The Magnificent Goldberg

Thanks Harold - that wasn't a thread I had followed. MG

That one's been on my want list for a long time - but low priority. I've got the album Henry Cain (and Genghis Kyle) made with Jack Wilson (no image on web that I can find), which I like a lot. It's called "The jazz organs" and is on Vault 108. Has this made your tongue hang out, Chewy? MG

I've been thinking about SA Jazz in the context of African music more generally. I'm not familiar with every type of music from Africa, but I do know a bit about many. One generalisation I feel fairly sure about is that, whether in West Africa, Central Africa or Southern Africa, music is widely regarded, by both audiences and musicians, as a way of carrying on politics. An interesting aspect of the repressive regimes of Ian Smith in (then) Rhodesia and the apartheid regime in SA was that despite the repression, music that was highly critical of those regimes was in fact permitted. Indeed, Chimurenga musicians like Thomas Mapfumo were a critical part of marshalling support on behalf of Robert Mugabe against the Smith regime. And Lucky Dube, to mention one SA Reggae singer whose work I know particularly well, recorded anti-Apartheid songs for years before that regime crumbled. Subsequently, his work shifted quite a way to the right; against, for example, affirmative action, and critical of Nelson Mandela. Given that these, and so many other, artists were able to continue their work and to use their music to fight Apartheid, I'm forced to wonder why so many SA jazzmen chose exile, rather than to stay and fight. It occurs to me that they did so because jazz is an inadequate music with which to carry on politics and that jazz musicians were, therefore, not capable of meeting the needs of their culture for politically activist music. So they moved to where the audiences weren't so fussy about what they listened to. This is really a question, not an answer. I'd like to know what people familiar with the scene think. MG

So what the heck is it? Who's it by? What label is it on? MG

Clem's gonna LOVE this post I picked up from AAJ That, it seems to me, is the veritable justification of most of what Clem's been saying. MG

Oh well, I'll mention it again, then George Freeman - Birth sign. MG

Didn't know that - wish Ubiquity had reissued this on CD, but it was only reissued on LP! Which tracks is Frazier on and which Earland? MG Acually, I DID know that - but I'd forgotten. Earland is on synth, Frazier on B3. Does Earland get more solo space? MG

Didn't know that - wish Ubiquity had reissued this on CD, but it was only reissued on LP! Which tracks is Frazier on and which Earland? MG

Ah yes - I've you'd shown a pic from "A man for all seasons", I'd have recognised him But, of course, it wouldn't have fitted. MG

Woody Guthrie Woody Herman Sun Ra

What's his name, Jim? MG

Big label. Pro studio. MG

Sir Christopher Wren The Golden Thrush The Stinger

Coleman Hawkins - Soul - Prestige OJC Harold Vick - Don't look back - Strata East George Braith - Musart - Prestige blue label MG

I assume you mean #5 & 6: no. And I was hoping you might be able to nail the sax player, who's not credited. MG Well....it frequently sounds like Fred Jackson as Fred Jackson sounded on Face To Face. Could it be? He's got all those Fred Jackson tricks down to a T. But his sound isn't as big as Fred's, it seems to me. The idea that I've toyed with affectionately down the years is that these may be the only recorded tenor solos of Fred Jackson Jr (plus another from the same LP). But I don't know. MG

And I posted a smile right after you! MG

Nope - but, though he's not very well known, he's surely from the same era. MG

Nope. Nope. MG

Sorry dude, that's an alto, if you mean to say that it's a tenor being played on this cut. Now if you mean to agree with me that it's a tenor player playing alto, yeah. But that's not a tenor being played on this cut, unless you're playing a 33 @ 45. But would the guitarist be another Mel? Brown, perhaps? I bow to your obvious expertise on the alto/tenor thing. Just listened to it again and, yes, it does sound like an alto playing in a certain way - actually, the tone is a bit like the guy on #11 of the bonus disc (though it isn't him - that's not a clue). So, there's a tenor player on this record and an alto player. But the alto player is kind of just part of the horn section, whereas the tenor player gets better billing, so I've always assumed it was the tenor player. If this is the alto player, well, I dunno. As far as I know, the tenor player didn't play alto on other recordings. Which doesn't mean he couldn't or didn't here. But the guitarist ain't Mel Brown, either. MG

I'm astounded you didn't get this. A few days ago, you posted something that made me feel sure you'd got this one. Oh bollocks (as it were...), that's Fathead on alto, isn't it. I can always get him on tenor right away, but on alto, for some reason, sometimes it takes a while. Weird... Nope. MG

Not Jordan. Singers would have given it away, I think. Vocal isn't sampled. All real musicians playing real instruments and singers really singing. This is there because it follows #13. All will be revealed... Glad you got a few things out of it, Jim. MG

Not Stuff Smith. Not a Chicago tenor, but recorded in Chicago. This is another refugee from the main disc. Not everyone's cup of tea. Oh, you are gonna kick yourself, Jim! Yep! I knew you'd get this one, too, because of Cabell. And I've been on about this album. This is why. MG

Yup! (Yay!) It's in there for the politics, not the music Another Yay! I don't think so - pianist not credited. Try for the tenor player. MG

Downloads not working for you SS1? I think I did something unsuitable for Mac users. Sorry. MG

Yep! You've got this then? So you know who the drummer is? And the organist? MG I don't remember offhand, but I think the organist is Don Pullen. Yep! MG