The Magnificent Goldberg

It was 36 C here yesterday. Today is shaping up to be the same. Good thing there isn't ANOTHER Grant Green being issued today; I was soaked when I got home - we're a long way from the bus stop; all uphill. Spent the rest of the day in my swimming trunks (not a pretty sight). Same today. MG

Nelson George starts by saying that black musicians of all stripes have always said words to the effect of, "if you listen to our music, you can tell where we're coming from". But he says that no one has really tried to DO that. So he reviews black politics since the 19th century and uses the analysis to understand post war R&B, from Louis Jordan to Prince (it came out in 1988). It is, essentially, a book about politics, seen through music. MG

Ordered three days before Mosaic put their prices up. It could have SWUM the Atlantic quicker! Anyway, it's here. MG

Not only did they misjudge the market, but the relatively large number of copies they supplied to Spin in Newcastle, UK, had the wrong cds , And as a limited edition! Spin never received replacements, and so I never received my pre ordered copy. I bought this cd directly from Rhino when it came out. Didn't find it suited my tastes, and I sold it on this board. I think Bright Moments bought it from me, but I don't exactly remember. Sold it for like $18 or so. Looks like I could have held on to it longer for more $$$; but it works both ways. I've bought stuff cheap here too. So sell cheap; buy cheap. It all evens out. Well, if anyone wants to sell me the Parcy Mayfield cheap, I'll buy it. MG

Enjoy! Chew slowly for fullest delight! Two points I can make. First, you're right about the Houston Person Eastbound LP. It's not available at present. It's a crime that this hasn't been reissued on CD - it would need to be a 2 CD set, however, because it's long and some bonus cutz have come out on CD in Britain. That might price it out of the market (though not for a number of folks here, of course - but we aren't REALLY that many, are we?) Second, the socio-economic shifts were various. You can read quite a bit about them in Nelson George's book "The death of Rhythm & Blues", which is as relevant to Soul Jazz as to R&B, though George never recognises that. The main point, I think, is a shift of people out of the ghetto into the suburbs. What this meant was that, for the first time, the urban black audience was dispersed, not concentrated. More and more people lived farther away from the organ rooms like Club Mozambique, since it was not economic to move the venues to the periphery. And in the suburbs, other venues were available, such as golf and tennis clubs and similar places of entertainment. So the simple demographic shift of people had the effect of cutting the organ rooms’ audiences disproportionately. But it also had the effect of narrowing the audience; from catering to a wide range of people of all sorts of classes and incomes, the organ rooms' offerings had to focus on the rather more Afro-centric tastes of those left behind. This population movement had an impact on R&B and Soul Jazz. I think it's from this period that you get splits (the same split) appearing in the two musics. It's easier to see this in terms of R&B, however. What Belden calls the Inner City market can best be typified by James Brown & (later) George Clinton; an extremely Afro-centric music. Out in the suburbs, the people who had managed to escape tended, as has frequently been the case, to look down on the more "black" music. Motown typified the more mainstream/crossover music at the time. (Which is not to say that Brown wasn't popular generally at the time. He certainly was, but he, unlike many others, didn't compromise - because he could get away with not compromising.) The trend's typical equivalents in terms of Soul Jazz can be regarded as, on the one hand, the material Prestige were recording at the time with Earland, Person, Phillips, Bryant, Kynard, Boogaloo Joe (and also BN with GG and others produced by Francis Wolff, who let Duke Pearson tend to the modern jazz and largely concentrated on Soul Jazz himself after Alfred retired [but also McGriff & Holmes when Solid State had become BN]); on the other hand, as Bob Belden pointed out, CTI/Kudu material - there was a good reason why Motown wanted to buy CTI/Kudu. These trends, I think, became much more pronounced later in the '70s, as Disco and then Smooth developed in both R&B and Soul Jazz. They were just beginning at the time of which Bob Belden was writing. What he didn't mention, which is probably very significant, is that, between the Club Mozambique session and "Visions", Francis had died and been replaced by George Butler who was a United Artists man through and through - he had previously produced Ferrante & Teicher records. George was quite frank about admitting that he didn't know much about jazz and conceding that he'd been picked for the job because he was black. But George, of course, was part of the out of the ghetto movement. MG

The Lonnie Smith (and the True Blue Organ Trio) are winging their way to me from CD Universe at this present moment. I'm hoping True Blue Organ Trio turns up in a day or so. Smith will take a bit longer. These, and the recent Mel Sparks, are making this a fairly memorable year for the GROOVE. MG

Ah, I'll check again in a week or two. Thanks. MG

I guess it's more some kind of leftover sale - they get new stuff in now and then, it seems (when I did my second order - the above one is the third - I bought all I wanted, so most of the above wasn't in stock back then...). But I wouldn't wait too long, if there are things you really want... (Screams stage right from bank account) Thanks. (Screams stage left from hifi.) It's taking me three days to play through all my recent albums at present. Ah well. MG

If you like that one, you'll probably like "It's what's in the groove" even better. MG

Yup - Moses Davis was the organist in that band. See the thread on Davis here http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...=0entry528973 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 Mmm, does that mean it will be the MS series, or will the "ghost" concept extend from bands to mastering engineers ? This already happens with the Grateful Dead's valut releases (Dick's Picks). "Dick" has been dead for years. Dead ear Dick? MG

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