The Magnificent Goldberg

Joe Doakes Joe Bloggs Al "TNT" Bragg

McCoy Mrubata Ndiaga Mbaye Alioune Mbaye Nder

No one is going to answer this, chewy. Nor mine about which albums are the problem. MG

Rev Isaac Douglas & the First Tabernacle of Deliverance Choir - I'm never left alone - AVI reissue MG

Well, it's almost impossible to get (do you feel better now? ) No - but thanks for trying! MG

Well, the rest of the disc is still better (even if it won't appeal to Big Al at all ), but I wanted to feature this particular tune and all the other tracks go longer than this one... Thanks Luca - I await answers with bated breath. (More expense!) MG

Darryl Dixon (whom you should be hering soon, Jim) Ben Dixon Nat Dixon

Ordered! Gawd blesher Guv! ($7.80 for p&p! Phew!) MG Turned up today. Less than halfway through listening, and I just ordered another copy fro my friend's birthday. Thanks guys. MG

Postman came late today, so I was surprised to see this coming in after lunch! Thanks to Dan and Jim! About to start listening. MG

Ahhhh! MG

Lord Byron Byron Allen Byron Gysin

I see (unfortunately). Surely it was her that that blonde English pop singer wrote that song about? "Nice legs, shame about the face". MG

BFT 40 DISC 2 1 Piano, bass, drums intro to big band. Solos from alto, trumpet and organ or synth. Boring. 2 “Star eyes” by spiky alto & rhythm. I don’t like this, though it’s probably quite good. 3 A very nice groove. I love these things where the bass player comes on with that “A love supreme” groove. Nice vibes, nice vocal, wonderful vocal duet sections. Tenor comes in unexpectedly. This is a dream track! Mind you, I don’t think a soloist could go wrong with this groove behind him. I guess this is an Italian band. But the vibes player reminds me of Roy Ayers. I’ve had to stop and play this three times before continuing! 4 Swing number played by piano bass & drums. Very nice. Reminds be a bit of Nat “King” Cole, but isn’t. 5 Free tenor player, sounds like Pharoah to start off with. One tenor for one minute, then two for another minute, then three. This ain’t Pharoah. Then an alto player comes in. Very interesting. Quite pleasant, too, though that’s not the intention. Not my kind of thing. 6 Tenor and quaint band. Old fashioned sound to this. Extremely cheerful! Pianist seems to be playing all sorts of odd stuff; Monk maybe (not enough left hand though. Or some joke track by someone. Back to the tenor player and back to the cheerful old style stuff. 7 Portentous intro. I keep expecting this to break out into a frantic 6/8 groove. But it hasn’t so far. Just into another portentous intro. And another. This must be the latest offering from “The Portentous Intro Band”. 8 Nice sound to the tenor player. European, I guess. Pleasant original ballad, without being notably emotion-grabbing. Musicianly. The overblown bit at the end is completely out of context, it seems to me. 9 Alto & organ, guitar, bass & drums. GG follower on guitar, but with more technique than GG (but not the beautiful sound). Alto solo very good. Not a player I know. Decent organist. Sounds like a European band trying to play a more “serious” kind of organ jazz – without all that nasty greeeaaassyyyy stuff. 10 Oh a fast & furious thing here! Tenor, bass & drums. Frantic tenor player. Long drum solo (too long). If it were a live gig, you could understand it. Oh, it IS a live gig. Oh well, OK. 11 Nice riff in pianist’s left hand. Then turns into a hard bop something with tenor & rhythm. Another pianist playing funny notes. Wonderful rapport between tenor and piano. This is more like I think Monk probably is with a horn player, though still not as much left hand as I’m used to from his trio recordings. Drummer is really prodding the others, too. Interesting bass solo. Good exchange with drummer. This is definitely not my sort of thing, but it’s very, very, good indeed. 12 Piano intro to ballad. Familiar sound to pianist. Then into Gospelly tune with belching trombone, hard alto sax. Alto player trying to hold notes for just a little too long, it seems. Is this what they call circular breathing? I really like this. The alto player is really preachin’. I am really WITH this one! I love the new thing guys who’ve really got ROOTS down into the honkers & screamers of the ‘40s. Dying to know who this is. 13 Tenor & bass/drums. Lovely sound to the tenor player. Great tough backing from other two. Got a story to tell, this saxman. A bit too much from the bass & drums on this, I fear. Otherwise this’d be A1. 14 Tenor & trombone & bass/drums. Fruity trombone. Familiar tune. Trombone with cup mute solo. Both reminiscent of Al Grey/Billy Mitchell – but wrong instrumentation. 15 Oh, what a nice way to end! Such good-hearted fun! Oh, after nearly four minutes, in comes that roaring tenor player, who really is doing it. And it’s perfectly in character with the rest of the track! Another one to look for. As with disc 1, a good lot of stuff I like very much and some I really don’t like at all. As it should be, I expect. MG PS used fast reply, so can't check spelling.

You were expecting a Junior Parker from Concord and got the Byard? What Parker? MG

Not in the Crusaders box, but don't let that stop you buying it! I don't know who it is, but it doesn't sound like the Crus to me. MG Yeah, I kinda figured it wasn't them, even if I was hoping it was. The trumpet solo threw me off. Whatever it is, it's one I think I'll be getting. MG

Very nice, thanks. ... MG

Horatio Nelson Steve Nelson Half Nelson

Betty Davis Bette Davis Bet Lynch

Not in the Crusaders box, but don't let that stop you buying it! I don't know who it is, but it doesn't sound like the Crus to me. MG

BFT 40 DISC 1 There’s some very nice stuff in this disc; thank you Luca. But I’ve also been a bit frank about the ones I don’t like at all. No offence. 1 What a lovely Latin groove to start off with! Really gets you into a good frame of mind. A nice tune – a tuneful tune. Love the voicings of the horns. Tenor solo that’s really tellin’ it. Very down home piano solo. A little bit of trumpet at the end, keeping the groove and the mood. I REALLY can’t be asked to try to work out who these players are. This is just another album I have to try to find. 2 A walking bass intro, leading to a tenor sax, then another, and maybe a third. I think I know #2, but can’t bring up a name. All of each player’s short statements seem to pick up perfectly from the previous one. It’s as if they’re taking turns playing the same solo. When the brushes and piano come in, it sounds like they’re playing “Body & soul”. And I love that smooth voiced bit! Another good ‘un. 3 Unison theme from guitar and tenor on a good swinger. Nice solos all round. Another good ‘un, but probably not demanding instant purchase! (Phew – these BFTs can get expensive!) 4 Tune sounds like “Donna Lee”. Very brash trombone solo. I like the trombonist’s sound; very twenties/thirties. Odd for such a tune. 5 “The band that doesn’t play together”. Not very dancefloor-friendly, this. 6 Thirties recording, I guess. Don’t know the tune, but it appears to be called “Sugar plum”. Is it a German singer? With possibly a German band. Aha, accordion solo! Must be French:) 7 Nice band arrangement on this reminds me of Henry Mancini, but isn’t. Soprano sax solo; is it Bob Wilbur? Quite pleasant. 8 “Jambalaya on the bayou” played by a violinist live. Much applause for the violinist. Even the applause after the piano solo seems more to be for the violinist stepping back up to the mike. So I guess he’s the leader. 9 Tenor, bass & brushes. What’s that sound in the back? Synth? Not keen on this. I think I know the tune. Synth solo; still not for me. “Speak low” at the end; have they been playing that all the time? Who cares? 10 “Take the A express”, tenor & rhythm. I like the approach. Oh yes! This is a tenor player I should know. I feel embarrassed because, now I’ve played it on the hifi, as well as the walkman, he sounds even more like someone who’s quite prominent in my collection, but I still can’t place him. A good one. 11 “Round midnight” by bass clarinet, first solo, then with bass. Another I don’t like at all. 12 Ah! Recorded on 7 May 1965, first session for the leader back at Prestige. Although the sleeve notes say that only one of the two tenor players is on this track, I’ve always thought that both were playing in the ensemble passages. Anyone else hear that? 13 Guitar and guitar. Something vaguely familiar about the tune. Anxiously awaiting the end. Far too long. 14 Very spiky tune played by alto & clarinet. Quite unpleasant. Don’t like either. No idea what these guys are trying to tell me. 15 Piano, then bass enters, then drums. This one’s slow to get going and slow to close as well. But once they get going, there’s a good groove. In comes a violin. Very inventive, very dramatic, yet always keepin’ it real. This is another I’d buy, were I convinced the band would keep it real on all trax. 16 Alto & rhythm. I know this tune. Sounds like a live performance, though there’s no applause. Very funny sound. This sounds like a good quiz question; who’s the altoist? Sounds like someone not quite as good as Sonny Criss. Which might mean that it IS Criss. 17 “Skipping along the sunny side of the street”. Very strange. It reminds me of a party piece an altoist friend of mine used to do when he occasionally sang with his New Orleans band. He did a version of Morton's "Doctor Jazz" with a fault on the line. Very clever and amusing. MG

Abe Laboriel Ross Bagdasarian Armen Halburian

Oh, and "The Cape Verdun blues" is another real good 'un. MG

I LURVE the typing of the tracklists. Duck Pearson is the best. I think I'm always going to think of him that way. MG

Robbie Basho Robbie Shakespeare Sly Dunbar

Somebody say "booty?" plus some Mosaics? Where?! Sonny Stitt and Joe Pass sets. Picked up on last day of 'sale'. Hopefully now 'au passage'.. -_- I ordered the Stitt then, too. Got an e-mail yesterday saying that my Stitt is coming in... MG