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The Magnificent Goldberg

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Everything posted by The Magnificent Goldberg

  1. "Soulville." And I agree, was disappointed when I got it at the time it came out. Just compare it to the way Webster sounds on Harry Edison's "Sweets," from about the same time. Uh oh... I am planning to order Soulville and Meets Oscar Peterson from yourmusic -- should I avoid? Guy Meets OP is the better date and I wouldn't avoid either. I am with Chuck on this I guess, I like them both very much and don't prefer either one - but I guess I just like Ben Webster. Get both of them, both are fine, in fact "Meets OP" is more than fine, one of my favourite Webster albums! Remember, it's just the disappointed expectations this thread is about, not about an album actually being bad (at least I didn't want to say any of the ones I listed were bad, they merely did not meet my personnal expectations). You know, Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster was the first of these Granz retro thingies I heard, probably among my first 25 or so jazz CDs (and I knew it from the library before). I still love that one very, very much "La Rosita", "Prisoner of Love"... what they do there is likely a lost art by now and I feel it has to be treasured! So "Soulville" not meeting my expectations has nothing to do with when I came to jazz (early to mid 90s, I was born at the very end of the 70s), but rather that - similar to "Side by Side" vs. "Back to Back" - the "place" for such an album as "Soulville" had already been occupied for a long time by "Encounters" (I also prefer that one over "Genius of Coleman Hawkins" and "Webster Meets O.P.", btw), and I didn't feel like having to change my perception in this case... Ubu - you've got that bang to rights. This thread is much more about YOU and your perceptions/expectations than it is about finding "bad" recordings. And, as you point out, that's more conditioned by what you've previously encountered than necessarily when you first started listening to jazz (though that may have a bearing on the matter of what). MG
  2. I guess with hardbop, as with a lot of free music too, I do feel diminishing returns are (and have been) a more regular outcome than they "should" be. For me, it's certainly not a matter of "concept" (that often works only insofar as the concept is played out), and I do feel that there are a lot of gems within hardbop, free jazz, and whatever else. Maybe I'm confusing consistency with sameness, or maybe I just have a tin ear. I just meant that w/Silver, the consistency/sameness/etc/whatever is the result of having actually had a traditional "career", which has afforded him the opportunity to actually do what it is that he does in a way that has allowed him to evolve, slowly but surely. Sure, it is all "the same thing", but many a Horace Silver song from, say, 1967 is going to be different in some subtle but still real ways from a Horace Silver song from 1957, and you can say the same thing about the songs from 1977 in relation to the songs from 1967, and so on. On those "Silver 'n'..." albums of the '70s, yeah, you get "gimmicky" concepts. sometimes less than fully inspired soloing, and on the whole I'd feel better about buying them all at once rather than as individual albums, if you know what I mean, but the writing on those albums is definitely more advanced and evolved than it was 10 or 20 years earlier, and Horace has always been first and foremost about the writing. Silver's one of those guys who built their house early on and have lived in it ever since, but unlike some, he's kept that house inviting, interesting, and changing in ways that don't involve wholesale rebuilding. I think there's a place for that, not just in music but in life in general. The "drama" of radical change is correctly appreciated & celebrated, but the perhaps more "natural" course of slow but steady evolution might, might be less appreciated than it should be. I think it might have something to do with how we see our lives in terms of time. Sometimes we feel that life is too damn short, so we better get it all done asap, so let's not linger too long on any one thing once we get it down. But some folks look at it like this is our life, it's one of many both now, then, and tomorrow, so the best thing to do is to stake a claim to a place in it and make it as good as it can be for the duration. Far be it from me to claim "superiority" for either POV, because I'd be a hypocrite either way. All I'm saying is that there's a difference between literally doing the same thing over and over and doing the same "thing" over and over but continously finding new slants, possibilities, and implications in it over the course of time. I think that Silver's taken the latter course, and if he's found fewer "new" things over the last 15-20 years, well, that's natural too. You don't go to your grandma's house to see her new HD tv, ya' know? You go for the comfort, the warmth of things remembered, and that twinkle in the eyes that tells you that life is still a groove in spite of it all. Now, if and when grandma loses any or all of those things, yeah, that's a drag, but as long as she keeps going with that spirit, you still gotta love her, and not just because she's your grandma. You love her because she's lived and built a life that's been both constant and warm. You don't always get that combination of consistency and warmth in the same package (in fact, you seldom get it), but when you do, ain't it a groove? And don't it give you the power & confidence to live maybe a little/lot differently yourself, knowing that somebody's got that ground covered, and covered well? That's right - I remember a review of "Cape Verdean blues" - can't remember if it was Down Beat or Jazz Journal - remarking that Horace was still doing the same things then as he had been a decade earlier, but that now it sounded avant garde. Part of that was having much more aggressively modern musicians like Henderson and Shaw in the band, I think, but "African queen" sounds to me much less like Horace's catchy tunes of the '50s and much more concentrating on the groove of the thing. Horace was never about great musical revolutions anyway. He moved with the times and reflected them rather well, I thought. The only trouble I find with some of his stuff is that I don't like Andy Bey's voice very much. But I CAN put up with it... I still find a lot of interest in Horace's recent things, such of them as I've not forgotten to pick up - "Pencil packing papa" is full of good feelings - particularly "Red beans and rice". And I love the general concept of "Rocking with Rachmaninoff" - and how could anyone resist a title like that? MG
  3. Ira Gershwin Oscar Hammerstein Oscar Hammerstein II
  4. Houston Person - Blue odyssey - Prestige blue label Gene Ammons - Gentle Jug (Nice 'n cool/Soulful moods) - Prestige twofer MG
  5. Rev David Shepherd James Baker Thomas Cook
  6. TOny Curtis King Curtis Curtis Robinson
  7. I'm sure it is - that's what makes it so strange that his records are excluded. 100 discs IS a lot - and including Whiteman would have added another 10 CDs. MG
  8. Ike Carpenter Margaret Thatcher Plummer Davis
  9. Re "Paris blues", I think maybe the problem is that the cuts go on for too long. It seems to me that the essence of Horace's skill was immediate impact and tunes that go on for so long slightly diffuse the impact - regardless of the content of the solos themselves. MG
  10. Bailo Sylla Ibrahima Sylla Ibrahima Soumano
  11. Just had a look at the latest set of results. It seems that it's a marginal choice between "Song for my father"; "Cape Verdean blues" and "Jazz Messengers", with all the others right out of it. But, except for "Blue Silver", which I haven't heard, I love all of the listed Silvers and the choice between any of them is marginal; as well as between them and "Blowin' the blues away", "Finger poppin'", "Tokyo blues", "Serenade to a soul sister", "Six pieces of Silver", "Further explorations", "Jody grind" and "The stylings of Silver". Each one, with whatever band, has wonderful, unique, recordings which really get to me. I've never PLANNED buying Horace's albums, because there really is so little to choose between them - I've always just bought what came to hand when I had the money and felt like a new chunk of Silver. Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. MG
  12. Hadja Soumano Sabre Soumano Oumou Sinayogo
  13. What a coinicidence - just now that we are talkin' about him! R.I.P. I will spin some later today. I feel awful about that. RIP Bruno. MG
  14. Yeah, OK - I shall be equipped by then - barring the whole of South Wales falling into the Bristol Channel, or something like that. MG
  15. Just noticed that the list price was $16.98. Still don't understand about the 7c. Will get this anyway. Haven't missed a Newman album yet. MG
  16. Adrian Mole Miff Mole Molesworth
  17. I wish I had those! MG Have you checked Amazon Marketplace? I'd be really surprised if the latter two aren't there, at very reasonable prices. You're probably right. At the moment, however, that kind of thing's a bit off my agenda, which is heading off towards Africa. I'll no doubt return to it later in the year. MG
  18. Wow! Thanks for posting this. Also Wow! CD Universe's sale price is 7c off the recommended! Why? MG
  19. You mean, so she can read the sleeve notes? MG
  20. I love "Back to back", too. But I always thought that "Side by side" wouldn't be nearly as good, so I never bothered with it. Looks like I may have been right. MG
  21. Rudy van Gelder Ernest van Trease Teacho Wiltshire
  22. I wish I had those! MG
  23. I think the concert as a whole was disappointing (should have added it to my list), but I really like D&CiB. Guy An interesting opinion, Guy. And one that I agree with, BTW. I still find it odd how many folks point out that that performance at Newport somewhat reinvigorated Ellingtons career. Aside from that one tune and legendary solo, the rest of the set seemed rather uninspired. "Ellington at Newport" was Duke's first album to hit the pop LP charts. At that time, he hadn't had a hit single for several years. "Reinvigorate" doesn't necessarily mean artistically. With a business such as Duke's band, getting paid is tremendously important in what else it permits you to do. MG
  24. The Soul Sisters The Soul Brothers Jackie Mittoo
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