The Magnificent Goldberg

Cactus Jack Arnold Schwarzenegger Ann-Margaret

V nice Now try Dinah Washington's "Long John blues". "Well I went to Long John's office And I told him the pain was killing. Well I went to Long John's office And I told him the pain was killing. He told me not to worry That my cavity just needed filling." Etc, etc MG

I've got a Project - a nice little thing that plays shellac as well as vinyl. MG

Kenneth Mars Gene Wilder Zero Mostel

He was saying that Baby Face was signed to Chess after the Argo LPs, but Chess wouldn't record him? Or was he signed earlier but Chess never recorded him? I was very happy to secure a copy of Baby Face's Vee Jay 45, Why/Can't Keep From Loving You. He doesn't sound like an instrumentalist who can just carry a tune, but has a strong Charles Brown/Ray Charles thing going on. I still can't decide if the dominant influence is Brown and I hear Ray only because they both came out of the church, or if Baby Face was influenced separately. Now if I could just find that other 45 he recorded on Hollywood Records. No - Argo was one of the Chess brothers' labels. I don't know which Chess wouldn't let him record. MG

CD Baby just notified me that the new Rhoda Scott is back in stock! That was quick. Order gone in, also for the album advertised on the same page featuring Lonnie Smith that I hadn't heard of. MG

It is a total blast! Particularly the Mar-Keys trax. MG

Djeneba Diakhite--wtf? They're all Serahule singers from Mali. MG

Ken Nordine Gil Scott-Heron Public Enemy

I was having a look at Pete Fallico's new Doodlin' Lounge site and found he's started a record label. First release on Doodlin' Records is "From C to shining C" by Rhoda Scott, with Plas Johnson and Red Holloway on tenors, Carl Lockett, guitar, and Lucien Dobat, drums. Tracks are: Next time you see me Blues alley Monday Monday Danny boy/Lift every voice (an interesting medley) Waiting for the plane From C to shining C Reveries Tico tico (the old Ethel Smith number! WOW! That's even before Wild Bill) Hit the road Jack It's available from CDBaby - well, not quite, cos they say it's out of stock at present. She looks very good for her age, I think. Nice to find a great vet not on her last legs. Well, I've put my name on the list for when it comes back in. Anyone heard/got this? MG

Doodlin' lounge is back up again. Pete fallico has started a new label - Doodlin' of course - to feature jazz organists. Unfortunately, the most interesting part of the site - the bios - has not reappeared, pending incorporation into a book. MG

Ibrahima Hamma Dicko Nanou Coul Djeneba Diakhite

James Booker Peg Leg Howell Wingy Manone

Upped for Baby Face's birthday. I haven't seen this thread before. Pete Fallico has had his site redesigned and the page on Baby Face (and all the other "organ stories") has been removed pending inclusion in a book. I downloaded a copy of the Willette page to my hard disc in 2004, but that was before the update about his death. So now, I can't get the story. Can someone fill me in on it, please? For me, Baby Face has always been the most unique and mightiest of all Soul Jazz organists. He was the only one who was neither a Davis man nor a Smith man. He had been playing organ in church since 1943! That's not to say that Smith had no effect on his playing. But Smith's approach seems to have been grafted onto a mature Gospel organ approach, informed in the fifties by listening to Professor Herman Stevens, the Poet of the Gospel Organ, and Rev Maceo Woods, whose Vee-Jay recording of "Amazing grace" was a HUGE seller in the mid fifties (without ever being a hit). When you listen to some of Herman Stevens recordings, you can hear, quite clearly, where Baby Face got his ominous, threatening, bass line from and that narrow, penetrating sound in his right hand improvisations. Baby Face was a one-off. Here's a story that hasn't been mentioned. Opal Nations, whose work in reissuing Specialty's Gospel catalogue for Fantasy is well known, was a DJ in Memphis in the late '60s. (He was also from my home town, and wrote about this to my mate.) He interviewed Baby Face for his radio programme and Willette apparently told him that Chess wouldn't let him record, although he had a contract with them. Makes your heart bleed, don't it? MG

Flip Wilson Reuben Wilson Wislon

Henry Glover Gene Redd Ralph Bass

I've been playing very little Mingus lately. I'll take this as an opportunity to get a few out and spin them. Thanks Guy. MG

Never heard of Lee Richardson, whose rendition of "Don't take your love from me" is the newest record sensation. Didn't make the Harlem Hit Parade. He must have bombed at the Apollo. MG

Chipmunks are not carnivores. I suspect that catching the sparrow was a successful test of paw/eye co-ordination for the chipmunk. It's probably best compared to a dog chasing a car. What would the dog do if it caught the car?? Our (deceased) pug would have chewed it a bit, then brought it back, wagging his tail, to show us how naughty he'd been. He certainly wouldn't have tried to drive it, because my wife never gave him driving lessons. MG

Red Holloway Piano Red Speckled Red

Les McCann Ron Jefferson Leroy Vinnegar

Little & Large Tiny Grimes Long Tall Dexter

Miss Moneypenny Hank Penny Red Nichols

Well, I agree 100% with Mike Weill. This is a good album, but not a patch on the two I've heard with Roy Ayers. If you can get it for a dollar, though, OK. But don't build your hopes up too high. MG Postage is $10. It will not be had for a buck... Effin' incredible! MG

Robin Banks Anthony Steele Nick Hutchens