The Magnificent Goldberg

Evelyn 'Champagne' King King Curtis Harold Ousley

I remembered over dinner that Jackie Mills was on Jimmy McGriff's first LP - 'I got a woman' and Freddie Roach's 'The soul book'. Very nice album. Thanks Jim. MG

Never heard this album. But I should have, as I have the wonderful 'Heart and soul'. I forget what it is I have with Jackie Mills; something, he's not perfectly unknown to me. Anyway, downloading this from Amazon as I type. Thanks Jim. MG

Here we go, then 1 Oh this is Mrs Armstrong’s little boy and his Hot Five or seven or six with ‘West End blues’. And Mr Heinz on piano. Louis started so much that just went on and on; even ‘sock it to me’ in this cut. 2 Billie Holiday, ‘Miss Brown to you’ and is that Teddy Wislon on piano? I don’t think this is on my Hep CDs of Wilson’s thirties recordings for Brunswick/Columbia. It’s nice. (Later – yes, it’s in the Hep series. Oh well.) Goodness me, I didn’t think I’d get 2 straight off. Can’t last. 3 Must be Django and Stephane. I bought an Earl Hines/Stephane Grapelli LP a few months ago and was knocked out by the grace with which Stephane played on it (well, and Earl, too, which I hadn’t suspected from earlier stuff; though, just listening again to ‘West End blues’ I realised that I should have) so I think I ought to start getting into Django/Stephane. I hope you make a serious recommendation with the reveal. 4 ‘Lady be good’ – I’m really not sure who the musicians are but I’ll hazard a guess at Lester Young on guitar, Nat Cole on trumpet…. Actually, the pianist really does sound a good bit like Cole, which doesn’t mean I’m right about the guitarist. 5 ‘St Louis Blues’ I can’t tell those old lady blues singers apart; never have been able to, no matter how I try. As you reckon these are easy, I’ll guess that Louis Armstrong’s on trumpet or cornet and that the singer may be Bessie Smith. 6 Hamp! Illinois! YEAHHHHHH!!!!! The honking saxes and barwalkers start here! (Well, probably really with Mills’ Blue Rhythm Band’s ‘Ride Red ride’ from 1934; but that didn’t start a trend ) 7 ‘C-jam blues’ and surely it’s by Duke Ellington’s band. Never heard this. I’m not a great Ellington aficionado; he’s too good for my taste. Well, that must be Ben Webster on tenor, and I guess, therefore, that I’ve got this in my little box of Victor sessions. I’ll check in a minute. Oh yes, I HAVE got this. Just goes to show. If I’d been picking a cut from his Victor band of the period, I’d have picked ‘Main stem’ which is jitterbug heaven and was 4 weeks at #1 on the R&B chart. But I always prefer Ellington the great entertainer to Ellington the great genius. 8 Now this one, I don’t know. But it MUST be Sidney Bechet. This is really, really nice. Never heard anything of his that isn’t. It sounds pretty modern; I guess it was made in Paris in the early fifties. 9 Bloody ‘ell, that clarinet player is HIPPPP! And the drummer! ‘Doctor Jazz’. No idea who this is. Oh, a few Johnny Dodds type phrases in there. Maybe it’s him, 10 Sure I don’t know this but the guitarist reminds me of the guitarist who was on some of the Hot Five recordings (‘Savoy blues’?), can’t remember his name. This is really good. The trumpet player sounds like Louis Armstrong, but EVERYONE sounds like him, even Big John Patton. But an afterthought suggests it might be Roy Eldridge. 11 Now we’re definitely moving into unknown territory. I think this is what’s known as Chicago Jazz and sounds like what we furriners here call ‘Dixieland’ or ‘Trad’. I think it could be anyone and almost certainly is. 12 Phew this is nice! Just piano and trumpet. Could it be Tatum? Never heard him; too much piano for me. 13 Cor, ravishing rhythm section! I think the clarinet player might be Buster Bailey. Could the guitarist be Al Casey or, more likely, Teddy Bunn? 14 OK, after a quick cough and drag, on we go, with a long one. Big swing band with bicycle bells. Lots of gimmicks in here. Must be a white band. I’m going to guess Benny Goodman, because it’s so efficient and well organised. 15 Bet this is Woody Herman’s band. Sounds as if it’s a live recording. Well, it could be Goodman again with Krupa on drums. Oh yes, live. On balance, I’ll plump for Goodman & Krupa. 16 ‘Tea for two’ played by clarinet and rhythm; oh and trumpet. I reckon this is someone I know I’ve hardly ever heard – Pee Wee Russell. Oh, a live job again. Vibes player sounds like Hamp but has a lighter touch. Dunno Guv. Very enthusiastic, like a JATP job. 17 Hm, everyone’s playing clichés – perhaps their own, but probably someone else’s. Another live job. No idea about this. 18 ‘Petite fleur’ – beautiful tune and the drummer is so lovely. I think this is a tune no one can play badly and these guys don’t. Lovely job. No idea who it is, but thank you. 19 Strauss waltz – the skaters? By a slightly amplified guitarist with very SERIOUS chops. Could this be a guy who’s been often mentioned on the board – Oscar Aleman? I know I’ve NEVER heard this player before. And struth he’s damn fine! WOW! 20 Sister Rosetta Tharpe but not with Lucky Millinder’s band. 21 No, I’m lost here; gotta getta cuppa tea. Start again. Sounds like a fifties recording. Everyone’s taking a turn and then another one, but I think the pianner player’s the boss here. Well, this is just a bunch of jazz musicians playing jazz. 22 Very interesting time here. Sounds like an old player teaching young ‘uns what all this modern stuff is all about… REALLY. (Or it’s Ray Bryant ) 23 Modern recording of a New Orleans Band. Very nice indeed. 24 This has to be recent – ie since the sixties. Smiley. Nice. Wow! What a NICE BFT! Thank you Alex, that was really enjoyable; a treat on wheels! I’ve got to say, this wasn’t quite what I expected, though I’m not disappointed. But I thought there’d be a lot more of important but little known bands like McKinney’s Cottonpickers, Bennie Moten, Edgar Hayes, Mills Blue Rhythm Band, Andy Kirk’s Clouds of Joy, even Jelly Roll Morton or Cab Calloway. You could have really got me on bands I think I know better than I really do and I approached the BFT with not a little trepidation. Still, there’s so very much to choose from. And it’s nice to hear something smashing you don’t think you’ve got and find you do have it, you know MG

Lenore Edgar Allen Poe The Raven

Can you tell he's doing that just from listening to the record? Astounding!!! MG No - I just play saxophone. We know all the tricks. MG

The Honeycombs The Jam Marmalade

Foxy Brown Foxy Brown Foxy Brown

Yes, I read a ton of those books - and POW escape books. I didn't think of that as history - just heroic adventure, which they were, too. MG

Can you tell he's doing that just from listening to the record? Astounding!!! MG

Ah, so the singer on #6 is Jean Carn - no wonder I didn't like her much; I've never heard anything of hers I DID like. MG

Jean de Brunhoff Bruno the Bear Bruno the Bear

I don't know what turned me on to history. All I can remember was that, when I was about eleven, shopping in Leeds with my mother, we passed a Boots and I saw Herbert Fisher's 'A history of Europe' in the window and asked her if she'd buy it for me. She was a bit amazed, but she did. And I was amazed to find there was a hell of a lot more (and more interesting) history than we were taught at school. So history was one of the very few subjects I passed (and was thought to be good enough to be allowed to take) at 16. Much later, I found out that Herbert Fisher had been the President of the Board of Education under the Lloyd George government and was the main moving spirit behind the Education Act 1918, which to this day is called 'The Fisher Act', and which made education compulsory for under 14 year olds. But I can't say that American history ever interested me, so I'm mystified by my score of 21. Well, I did do a few good guesses. MG

George Henry Buck John Doe Sam Kydd

I got 21/30 and considered that, as a furriner, I did pretty well. MG

Eric 'Slow hand' Clapton Handy Man Jimmy Jones

The most I've ever spent on an LP was 40 GBP ($61 and a bit), which was on Sam Lazar's 'Space flight', in 1991, and well worth the money. Over here, Argo/Cadet albums hardly ever surfaced and I'd just been promoted, so I felt like I could and should. It was only 10 years later I got my wife to spring for a Japanese CD of the album for Christmas, which had recently come out. In general I agree, pretty well everything comes around on the internet nowadays. But keeping an eye on Ebay for hundreds of different albums one wants is a total pain in the arse. It may well be worth paying a bit through the nose for something you want simply to avoid that chore. You pays your money and you takes your choice. Or you don't, and take that choice. MG

Johnny Kidd The Pirates The Pirates of Penzance

National Velvet National Badema Bembeya Jazz National

I haven't put up the 2015 calendar up on my wall yet. Perhaps tomorrow I'll be ready. MG

I visited Rye in about 1971, and it wasn't there then. Should have gone back 30 years later MG

Tony Hatch Jackie Trent Terrence Trent-Darby

Happy New Year, everyone. And it's a Happy New Year from him, too. MG

Slim Harpo Guitar Slim Guitar Crusher

Izzy Goldberg The Magnificent Goldberg Rube Goldberg