The Magnificent Goldberg

The tiny samples on Amazon.com don't seem to be working, at the moment. MG

Do you know how to get in touch with either? PM me with an e-mail address; or send the thread to them, if you'd prefer. MG

I got sick of my Chris Connor albums (I had about 15 at the time) in the late '60s. Flogged them all. Had to start buying them again in '92. You learn. MG

Nigel Kennedy is a good violonist, who also became famous outside the classical world (already 25 years ago) because of his "rebel" image ("punk" haircut, untraditional outfits). That made him suspicious to "serious" classical music lovers and critics, but it certainly paid off for him. He appeared frequently in TV shows, and his recording of the Elgar concerto sold more than 300.000 copies. Later he turned his back to the classical business and went crossover with a folk group, but in the recent years he has started to record the usual classical violin repertoire again. http://www.emiclassics.com/artists/biogs/kennb.html I posted the CD cover because I find it extremely uninspired, relying on the Blue Note name and the Frank Wolff photography and cover design style. The CD seems to be meant for Nigel Kennedy fans who buy their first (and only) Blue Note CD, and not for jazz listeners. Thanks for posting that Claude. I knew I wouldn't be able to do him justice, so I didn't try. MG

Well, he's had an assistant, Maureen Sickler?, around for about twenty years. I should think she could take over with that amount of experience, couldn't she? MG

MG

I asked in the record shop this morning about the UK release date for these. They didn't know anything about them. Does anyone know whether they're being issued in the UK? MG

Bob Belden's sleeve note to Grant Green's "Live at Club Mozambique" refers to the writer of "Jan Jan" as "the mysterious M Davis (not Miles Davis)". Nope, it was Moses Davis. It looks as if the folks at Blue Note don't know who they should be paying royalties for the two recordings GG made of this tune. I doubt that there's an organist anywhere in America that someone on this board doesn't know. So here's what I know about the Mad Professor, none of whose recordings are listed in Lord's Jazz discography. In the early '60s - probably '62 or '63 - under the name of Moses Davis, he made a 45 single "Moses' groove"/"For dancers only" (the Sy Oliver tune). The single was issued on the Tollie label (dunno the number - my mate has a copy buried under about a million records), which was a subsidiary of Vee-Jay. That implies that Moses may have been living or working in Chicago in those days. But equally, he may not, because the instrumentation was tenor sax, organ, guitar and drums and the sax player was the same man who, in 1960, had played the tenor solo on Paul Gayten's "The hunch", recorded in Detroit by Anna records (Berry Gordy's first label). I don't know who the saxman was (and I'd like to). Anyway, Moses next turned up in Detroit. He was a member of a funk/jazz band called, initially, "The Fabulous Counts". In the late '60s, The Fabulous Counts made some singles for the Detroit label Moira, and got two hit singles out of the deal. The first hit was "Jan Jan", an instrumental which made #42 on the R&B chart in early 1969. The band did even better with "Get down people", the following year. That one got to #32 on the R&B chart and #88 on the Hot Hundred. Atlantic released the Moira material on an LP, "Jan Jan" Cotillion 9011, which, as far as I know, hasn't been reissued on CD. The LP wasn't a hit. The Fabulous Counts decided to drop the hype from their name and became simply "The Counts". As the Counts, they recorded an album in Detroit in 1971/72. This was "What's upfront that-Counts" Westbound 2011. This was a hit, reaching 35 on the R&B albums chart and 193 on the Pop albums chart. Westbound were a bit too involved in pushing Funkadelic and the Ohio Players in those days, so the Counts got little attention. This one has been reissued in the UK on Westbound CDSEWM063. It's OK, but not as good as the other stuff. They left Detroit, and Westbound, and headed for Atlanta and signed up for Aware records, an Atlanta outfit. Two more albums followed. In 1973, there was "Love sign" Aware 2002, which made #45 on the R&B album chart and in 1975, the great "Funk pump". (Now, isn't that an album you wished you had?) "Funk Pump" was issued on Aware 2006 and made #58 on the R&B album chart. The two Aware LPs (plus a few bonus cuts) have been reissued on one CD in the UK - "It's what's in the groove" Southbound CDSEWD109. All tracks from "Love sign" and about half from "Funk pump" have been reissued in the US on Collectables. The UK issue is the one to get. The Counts comprised tenor, organ, guitar, drums. Moses Davis, in addition to organ, held down the vocal chair. Demetrius Cates was the sax man (sometimes soprano) and a wailer. Moses was a wailer on organ, too. He was a bit lke John Patton sometimes. And sometimes he was real weird. The Counts was a pretty sucessful band. Every recording contract they had produced hit records. And yet they faded away. I find that strange. OK, so two questions: does anyone know this guy? does anyone know who at Blue Note should be told the correct identity of the writer of "Jan Jan"? MG

Well, I got it and, apart from the sleeve design, it's a mother. Grant's playing is, as we've come to expect, wonderful. In this session, you can see that Ronnie Foster has made considerable strides since the Cliche Lounge album "Alive". His solos seem to flow better and be more telling, somehow. Clarence Thomas, whose only other recordings I know are the Idris Muhammad Prestiges, shows that, for someone who recorded so little, he has a VOICE! And, of course, Houston and Idris are great, too. SoulStream mentioned the care GG had obviously taken with the arrangements. I echo that. The arrangement and treatment of "More today than yesterday" are completely different from Charles Earland's; "Black talk" was still on the R&B and Pop album charts when this session took place, so this was a real departure. And the way GG voiced the horns on "Patches" reminded me greatly of George Braith. In a sense, that can stand for the entire album - it's as funky as hell but there are all these extremely interesting things going on. The sound is good, I think. All I could say against it is that Idris seems to be a mite loud and GG a trifle quiet. But, under the circumstances, that's scarcely an objection. I think, actually, having it in mono is pretty good, because it emphasises the superb melding together of the horns. Bob Belden has done a good sleeve note. In it, he refers to "Jan Jan" as being by "the mysterious M Davis (not Miles Davis)". Of course not! It's by Moses "Mad Professor" Davis. This seems to me to indicate that Blue Note doesn't know who to send the royalties for this composition to. (I'm starting a thread on Moses; an organist everyone here should know. And maybe someone DOES know him. There's a specific injustice going on here, it seems.) MG

Richard "Groove" Holmes - Soul power - Prestige 7543 blue label - preview copy autographed by one "John Edwards". Anyone heard of John Edwards? Good sleeve note by Chris A - only organ sleeve note in all of time to mention Frederick Longshaw. I hate it when they reissue two LPs on one CD and leave off one track. You have to keep the LP in circulation. I'd rather buy two separate CDs, frankly. MG

The Percy Mayfield is $157 on GEMM. Not as much as the Amazon UK, but twice as much as Amazon US. MG

Concord Music Group Summer Blowout Sale (United States residents only) US residents only! Downright effin' cheek! (Well, at least I didn't waste any money by ordering a couple from CD Uni this morning.) MG (Always look on the effin' bright side!) Edit - Sorry - Thanks Hans MG

NOW I get what this thread's about. What clearance sale please? MG

I've been trying to get the Rhino Handmade compilation of Percy Mayfield's Atlantic and Tangerine recordings. It only came out in January 2004 and seems to have been deleted within about a year. Currently, you can get it from Amazon US partners for $85 And You can get it from Amazon UK partners for 122 GBpounds - this is a single CD! I'm NOT paying that much, not even for Percy Mayfield. Someone at Rhino SERIOUSLY misjudged the market. MG

Brussels has some superb African restaurants - in the African quarter. And there's a good record shop called Musicanova, also in the African quarter, where you can get lots of African CDs (and a few K7s if you're lucky). MG PS Musicanova has a big Latin section, too.

Johnny Lytle - Blue vibes (Orpheum stereo) MG

I don't think you're hearing a koto; I think you're hearing a kora, a West African harp/lute, which Pharoah always calls a balapone or bailaphone, because he was confused. (He made the same mistake n "Thembi".) The bala or balafon is a West African marimba-like instrument. So that's accounted for in the sleeve notes; Pharoah and Larry are both credited as playing that. Thembi says in the sleeve notes that Pharoah sometimes includes a koto in the band, but he doesn't actually go so far as to say they're used on THIS album. (And he avoids mentioning balafons ) I wonder if the harmonium-like sound is the two basses bowed in a strange way. It's a while since I listened to this LP. MG

That's them zweitausendeins guys that's to blame, really! Me, I haven't done anything! Yeah, I had a look at that site last week and was cheesed off to find that most of what I was interested in, I had already bought at the regular prices. There are a few, however, so I'll be back soon. Is this E2.99 deal time limited? MG

Rev J M Gates complete recorded works vol 8 - December 1930-August 1934 Richard M Jones complete recorded works vol 1 - 1923-1927 MG

And arrived this morning. Thanks Tooter MG

And from the ice man himself MG

??????????????? ???????????????? You're getting your classic rock sax appearances mixed up. Curtis Amy is on 2 Doors albums. Without looking them up I'm going to guess The Soft Parade and maybe L.A. Woman. Or would that be Morrison Hotel? I'm on a 15 year sabbatical from The Doors so it's hard to remember the horn songs. Steve Gregory and Greg Beadle handle the sax on Honky Tonk Women.* *page 338 of Bill Wyman's Rolling With The Stones Thanks - you're right. I haven't seen or heard any of those records since 1969. Memory going. "Soft parade" was the one that was out when I worked in a record shop. MG

What a BAND! MG

I've been meaning to plug this book here for the last four years... An excellent read, and one that rings truer than many. The story of a young man who wanted to play jazz but ended up getting sidetracked from doing it by the financial lure/needs of going into R&B is one that I've seen happen god knows how many times (and one that I've participated in myself to a certain extent...). What also rings true is Wesley's simultaneous respect and disgust for the various leaders he's worked with over the years (Basie excepted...). This is a very common phenomenon among career sidemen, as they see people with less "talent" but more "charisma" than them go into the spotlight, while they end up playing a crucial but less glamorous role. I've seen reviews of this book that describe it as "bitter". Well, maybe it is. But that doesn't make it any less true. It's truly a "view from the inside" of what it's like to always be somebody else's employee, somebody who you want to think needs you more than you need them, while at the same time realizing that no matter how true that might be, if they weren't who/what they were in the first place, you'd not have a gig. Highly recommended reading. Thanks Jim. I didn't know about the book until I did the research for that piece today. I'll get that soon. MG

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