The Magnificent Goldberg

A friend sent me this bit of YouTube, featuring British comedian Peter Kay. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yn-2YuWMUo MG

Oh, this is a long one! 1 Very country! Perhaps not as old as it seems and I think it’s based on something familiar in another context. Not my field, but fine musicianship and enjoyable. 2 Ooo, nice! Now this one does seem to be pretty old. Great trumpet player – can’t hazard a guess at who, though. The rhythm section is quite well recorded, perhaps this is more recent than it seems. I like this a lot. 3 Definite sixties flavour to this with a sound like The String-alongs. Not them, though, it swings. Actually, I’m not sure who would make a record like this except either as a gimmick or if they’re from Indonesia or somewhere. 4 Sounds like one of those strange flutes Herbie Mann plays, or makes himself, sometimes. Not Herbie I think. Nice. 5 Crikey, I can’t think of the name of the tune! An Eddie Harris line, I’m thinking. Anyway, I THINK the guitarist may be Orhan Demir, by the way his left hand fingers attack the fretboard. But I can’t find where he’s done any familiar tunes. So maybe it’s someone else. Well, tried again a few days later but still can’t recall the title. 6 Oh, this is a hard one! A big band with soloists who don’t seem to be on my regular listening list. And not one of my regular favourite big bands, either, though with a sixties sound. 7 Something very familiar about this, but I can’t make it out. I’ll take a guess and say Ramsey Lewis, maybe with Phil Upchurch; from one of his Columbia albums, perhaps. 8 A guitarist I feel I know well, but can’t identify. Nor the alto player. Trumpet player, too. All good but I can’t call them up in my mind. The groove is like ‘One cylinder’. Must listen to this again tomorrow. Still no clues a few days later, except I’m thinking of Sonny Red. But I know it’s not him. 9 It’s not Blue Mitchell, but reminds me of him a lot. And the alto player, something of Sonny Red in his lines. His sound is a lot clearer and more definite. The tune sounds like it was written for a film score. Something familiar about it, but… A few days later and I definitely know that I don’t know who or what this is. 10 Good Lord, a lot of this BFT is so nearly right for me, I don’t know why I’ve never heard any of it before! That was bleedin’ fantastic, but I’ve NO IDEA! Well, a few days later and it’s still fantastic and I still haven’t any ideas about it. 11 ‘Speak low’ by a lady singer with flute. And orchestra. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the words of this song before. Nice words. Really nice voice, nice phrasing. Quitting for a while. 12 AH!! Idris! I haven’t played this album for getting on for three years. OK, it’s ‘Wander’ from ‘Black rhythm revolution’, with Virgil Jones, Clarence Thomas (ts and a total GEEZER!), Harold Mabern, Mel Sparks, Jimmy Lewis and Buddy Caldwell. Great! 13 Oh, dem blues! I wish I knew who this was… Phew, he has some really nice ideas! And some chops underlying them. Live! Real! I keep thinking of Junior Mance but he’s got more chops and harder ideas than Mance. Maybe it’s Harold Mabern, though Mabern usually has a softer touch than this guy. 14 Interesting this. It seems like a library band making music for people to listen to while they’re waiting on the phone but, if I were listening on the blower, I wouldn’t want them to answer, even if the sax player does sound like David Sanborn. 15 I keep waiting for the tenor player to come back in and blast me into Tonypandy. Ah here he is. I don’t know him. But that’s OK, he doesn’t know me, either. He’s worth waiting for, though. The rest are there just to warm me up for him, although the piano player’s pretty nice. 16 This is kinda interesting but doesn’t feel completely realised. It’s as if they’ve got these good ideas but haven’t quite got them sorted out in their heads so there doesn’t appear to be any direction. 17 A tune I know. But I can’t remember the title. Fascinating drum solo. Sure I know this tenor player but can’t think… I think it may be Pharoah Sanders. And I think that’s where I know the tune from – one of his albums. But this isn’t one I’ve got. And it seems a bit professional for Pharoah, you know? I think the tune’s called ‘Origin’. No it isn’t – just checked. Well, I dunno, guv. 18 Nice tenor player. Very nice tenor player. Don’t know the tune, either. But this sometimes makes me think of Pharoah, too. Must be the mood I’m in. A few days later, it still sounds like Pharoah. 19 This sounds like the pianist in #13. Doing a boogaloo that reminds me of ‘One cylinder’. 20 This cut seems to be taking rather too long to get off the ground and makes me suspect, after 2 minutes, that it won’t. No, I don’t think it will; it’s as if there’s these guys waiting for Larry Mizell to come into the studio with the ‘leader’ and they’re laying down the backing track. 21 Hank Crawford! But one I’ve never heard before. Where the hell did this one come from? Oh, I must have it tucked away somewhere. No, I don’t think I’ve ever heard this trumpet solo. Sure I haven’t; it’s blindingly lyrical! Don’t for god’s sake tell me it’s David Sanborn! 22 I keep thinking (hoping) the drummer’s going to turn into Bernard Purdie and inject a bit of swing into this. But of course, it doesn’t happen. This one’s not happening with me, either. I half recognise the tune, though; bits of it sound like a Kool & the Gang number. The guitarist’s quite good, without having any real feeling for what he’s doing. 23 Ho Ho Houston Person! And another one I’ve never heard before! Where are you GETTING this stuff from? Oh, I think it’s a cut from one of Johnny Lytle’s Muse albums. Yeah, ‘After supper’. But it’s a different recording from the one on ‘Good vibes’. That one has Mel Sparks on guitar, and there’s no guitar on this. Oh, I see I never finished this. Phew, there’s a lot if it! Well, a few more tracks now. 24 Well, I certainly don’t know this one. Vintage mid seventies, I’d guess. The tenor player has quite some stuff to say and I’d be interested in hearing more of him, but hope the rest of the album hasn’t got all this ‘atmosphere’. 25 I think this is much more modern than it’s supposed to sound. ‘Smoke dreams’. I used to have a recording of this by Jo Stafford. Don’t know this singer. 26 I think this is ‘Black coffee’ by a solo pianist. It’s kind of disorienting with his left hand coming out of the left channel and the right out of the right – feels like I’m between his legs! I don’t think it’s anyone I know. 27 Starts off sounding like telephone waiting music, but somewhat more interesting than what you actually get from your dentist’s surgery. I keep wanting it to DO something, like have a roaring tenor player come in and piss all over the band. But it ain’t gonna happen, is it? No, it didn’t. 28 I do like the trombonist’s sound on this, and his lazy solo. No idea who it is – modernish, though, to judge by the background. 29 ‘Michelle’ played by a solo guitarist. I don’t quite recognise his sound. I’m sure there are others here who’ll pick it up instantly. Well, I was just going to review this, to see if I got any more ideas, and saw that for some reason I hadn’t ever heard the last three tracks!!!! So I had to listen to them and I’m going to post what I’ve got so far. Few answers. A lot of interesting stuff in here, Jon, though a lot of the rhythm sections seem to have, or are trying to imitate, drum machines. Not quite sure why. Good BFT, thanks.

Earlier Houston Person - Always on my mind - Muse MG

Well - my world, I find, is still being rocked. Earlier this year, by this first encounter with hot Meringue Felix Del Rosario - Felix Llego - Borinquen. When I saw the sleeve, I couldn't resist... Felix died a couple of years ago. He was lauded in the Dominican Republic as a hero of Meringue. MG

Well, she DEFINITELY got 'I no get eye for back' right!!!! OK. Let me know when she discovers 'Bar wars' MG

Good grief! That guy's face must be three times the size of his head!!! Wilfred Pickles Mabel Able Mable

Glad you enjoyed it, Guy, but what's funny about him playing 'The way we were'? MG

Rosie & the Originals Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Rosie the Riveter

But no Gator Tail!!!! MG

Earlier Gene Ammons in Sweden - Enja now Donald Vails Choraleers - In deep water - Savoy MG

She's pretty funny and entertaining for a few minutes. She buys Cannonball records. Saw no mention of Willis Jackson MG

Many happy returns, Jeff MG

Le Oiseau de Sankara Kerfala Kante Djessou Mory Kante

Happy belated birthday, Lou. Shall we try to get it right next year? MG

Various Artists - African sounds for Mandela - Tsafrika With Julian Bahula, Hugh Maekela & Orchestre Jazira MG

Bunny Peter Rabbit Brer Rabbit

Sonny Stitt - Only the blues - Verve (EJM) MG

Laurie Pepper Pepper Salt

How do you get all the lineup &c onto an ipod? I'd like that on mine. MG MG, it was an improvement I thought of spontaneously, since the iPod touch would have a larger screen and more room for information. That info could just display during the song, in a hierarchy of sorts. There would be room for it to stream along below the square cover art. Hell, I'd even like for all of the cover art to show, perhaps animated with gatefolds opening, etc. I can dream, can't I? You can manually enter all that information by selecting a track and hitting File/Get Info, but it doesn't actively display while the song plays or anything. Oh. I haven't got one of those - I've got the 160GB version that's just been discontinued. Oh well... MG

Have a good one, Paul! MG

Penelope Keith Keith Loving Keith Kilgo

How do you get all the lineup &c onto an ipod? I'd like that on mine. MG

Maurice Chevalier My Little Pony The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Le Oiseau de Sankara La Coulombe de la Paix L'Archange du Manding

Ah! Glad to see I haven't come across such books. BTW, even coverage doesn't do it. Importance has to be taken into account. But not to focus on one bit to render the other bits unnoticeable, of course. MG Yes, you are right, even coverage doesn't necessarily do it. But to give you one example in a totally different field (that touched me in my younger days, but not much anymore). Imagine a book about "100 Years of F.A. Cup Finals" where such an even coverage approach is imaginable. A fairly even number of pages for each year's final, right? Each final was as important as next year's in its own day, right, and ought to be so from a historian's perspective too? But how do these bookas look? About 1 page per year at most for the first 30 or 40 or 50 years or so, and for the MOST RECENT years you get 6 or 8 pages PER YEAR in full color and whatnot ... A bit skewed overall ... Or, for example, an imaginary book about the greatest stars of black music of all times. No doubt Charles Brown or Arthur Prysock were BIG in their day but would they be given nearly as much coverage as the most recent chart acts that happen to make the headlines NOW, though it is still unclear if the recent "stars" will be remembered anywhere 5 or 10 years from now? In order to get into such books that cover periods from the past up to the current present you would have to be an undisputed all-time legend if your heyday was, say, 40 or 50 or 60 years ago, whereas it would be sufficient to be a chart flash in the pan (who is long from proving enduring star status) if you are a CURRENT or very recent act. That's what I was alluding to about giving even coverage. "Greatest stars of ALL times" is not necessarily about those who are still considered great stars today after all those decades but about those who were the greatest stars in THEIR respective times. Which might be an aspect relevant to a book on BN too. I agree. (But of course, less information is available about any kind of people/activity a hundred years ago than this year.) MG