The Magnificent Goldberg

Oh, all right, I give up. Which series? MG

Zippy George Bungle

I didn't know that, Jim. Sorry to hear it. The Turrentine is the only one of those I've got. I'm not disposing of that unless the two other wise unissued sides are issued as a double conn with "New time shuffle". MG

Because Don Schlitten was a producer with a clear vision, at least when it came to music. Not quite - I've been told he wouldn't use RVG's studio because Rudy let him smoke marijuana. which is why most of his productions are engineered by Richard Alderson, who didn't mind. MG

Yukkk! MG PS, of course, we're men - what are the ladies' like in US department stores?

What we know is that UA Records, which was part of a financial services (I think) firm, TransAmerica, was the subject of an MBO in the mid '70s. Sweet Lou - Lou Donaldson (#259) was manufactured by UA Records Inc 1974 Stepping into tomorrow - Donald Byrd (#368) was manufactured by UA Music and Records Group Inc 1975 I don't have any BN (or other UA labels) vinyl between these numbers, so I don't precisely know when the changeover occurred. However, the first of the twofer reissues was this BN356H2. This was the BN issue immediately preceding "Steppin' into tomorrow", so the odds are pretty long that it was issued by the firm after the MBO. There are no previously unissued tracks on this compilation. Gokudo has a complete set of BN LP sleeves up to 945 ("Sterling silver"), the last BN before the Rainbow sleeves Jazz Classics series, which starts at 987 ("Sonic boom") here http://www.gokudo.co.jp/Record/BlueNote5/index.htm (It takes ages for the page to load.) I greatly regret that Gokudo hasn't included the LT series. There seem to have been 3 types of cheap sleeves: the (horrible) coloured dots on black; the brown paper bags; then the rainbow issues. Charles Lourie (now one of the partners in Mosaic, I think) was running BN at the time and MC approached him with a business plan for reissues, which evidently went ahead after the MBO. The business plan obviously required cheap sleeve design. No big surprises there! MG

You'd be surprised how many birthdays are the result of fat-fingering... Ooooooooo!!!! MG

(I can't find the John Patton corner thread, so I'm posting this as a new thread.) Here’s a strange thing about Big John – he never had a hit album as a leader. What’s strange about this is that his BN career, in which he made what really sound (and sounded to us back in the day) like the funkiest and most commercial organ albums ever, was the period in which jazz organists were having a very good time on the pop and R&B charts. I thought I’d check on this. It took me longer than I’d expected: from May 1962 (when “Natural soul” was recorded) to the end of 1970, 72 albums led by, or featuring prominently, jazz organists made the Billboard pop or R&B album charts. That’s about 8 albums a year. I've excluded vocals and a few doubtful ones: I don't know which Earl Grant albums were vocals and which instrumentals; and some like "Mean greens" by Eddie Harris, on which Sonny Phillips only played on a few cuts. So this is a fairly conservative list. I’m not going to list them but here’s a summary: Billy Larkin & the Delegates 1 Brian Auger 1 Charles Earland 2 Don Patterson 1 George Benson (feat Charles Covington) 1 Grant Green 2 Houston Person 1 Jack McDuff 8 James Brown (organ stuff) 6 Jimmy McGriff 5 Jimmy Smith 26 Johnny Lytle 1 Lonnie Smith 2 Lou Donaldson 7 Odell Brown 2 Groove Holmes 4 Sonny Stitt 1 Walter Wanderley 1 Now you’d have thought, looking at that list, that there’d be room for at least “Along came John” or “Got a good thing goin’”, wouldn’t you? "Natural soul" was a hit album and that's the nearest Big John ever came. Anyone got any ideas about this? MG

Frederick the Great Fred Jackson Freddie Roach

I’m surprised at that. I can’t find all the King sleeves I was looking for on the web. But these two are pretty good, I think. Just as good are the sleeves for “Oleo” and “Gooden’s corner”, by the same artist. MG

Have a good 'un, Eric. MG

I got almost all my Kings from Mole - by mail order. I luvvem! It wasn't just the artwork; the pressings seemed to be very good quality - kind of like real LPs, you know? The British equivalent of the LT series was the LBR series. They had different numbers. My copy of "Sonic boom" (LT987) is LBR1020. The tiny print at the bottom says it was issued by Liberty/United Records (UK) Ltd, under authorisation. The reverse of the sleeves is the same as the US issues, but the front is different. The pic is the same but the series is called "The jazz file" and is made out to look like a filing system. Now in 1979 THAT was naff and then some! The British and US pressings seem quite a bit thinner than the Kings. But when this stuff started coming out, starting with the twofers with the brown paper bag look, it was bloomin' wonderful! I mean, you just didn't care which versions you got! As soon as I saw one I bought it (a slight exaggeration - there were a few I didn't want). We had no idea in the late '70s that there were all these gems that had never been issued. MG

Many happy returns Jr - and many more of them. MG

Tony Snow Frank Sleet Marvin Rainwater

Well, I dunno - seems to me there's three elements to this. 1 Sources of information - we're talking about informal as well as formal info, here; not just confirmed release dates but anticipated releases. That implies someone close to the industry - in Japan, Europe, North America, South Africa and Australasia (and probably other places where jazz records are made). If not a someone, a consortium of someones. 2 Ease with the technology of running a site. 3 Willingness to a) slog the info into a reasonably standard form, and b) check reissues for whether they're as originally issued or have bonus tracks (and what the hell do you do about the multipliciy of Japanese editions?) To me, this doesn't really look like one person, retired or not, at all. Lord knows how Jazzmatazz was so good. MG Once it's up the first time, updating is work, but not that onerous. Informatyion on Japanese releases is SUPER easy to find, and Jazzmatazz didn't report terribly much on Japanese stuff. Nor did Jazzmatazz report AT ALL on South Africa, Australasia, or other basically non-markets where there is virtually no new product different from the main markets. Similarly, Jazzmatazz did not report hardly at all on UK or Eurpoean releases - in those markets, there is a bit of reissue stuff that comes out different from North America. Jazzmatazz did report on bonus tracks when they were known. This kind of stuff comes on new release announcements (solicitations) from record companies and distributors. Yes, it can be a bit of work keeping track of all the small labels, but once it's established, the information comes easily to the inbox and it's just an updating and sorting exercise. There are one or two posters on this board or AAJ, or both, who say that there's a very interesting jazz scene in Australia - a lot of free stuff - but that it's unknown elsewhere precisely because the releases aren't known about. South Africa has produced many jazzmen with international reputations and, of course, that doesn't happen without the existence of a whole range of other musicians supporting the music and providing "career progression". And lots of them do record - there are many more labels in SA than the international biggies and Gallo. As for Europe, I think, from my perspective and that of other Europeans, it's useful to know what is available in Europe, too. With a new release, whether a new or reissued album, one always wants to know where to get it cheaper, as a result of lower postage costs or no customs dues, or more quickly. But if the country of issue isn't noted, that's difficult. And there are labels like Lonehill, Black & Blue etc which are pretty important. Perhaps all this is a council of perfection... MG

Perez Prado Perry Mason Perry Como

The United page is very interesting to a layman. Thanks for posting this Eric. MG

That's beautiful, Mark. MG

Try listening again to "Tumbling tumbleweed". MG

Heinz Bongartz Constantin Silvestri Karel Ancerl

Sonny Stitt box disc 9 MG

Houston Person - Pure pleasure - Mercury orig - a wonderful disco disc! MG

Struth! I didn't think that Genesis link was serious! Have to say I'm now PLEASED you're not comiing anywhere near here, with your train of pop musicians. "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium". MG

You're seeing all these stadia but not coming to Cardff to see the Milennium Stadium, where the Cup Final is held? Ach avee (phonetic) as they say hereabouts. MG

Ozzie Osborne Phineas Newborn Phileas Fogg