The Magnificent Goldberg

In alphabetical order Bar wars - Muse MCD6011 (oop) Gatorade - Prestige MPP2516 (oop) Nothin' butt - Muse MR5294 (oop) Single action - Muse MR5179 (oop) Star bag - Prestige PR7571 (oop) Thunderbird (part of "Keep on a blowin'" PR24218) But really, the only unsatisfactory Gator Tails are: "Plays around with the hits" - Trip; "Plays with feeling" - Cotillion; and "The way we were" - Atlantic. "Gator tails" - Verve - isn't too brilliant either - Creed Taylor and Claus Ogerman were REALLY not the right producer/arranger for Gator Tail (But it's not as bad as the others.) MG

Or is that too early? MG

We could put a note in our diaries for 2008. MG

More MG

YOU DA MANNNNN! MG

Nowt wrong with a bit of micromanagement - "Look after the pennies and the pounds wil take care of themselves". Old adage. But I don't think the writer's either fretting or micromanaging. I think this looks like advertising puff: promoting these different chains of restaurants/shops/whathaveyous by recycling their press notices. MG

Curtis Robinson Little Pig Robinson Nosnibor

I listened to the clips on the Mosaic site the other day and I wasn't impressed. Lift music as far as I could tell. Perhaps their live session might be a better place to start. I'm a big fan of the Jazz Crusaders but the live albums are their best work by a long chalk. MG

Seeing Andy's response to the Bobby "Boris" Pickett RIP thread reminded me of this. In the 1980s, a British radio DJ had a little segment of his programme, which was on at lunchtime, in which he'd get people to phone in and tell him about their "Claim to fame". These were meant to be humorous or tenuous - NOT REAL fame, as several people here can claim. Here are two from me, to get you started: In 1964, I bought Anne Nightingale's old Dansette record player. (For the non-British, Anne Nightingale was (maybe still is) a major league radio DJ over here. A Dansette was a cheap and nasty record player of the time.) I was unemployed when my previous record player broke down irretreivably, and had to get something second hand. My mother worked in a bar and put out the word. Anne Nightingale's brother was one of her customers and he sold me the Dansette, together with a heap of DJ sample 45s - all of which were utter shit! In 1997, I stayed in the same hotel (at the same time) as Alpha Blondy, the Reggae singer from Cote D'Ivoire. This was in Senegal. OK - get the idea? GO! MG PS - they DO have to be true, not fiction.

Interesting looking book. Thanks for posting that Guy. Had never given the extra-curricular affairs any thought at all, but it stands to reason that, just as it established a way of carrying on in public affairs, so it established a way of carrying on in (related) private matters, to which the world still adheres to this day. And I think "The" is part of the magazine title (though I haven't seen one since I retired). MG

My personal experience is that most of the popular songs that became jazz standards aren't really well-known here in Europe, certainly not among people around my age (nearing 30). With the exception of some Beatles tunes I really doubt my friend would recognize any of them except Summertime and possibly Autumn Leaves. Having said that, I'm certainly planning to do a compilation of some popular standards some other time. I just feel that when you don't know the original songs (and possibly even lyrics), they are harder to follow than a typical jazz tune, especially for someone new to jazz. Interesting point. I suspect it is a generation thing, rather than a European thing. These songs used to be on the radio all the time in the fifties and sixties, so people knew the words (more or less). As Chuck impliess, I think this was helpful in keeping jazz accessible to a wider audience (though other factors are also important). What about jazz interpretations of Soul music standards? MG

It reminds me of those "advertising programmes" they used to have in the early days of commercial TV in Britain, where a bunch of people would sit around and discuss, in flattering terms of course, a bunch of products. MG

Sonny Stitt Roost sessions discs 2 & 3 MG

Sweeny Todd Mike Todd Elizabeth Taylor

Gene Ludwig - Now's the time - Muse Milt Jackson - BN Lex Ave MG

Thanks. Just an ordinary cake/ice cream/sweets/coffee/tea shop, with great jazz. I was really surprised at how ubiquitous jazz was in places like this and not only in Tokyo; in Kanazawa and Nagoya too. MG

Today's mail brought me MG

Phil Upchurch - You can't sit down, pts 1 & 2 - Sue (UK) 45 reissue Someone (maybe Island) stamped the word "pyracoustic" on part 2. That's quite correct! MG

They're both real - do you mean the organist? MG

Here's a photo I took of a place near my hotel that I used to go ito for tea after a hard day's tourism in 2002. It's called "Tavern in the valley" and is in Ueno, Tokyo. The main business was obviously chocolates, cakes and ices, but there were also a few tables where you could sit and listen to the likes of Sonny Stitt and, most surprisingly, Pharoah Sanders. And you could smoke there, too! MG

First Hammond album I bought was Ray Charles' "Genius + Soul = Jazz". But before that came out on LP, I'd bought 45s. The first, I think, was Phil Upchurch's "You can't sit down" pts 1 & 2, in late 1960 or early 1961, which featured Cornell Muldrow on organ (whatever happened to him?), Mack Johnson on trumpet (I think he was later with James Brown), the great Bubba Brooks on tenor and Joe Hadrick, later with Gator Tail, on drums. Wow! And what a kick-ass record it is! (I'm on my second copy, as I broke the first by flexing it ) Gonna get it out and play it. MG

Mike Hugg Kiss The Squeeze

I can't remember exactly, but I think RVG worked out a weekly routine by which Prestige, Savoy and Blue Note used different days to record at his studio. If someone has the patience it shouldn't be too difficult to work out a RVG discography for, say, the mid-to-late 50s and see what his weeks were like. A hard job but someone had to do it, I guess F I've been in touch with someone writing a book about RVG's studios. It will include a complete listing by date of sessions. I understand Rudy let him copy the studio log books. Edit for stupid typo. Wow! THAT looks like an interesting read. MG

Portia Antonio Shylock

Aha! I didn't know there were alternative takes knocking around. I've only got the original takes issued on Red Lightnin' - with a paper cover glued onto the cardboard MG