanksgiving, either. We can't afford too many festivals over here in benighted Britain; people would want time off work MG

Bleedin' 'ell! MG

How is Prelude? There's a copy in one of my locals that is going for a reasonable price. The title track is fairly portentous, but I quite like it. The rest of the album swings very nicely. Not my favourite McDuff by a long chalk (but I have so many), but one I always listen to with great enjoyment. MG MG

I don't think I said anything about consumption being unproductive. Greater expenditure meets diminishing returns in terms of its welfare effect (this is what the Economist article correctly argues) and therefore can be avoided without serious welfare loss when there is a crisis; so it's unreliable and therefore contributes to instability. MG

And to you, Ghost. Though I've already got my Hampton Mosaic MG

Vocalion was a record label started up in the US in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano company. It was taken over in 1924 by Brunswick-Balke-Callender, who ran it as their budget label. Brunswick and Vocalion records were sold to Warner Bros in 1930, who sold the labels to ARC in 1932. Brunswick became the main ARC label and Vocalion the main mid-price label. When ARC bought the very ailing Columbia/OkeH from Grigsby-Gronow in 1933, those labels were closed down in favour of Brunswick/Vocalion. When British Decca started its US subsidiary in 1934, Ted Lewis got Jack Kapp, who was the manager of Bruswick, to run the new company. ARC didn't know, but Kapp had signed most of the best Brunswick artists to himself, personally, rather than to Brunswick records. So those artists and their masters that had been recorded under those arrangements transferred to Decca. CBS bought ARC in 1939 and shut down Brunswick and Vocalion and revived the Columbia and OkeH labels. Brunswick-Balke-Callender remained in business (bowling alleys) and licensed the trademark Brunswick to WB, then ARC. In the early forties British Decca licensed the Brunswick trade mark from B-B-C; it's not known whether the agreement also included the Vocalion trademark, but I think it probably did. US Decca also licensed the Brunswick trademark for reissues (eventually it became an R&B company). So what you had, in the thirties, was a bunch of recordings originally issued on Brunswick and Vocalion, some of which passed into the ownership of CBS (Columbia), while others passed into the ownership of US Decca and became available to be reissued in Britain by British Decca. I don't know whether there would have been any Jo Stafford recordings among these as I don't know anything about her career. Incidentally, in the LP era, British Decca weren't using Vocalion as a budget label as far as I know. They began to use the trademark to replace Vogue in the early '60s. Material from Fantasy and Duke/Peacock (perhaps also some Contemporary albums) was issued on that label at the full price. This may have changed later. MG Just seen Chris' post above - I've got a couple of dates wrong.

Some Christmas vinyl Rev Cleophus Robinson - Christmas carols and good gospel - Peacock orig (just the carols' side) and some 45s Lowell Fulson - Lonesome Christmas pts 1 & 2 - Swingtime (Hollywood reissue) The Three Blazers - Merry Christmas baby/Lloyd Glenn - Sleigh bells - Exclusive (Hollywood reissue) Charles Brown - It's Christmas time/Christmas finds me lonely wanting you - King orig Charles Brown - Please come home for Christmas/Amos Milburn - Christms (comes but once a year) - King orig Charles Brown - Merry Christmas baby/Please come home for Christmas - Jewel ('60s rerecordings) MG

I used to have Ernest Bloch's violin concerto by Yehudi Menuhin when I had classical records - it was one of my favourites. Vaughan-Williams ripped it off for his own violin concerto (not recommended) a few years later. MG

Ah, those sound interesting. Thanks Steve. MG

Yes well, coming to this late, I have a different perspective from you. And I think I listened to more recent stuff than the first album, anyway. So I won't say you're wrong. MG

Well, of course, Brownie doesn't post there. Another illustration of what we're soon going to miss. MG

Many happy returns, Aloc. You keep us interested in so many odd things! MG

Dizzy Gillespie - Bahiana - Pablo UK Leo Parker - Rollin' with Leo - BN DMM Charlie Parker - Bird symbols (Dial material) - Summit UK - (Bird of paradise must be the sunniest recording ever - after 40 odd years, it STILL puts a smile on my face.) MG

Leroy Vinegar - Leroy walks - Contemporary (Fantasy pressing) Harold Land - Harold in the land of jazz - Contemporary (Boplicity) Hampton Hawes - The Sermon - Contemporary (Fantasy) MG

I missed that thread (although I don't need to read it to know you've broad tastes, and a good deal more knowledge than I in certain areas) - please link so I can enjoy it! MG

Remember, Motown is "hackass" because they sold a lot of records and are beloved by all. Nothing that gains wide acceptance can possibly be good, because (as we all know so well) people are stupid and have terrible taste. Only rare individuals - such as clem - have the ability to separate the wheat from the chaff. The rest of us, alas, are far too stupid. We (chuckle) actually believe that we LIKE things. We think that because things *sound* good to us, that we actually enjoy them. Foolish, foolish us! So remember, kids...daddy edc knows best! It's funny the way one reads words. To you, "hackass Motown sounds" seems to mean that Motown was a hackass company. To me, it means the hackass sounds created by Motown. Motown started out doing some pretty interesting stuff. Then, in late 1963, they found a formula, based on great records like "Heat wave" and "Can I get a witness". By '64, the formula was THE thing that Motown was doing - the music became generally unexciting (though with more than a few great things like "Bernadette" and "Shotgun" poking through) until Norman Whitfield got on the scene and broke that mould (and maybe created a new one) - then Marvin Gaye, then Stevie Wonder, then Rick James. Motown wasn't a hackass company but a hell of a lot of that late '60s stuff of theirs was. And it was widely imitated. The thing that was really "hackass" about it was that it COULD be widely and easily imitated. MG

Thanks Chuck - never come across them, though I've heard the name. Gimme a chance to get better acquainted with Millinder, though MG

Hm, time for my New Year order. MG

Yes. I've always been greatly in favour of music developed from the bottom up, by the audience. Anything else smacks to me of someone in authority - be it a genius like Coltrane or Parker, or an insufficiently anonymous A&R man like Mitch Miller or Norrie Paramor - telling me what I should be listening to; and I resent that. And that's what this stuff is, too. MG How do you figure that? Who is this "authority"? Daptone is an independent lable! Who is stuffing Sharon Jones down our throats? Who? Is this because the Dap Kings have become a cause-celebre thanks to Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse? I don't know who Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson are, except that I've read a little bit about them in the thread. I made no mention of anyone stuffing anything down my throat. Or yours. What I'm talking about is the creation of what's deemed, by someone who has access in the way that most members of the audience haven't, to be quality. It's all very well saying, "good is good" but, if one isn't particularly interested in "good", it don't cut no ice. I'm not interested in what's good, though it's useful to know about, so much as what comes up from the audience - and that's what excites me. A lot of it isn't good. And a lot of it is. But I don't prefer either to the other. Quality is irrelevant (except when I feel like it ) MG

Having an Impulsive evening Pharoah Sanders - Black unity - 1980s German issue Pharoah Sanders - Thembi - orig Pharoah Sanders - Karma - 1960s French issue John Coltrane - Live at Birdland - Jasmine UK John Coltrane - Crescent - Jasmine UK MG

Gorblesher young master! I hadn't tried to work out what was on these CDs. I'm most grateful for your knowledge of this underrated band. MG

Yes. I've always been greatly in favour of music developed from the bottom up, by the audience. Anything else smacks to me of someone in authority - be it a genius like Coltrane or Parker, or an insufficiently anonymous A&R man like Mitch Miller or Norrie Paramor - telling me what I should be listening to; and I resent that. And that's what this stuff is, too. MG