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The Magnificent Goldberg

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Everything posted by The Magnificent Goldberg

  1. I got to level 11. Generally, I wasn't much good on Australia, crap on US & Canada, and ACE on Africa Like Brownie, I'd like a bigger map. I think the colours aren't as helpful as they might be also. MG
  2. Arnold Richie Cunningham Fonzie
  3. Steve Segal Joe Segal Johnathan Livingstone Seagull
  4. T-Bone Walker I Want A Little Girl, Delmark 633, was originally a Black & Blue release. Bandmates are Hal Singer, Georges Arvanitas, Jackie Samson and S P Leary. Thanks Chuck. MG
  5. You're right, but I don't think anyone has been saying that Aretha is "just another soul singer". Clearly, she was one of the few performers who was completely representative of her audience and at the same time a great artist who could go way beyond that. In post-war black music, she's a member of a club whose other members may be as limited as L Jordan, R Charles, J Brown, N Cole and, perhaps, G Clinton (though I wouldn't wish to get into an argument about that). But I don't cut any of those guys any slack when it comes to appreciating their music, or deciding whether to buy it, and I don't for Ree (though I do for Grant Green, Les McCann, Ouza, Fallou Dieng, Jimmy McGriff, Jug, Lou Donaldson, Sekouba Bambino and lots of others, so I can understand why people DO for others and just don't feel it necessary to be terribly consistent in this). MG
  6. Inez Andrews - Live at the Munich Gospel Festival - ABC Songbird orig (actually recorded in 1965 in Bremen and part issued in Germany on Fontana) MG
  7. That one has been reissued by Lonehill, coupled with "Intermission riff", a 1951 Shrine Auditorium gig that was previously out on Pablo. Damn fine coupling if you ask me. MG Thank you for the hint, I was not aware of this reissue. I am not familiar with the 1951 session though. That 1951 gig is very, very, good. Has Jaws on it and Jaws & Criss together is something that has to be heard! Also Joe Newman (tp), Bennie Green (tb), Bobby Tucker (p), Tommy Potter (b), Kenny Clarke (d). Gentlemen, we have lift-off! MG
  8. Hi SS, where yer bin? And some Freddie Roach - though the only one I haven't got on CD is "Mo greens pliz" and I mean to get a TOCJ soonish. MG
  9. Good list, though "Cosmos" isn't that good. Perhaps a reissue could wipe out the backing vocalists, though Ronnie Foster, too. And McGriff's "Black pearl" - which could be made into a twofer with the McGriff/Jr Parker "Chicken fried soul" which I think was recorded at the same gig and issued on UA. I've done a twofer of it for myself and it feels great. MG
  10. Well...yes and no. If you want evaluate the music purely as "music" and eliminate all context provided by "person" (and you can), then yeah. But how do you evaluate an "Aretha Franklin Gospel Album" without considering that it is Aretha Franklin? And even if you can, does that create a real or less real picture of what the music "is"? It's like The Beatles - like it or not, whether it "should" or "shouldn't" be like that, The Beatles are THE BEATLES and will be until history fades to a point where nobody knows anything about them except the sounds coming outta the records. And will such a time ever come without some major, probably malevolently inspired, revising of history? Like it or not, an "Aretha Franklin Gospel Album" comes with a lot of backstory. Of course, almost all music does (I mean, just reading the AMG bio of Steam sent my jaw dropping...), but certain entities, and Aretha is one of them, carry a backstory that you almost have to will yourself into ignoring to ignore. And yeah, sure, that's a good thing for a little while, but how....real is it, really? Not in terms of assessing "talent" or anything like this, but in terms of knowing just where this fits in the "real world" scheme of things. EDC made the point a few months ago that by the time The Beatles released the "White Album" that they were no longer "relevant". To which I countered (and still believe) that you can't be The Most Popular And Respected And Influential Band In the World and be irrelevant. It just don't work that way, not in The Macroculture of The Popular Arena. We can all create our own little Personal Comfortable Microverses, but if we do so pretending that The Macroculture of The Popular Arena does not exist, or that it is somehow "meaningless", then we are kidding ourselves big time. Now sure, Aretha's Gospel work has been good-to-great, and yeah, others have hit it harder and longer. But for every person that, say, Inez Andrews has "touched", Aretha has done the same 100 X (or more) over. So when Aretha makes a Gospel album like Amazing Grace, one that gets heard by a lot more people than would hear anything by Inez Andrews, how it does or doesn't copmpare to Inez Andrews' work is at once germane and totally, totally irrelevant, if for no other reason than what difference does it make to somebody who is moved/touched/whatever by Aretha's work who will never ever hear anything by Inez Andrews? Not what doffernce does it make to "us", what differnce does it make to them? I'm ok with co-exisiting in "my world" and "Popular Culture". Render unto Caesar, and all that. But attempting to reconcile them in such a way that one is ultimately "more real" than the other in comparison to anything but itself is a bit of fool's game, akin to playing baseball in a full swimming pool and thinking that the game will get easier as soon a the rain lets up. I think you're saying one of two things. 1 "Amazing grace" is different from other Gospel albums because it's Aretha and she can reach far more people than regular Gospel singers can. I'm not sure that's true; million selling Gospel albums are not all that rare. Gospel sells a whole lot better than is generally thought to be the case because only a third of Gospel records are sold in record shops (1/3 church, 1/3 Christian bookshops). 2 "Amazing grace" is different from other Gospel albums because it's Aretha and she can reach a different bunch of people from those whom regular Gospel singers can. Well, in many (most) cases that may be true, but it wouldn't apply to Mahalia, who also reached the parts other beers couldn't reach. Nor would it apply to the many Gospel singers/groups who've made big inroads into the R&B chart in the last several decades, of whom Kirk Franklin is probably the most celebrated, and whose work I'm sure you know. To me, just 'cos she was a Soul icon didn't mean that Ree got a free pass if she wanted to make a Gospel album, any more than she'd get one from you if she picked up a sax and started playing "Lonely woman" (or if she'd started singing the song). MG
  11. Henry Kissinger Frank Balinger The Jazz Messengers Willie Banks & the Messengers Robert Banks Robin Banks
  12. That one has been reissued by Lonehill, coupled with "Intermission riff", a 1951 Shrine Auditorium gig that was previously out on Pablo. Damn fine coupling if you ask me. MG
  13. where in Birmingham, I get to Solihull fairly frequently. Please post map. I went there in 1990, when I was on a training course in Birmingham, and bought some good stuff. Then I changed my job and didn't have a reason to return until 2002. I'd forgotten where it was, by then... MG A few days ago, I found I hadn't tken the label off one of my purchases from that place. It came from The Diskery Bromsgrove St Is that the same place with a different name? MG
  14. Wow! MG
  15. I'm about a third of the way through Paul Nugent's "Africa since independence" Interesting academic study, complete with the usual arguments between academics. But well written and illumines just how constrained many (most) of the politicians were who took their states out of colonialism - many, even some of the bad hats, seem to have made the least worst decisions under the circumstances. MG
  16. Phew! To paraphrase Syd Nathan; "ain't an album been made that's worth $89.99!" MG
  17. I'm about half way through the Gerald Wilson box. Longish time since I listened. Oh so nice! MG
  18. BFT 52 This is a very nice, mostly Latin, compilation, Mike. I’ve enjoyed almost all the tracks; though there’s been nothing that made me leap around the room, yelling. I’ve no idea who any of these players are, so I’ll be interested to see the lineups. 1 “Night and day”; Don’t know the singer, but she has a nice voice. I like this a lot! Keep waiting for the also sax solo, though. Is the singer playing drums at the end? 2 Piano intro to s steaming rhythm.It has a feel like Moacir Santos’ Blue Note album, but I don’t know whether it’s him or not. After the sax solo, it seems to become a bit disjointed. 3 This tune gives me a very strong Willie Bobo feeling. But the tenor player has a very angular quality to his solo that I DON’T associate with Bobo – and am not very keen on. Otherwise, this is a very pleasant track. 4 Good groove but I don’t like what they’re playing over it. All those dissonances are pretty hard to dance to. Tenor player really doesn’t swing at all. But the pianist seems right there – I like his solo a lot. Think I’d like to hear him in a more conventional Latin setting. Perhaps I have and just don’t recognise him in this context. 5 Piano trio with percussion – a nice easeful cut to follow the last. No fireworks, but I can imagine this has a good place in an album. 6 I seem to recognise this, but don’t really. Is the pianist the same one as on #4? Now THIS tenor player is swingin’ and wailin’! YAY!!!! 7 Strings, marimba, xylophone, clarinet(s) – very mixed bag. And there’s a German oom-pah band bit at the end of each chorus. This is a very friendly kind of cut. Bet it comes from a film. Oh, is that a tuba or euphonium solo towards the end? Oh, AND an organ!!! I assume this is called “Guajira”. Delightful! 8 Very tuff cut. Feels like it doesn’t want to be in 6/8 but it’s being forced. 9 Portentous intro. Very nice alto solo: strong, groovy player. Like the trumpet solo, too: quite like Blue Mitchell in places, very solid. Pianist doesn’t feel quite so comfortable as the other soloists; I have the feeling that he’s the leader, though. Strange… 10 Another portentous intro. Can’t say these intros actually grab me. Once it gets going, it’s fine. Nice brash trombonist. Very powerful arrangement. Bet this band is a killer in person! 11 Lush arrangement – makes me think of Henry Mancini. Unfortunately, it’s not Plas Johnson on tenor. Sounds like “Easy to love” sometimes – is it based on those chords? 12 What an odd little thing! Sounds like George Braith meets Pony Poindexter (I know it’s not that). 13 Another strange thing. This seems more African than Latin, but it’s not really African either. Sounds like an Arts Council job. 14 What? Swinging in 4 on this CD? Oh, it’s the singer from #1 again. Love the tenor player’s sly accompaniment. Can’t get this quite as much as “Night and day”. A very good programme overall, Mike – thanks very much. Looking forward to the revelations. MG
  19. On deck next! I've got that on Delmark vinyl (it was originally on the French Black & Blue Label). The CD cover is a lot nicer than the LP. Highly recommended! There was a T-Bone on (German) Polydor from about the same time, that I think Delmark issued in the US. Is that right, anyone know? MG
  20. Thanks folks. Context. Part 1. "Amazing grace" is a great album. But it has to be seen as a Gospel album. So how does it stack up against other Gospel albums of the period? - Inez Andrews' "The need of prayer" or "Lord, don't move my mountain"; The Jackson Southernaires' "Too late"; The Salem Travellers' "Tell it like it is", "Give me liberty or death", "Children gone astray"; Johnny Jones' "He walks with me, he talks to me"; "Rev Reuben Willingham's "I go to prepare a place"; "The Dixie Hummingbirds live". Well, it stacks up well against them - and many others. But it's not exceptional. Gospel music was in FINE shape in those days. And remained and remains so. For those who think that the be all and end all of Gospel is the classic quartets of the forties & fifties, I'm here to say that it isn't. Part 2. I referred earlier to the development work on Soul being done in the period 1959-62. Of course, there were earlier performances leading up to that period - some of Clyde McPhatter's work with Billy Ward & the Dominos; much of Ray Charles' work post December 1953; Little Willie John; Jackie Wilson & so on. But here's a bunch of stuff from the 1959-62 period that I thought at the time were doing more than showing the way forward; they were on that road, creating a popular music out of the broad idea of bringing Gospel music into R&B. End 1958 Jackie Wilson - Lonely teardrops (hm, written by Berry Gordy) 1959 Ray Charles - The right time Ray Charles - What'd I say Ray Charles - Drown in my own tears (live in Atlanta) The Drifters - There goes my baby The Shirelles - Dedicated to the one I love Isley Brothers - Shout 1960 Jackie Wilson - Doggin' around Jackie Wilson - A woman, a lover, a friend Bobby Marchan - There is something on your mind Etta Jones & Harvey Fuqua (oh yes!) - If I can't have you 1961 Gladys Knight & the Pips - Every beat of my heart Ben E King - Stand by me The Mar-Keys - Last night James Brown - Lost someone Ike & Tina Turner - It's gonna work out fine 1962 Solomon Burke - Cry to me Solomon Burke - Down in the valley/I'm hanging up my heart for you Booker T & the MGs - Green onions Etta James - Somethin's gotta hold on me The Falcons - I found a love The Falcons, at this time were: Wilson Pickett, Eddie Floyd, Sir Mack Rice, Joe Stubbs (Eli's bro) and Ben Night. The backing band was the Ohio Untouchables, later known as the Ohio Players. This was actually recorded in 1961, but didn't come out until 1962. (One could also add, from 1963, The Rivingtons' "Deep water", but I won't.) Ree didn't really go BEYOND what had been put down in that period (any more than Sonny Criss went beyond Charlie Parker). She was just surpassingly GOOD at it (as was Sonny Criss). But, unlike jazz, Soul music is very much a singles-oriented music; so there's much more unevenness in Ree's albums than in Sonny's. Finally; "A rose is still a rose" is a very good album, but I wouldn't agree with whatsisname that it's quite as good as "Young, gifted and black" - her tone is often slightly too whiney and sorry for herself. But, again, the title track is one of Ree's greatest performances (and Lauren Hill at that period was a killer). MG
  21. Bump, I'm back. I never said Ree wasn't great - just that not everything she did was great. No one seems to have disagreed with that. Got to say that JGW is someone I don't have enough albums of (only 4) - but you can't buy everything Also, why didn't anyone mention Irma Thomas while I was away? Irma Thomas, Irma Thomas, Irma Thomas. MG
  22. Preston Love Love Kiss
  23. This evening's LPs Pharoah Sanders - Heart is a melody - Theresa orig Bobby Timmons & Johnny Lytle - Workin' out - Prestige green label Dave Hubbard - Dave Hubbard - Mainstream orig Gene Ammons & Sonny Stitt - We'll be together again - Jazz Reactivation UK MG
  24. Hi all, I'm back and my PC is working fine now, so I AM a happy bunny! While my it's been out of action, I've found some nice cheapo compilations to fill some gaping holes in my collection in my local shop: They're all on the Blue Label label. Poor packaging, very nice sound, decent sleeve notes by Neil Slavin, but no discographical info whatever. Can anyone point me to online discogs of these three artists, please? MG
  25. My PC is going to the menders this morning. So it's an advance happy birthday from me, Brownie! MG
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