The Magnificent Goldberg

MG, you don't have the full story there. By the time that album was recorded Amos Milburn had had a stroke and was unable to use his left hand (which would leave anybody just a shadow of his former self). At the recording session Amos Milburn played the right hand and Johnny Otis played the left-hand part. Trying to make with what they were able to do but for a noble cause, considering the circumstances. Yes, I knew that. But it's still so sad I couldn't keep it. Les McCann had a stroke too, but it didn't leave him nearly so incapacitated as Amos. Saw him with Cornell Dupree and Ronnie Cuber a few years ago and Les was STILL playing effective music and cheerful. And Jim, yes, that's the sleeve of the America issue of 'Ponderin''. MG

The Sunset Travelers (with whom OV Wright used to sing) The Pilgrim Travelers The Pilgrim Fathers

prob. Warren Bernhardt (el-p); Jimmy Ponder (g); Ron Carter (b); Ben Dixon (d). b. Visions (Jimmy Ponder) prob. Warren Bernhardt (p); Jimmy Ponder (g); Ron Carter (b); Ben Dixon (d). c. Ponder'n (Jimmy Ponder) d. Blues Bag (prob. Jimmy Ponder) e. All Blues (Miles Davis) Note: LRC CDC 9031 [CD] indicates that Jimmy McGriff plays organ on "Seven Minds," "Visions" and "Blues Bag" although no organ is heard on these titles. It is unlikely that Jimmy McGriff participates here at all. Issues: a-e on 51 West Q16118 Samplers: a-e also on I Giganti Del Jazz (It) GJ-28 titled I GIGANTI DEL JAZZ. a also on LRC 20010 [CD] titled LRC JAZZ LEGACY ANTHOLOGY and LRC 20012 [CD] titled A KISS TO BUILD A DREAM ON: LRC JAZZ LEGACY ANTHOLOGY. a, b & d also on LRC CDC 9031 [CD] titled JIMMY PONDER. Producer: (not listed, probably Sonny Lester) The post-Groove Merchant activities of Sonny Lester are quite, um, curious. This Italian series, LRC, Laserlight (which ,they all contained live material of "questionable" origin as well as material that was more obviously his own work, but even at the, there would be these Jones-Lewis things from the Solid State days that he no longer had appeared to have the rights to. Oh yeah - there were two series of I Giganti Del Jazz, the ones with the black covers, and the ones with the white covers. It's the series with the white covers that seem to draw heavily on Lester material Never seen, nor heard of, that one. Tracks a, b & c are on one side of the America release, which I got in 1985. The other side has 3 cuts from 'All things are beautiful' - which is rather a waste of time. Oh, if you happen to run into the Amos Milburn Blues Spectrum, consider deeply first if you want to hear a guy who's plainly lost pretty well everything he had - and he had a GREAT deal. It was so sad to hear it I got rid of it after one listen. MG

Teddy Brannon Brand Charles Earland

C.L.A.W.S (Cat Lovers Animal Welfare Society) Nails Inc Coupe Cloue

Bamber Gascoigne Bambi Pebbles

I picked a bundle of them up on LP some years ago John - and also some of those 'Gold' series releases - part of a nice old collection. When the Xanadus came out I recall it being a very lean time in general for straight jazz. Other than Jazz Journal doing reviews of them, they pretty much slipped under the radar. Mole Jazz had 'em, of course. I got several, but the only ones I kept were the Teddy Edwards and the first Ronnie Cuber. The rest were too much like jazz for me. MG Yes - I remember seeing them in the racks at Mole. Not cheap either at the time I recall - £5 or £6 a shot. I don't recall the price but, at the time I bought them - Feb and Apr 1978 - I was not terribly well off. I see I got them by mail order from Mole Jazz, the Cuber in a batch of 6, the Edwards in a batch of 4. Seems unlikely I'd have been able to have afforded to have paid that much. But this WAS 2 years after issue, so maybe Mole was already trying to ditch stuff by then? MG

Benny Carter, Montreux '77 (Pablo) Basie & Zoot (Pablo) Jo Jones, The Main Man (Pablo) Big Joe Turner, In the Evening (Pablo) Big Joe Turner, Things That I Used to Do (Pablo) Bob Thiele & His Orchestra, I Saw Pinetop Spit Blood (Flying Dutchman) Dave Alexander, The Rattler (Arhoolie) Peppermint Harris Featuring Albert Collins, Houston Can't Be Heaven (Ace) The Soul Jazz Giants (Prestige - a bunch of 'previously unissued' tracks that I am sure showed up on OJC CD reissues of the original LPs but I couldn't ignore the price) Jazz Messengers '70 (Catalyst) Earl King & Roomful of Blues, Glazed (Blacktop) Joe Liggins, Great Rhythm and Blues Oldies (Blues Spectrum) Big Joe Turner & Roomful of Blues, Blues Train (Muse) and a bunch of those cheap-looking Il Giganti Del Jazz issues, some of which seem to be grey-market reissues of studio LPs and others are (perhaps) rare live recordings: Jay McShann/T-Bone Walker/Sammy Price (#59) - Are these Black & Blue label recordings? Howard McGhee/James Moody/Zoot Sims - this one is live Lucky Thompson/Cedar Walton/Sam Jones/Louis Hayes (#31) Jimmy Ponder (#28) - this appears to be his Ponderin' album Almost all of what I picked up were $3-$5 and everything was anywhere from VG++ to NM or sealed so I think I did quite well. Thanks to everyone for their birthday wishes. And edit to add: One of the record shops also had a book selection and I found The Sound of Soul by Phyl Garland. Doing a little googling I found out she wrote the liners for Big John Patton, Let 'Em Roll and Jackie McLean's Right Now. That Joe Liggins is a VERY nice album - quite the best of the Blues Spectrum LPs I've got or had. The Ponder MIGHT be 'Ponderin'', or might be 'All things are beautiful'. Half of 'Ponderin'' was the same as half of 'All things are beautiful. I never came across an original issue of 'Ponderin'' except maybe on America - a French label - but it's weird to think of a Sonny Lester album making its first appearance on a French label. Though there was a McGriff from GM issued simultaneously on America... MG

John Paul Hart Jean-Paul Belmondo Dion

I picked a bundle of them up on LP some years ago John - and also some of those 'Gold' series releases - part of a nice old collection. When the Xanadus came out I recall it being a very lean time in general for straight jazz. Other than Jazz Journal doing reviews of them, they pretty much slipped under the radar. Mole Jazz had 'em, of course. I got several, but the only ones I kept were the Teddy Edwards and the first Ronnie Cuber. The rest were too much like jazz for me. MG

I have 'Inimitable Teddy Edwards' on Xanadu. I wasn't aware it had ever come out beforehand on Muse. It's not listed in the Muse release list I picked up from somewhere - Mike Fitzgerald it sez on the top of the page - on the web years ago. The only of Teddy's albums in that list are 'Feelin's' and 'Horn to horn' with Houston Person (Muse 5540, 1994). But the latter was a Houston Person production, of course. MG

The Crankies Spanky and Our Gang Emily Pankhurst

Modesty Blaise Flaming Ember Arthur Brown

Volkswagen The Village People The Village Stompers

Yes - it's actually the King Curtis band of the time with Rudy Powell (who formerly played with Casey in Fats Waller's band) on alto instead of Curtis. And the icing on the cake is THE ONE AND ONLY HERMAN FOSTER on piano. This is the second appearance of this album in one of my BFTs I've had it since '69 and it's one of my all time favourite albums. MG

The Yeti Cookie Monster Ed Byrne

Glad it was a great one, Dan. What vinyl did you score? MG

Nope! There IS a sting in that tail, however. MG

Grand Union Canal Otis Grand US Bonds img]http://images.45cat.com/gary-us-bonds-new-orleans-legrand-2.jpg

Quite right, 'Blue feelin'' it is! It was the B side of 'Rock and Roll music'. #13 - not Carter on alto. You SHOULD love the drummer. #16 - right again! It's Al Casey. You should know the alto player, who was associated with him for a long time. The others... well probably not. MG

Sounds Incorporated Funk Inc BMI

Peter Perfect The Purple Hand Gang Beefy Bert's Dad

Steve Shill The Centurion Martin Scorsese

Betty's Not A Vitamin Norman Petty J Paul Getty

Very much agreed. IMO, Alderson spoiled a bunch of otherwise excellent Prestige albums. I've never understood why Schlitten employed him so often. Maybe his studio time came cheap. Bob Porter told me Don used Alderson because Rudy wouldn't let him smoke Mary Jane in his studio MG Teddy Edwards' 'Feelins' was originally issued on Muse. Of the two, I find it a LOT more lovable than 'The inimitable'. That's very good with a very nice chunk of unaccompanied Teddy introducing 'Stella by starlight', marred on my copy by a pressing bugger-up or something (so I've never ripped it and I'll pick that one up). But 'Feelin's just got me for ever. Be interested to know if the CD version is markedly better than a rip on modest/poor equipment That is - is a CD rip better than/worse than/similar to a vinyl rip on standard laptop speakers? MG