The Magnificent Goldberg

1986 Hi I am new to the board, just wanting to see if someone might be able to provide some info...In the liner notes to Live at the Lighthouse, Bob Belden mentions a session with Houston Person that does not appear in any Grant discographies...if this session is all that BB says it is then it must be a very special and important recording.. especially in light of when it was made...does anyone have any knowledge of this By the way thanks for all the wonderful things I've been able to read here on Grant, John Patton and George Braith etc al... On pages 245 and 246 of the 1986 Ruppli BN discography, there's a listing of a few sets (some 33 songs) recorded at the Club Mozambique in Detroit on Jan. 6 & 7, 1971. Clarence Thomas (ts,ss), Houston Person (ts), Ronnie Foster (org), Green, and Idris Muhammad (d). All tracks are listed as "rejected". I don't own the Lighthouse recording and am not that keen on this era of GG's career, so I don't know if any of this material has since been released. I suspect at least some of it has... I'm getting a deja vu as if we've been over this before... No guys the session Beldon seems to be talking about sounds seperate to these live recordings. He gives the information that it was recorded for Eastbound or Westbound and seems to be suggesting that it was a session of standards or chord changes material.. which would make it very special. He mentions the tune Dearly Beloved which does not appear in the discographies of these other sessions and would not be in context with the setlists from these performances I think. I can't wait to hear the Mozambique sets but would love to know more about this other session Rereading the Lighthouse sleeve notes by Bob Belden, I am of the view that he's talking about Houston Person's Eastbound album "The real thing", recorded at Club Mozambique. This is a double LP; when you have the album closed, all you can see on the front cover is "Houston Person"; the title is on the reverse. When you open it out and hold it upright, you can see the title is "The real thing". But if you just look at the front, it looks like a self-titled album. What's odd about Belden's notes is the ref to "Dearly beloved". That track isn't on the album, but Grant DOES play on a lot of the straight ahead material included (and on "Lester leaps in", which was issued on CD in the UK a few years ago). It's possible that Belden has heard "Dearly beloved" from the session, but it hasn't been released as far as I know. In fact, his statement on that sleeve note is the only evidence there is for the existence of that performance. MG

Wow! to have actualy SEEN Bobby Buster! MG

When I saw Charles Earland - from about 18 inches away from his right hand - he seemed to have a technique for doing this that brought the heel of his hand into play. It was sort of like his hand was crawling (very fast) up and down the keyboard. MG

Religion has always just been another way of carrying on politics, so you do what you have to do to get your message over. And sometimes your message has a few holes in it. But it doesn't matter if it isn't immediately obvious that it's leaky. MG

Glad Matthew upped this thread. "Coast to coast" is a great album BUT It seems to have been the last. The only Fantasy artist who seems to have recorded since Concord took over is Sonny Rollins. What's happened? My guess is that Concord has sacked everyone who worked for Fantasy, which is now simply going to be mined for its catalogue. (I hate Concord - but you knew that, didn't you?) MG

I thought the bonus disc was very interesting. But I can't say I LIKED very much of it. Here we go. 1 I am not at all well up in classical music, but I thought of Mussorgsky. 2 I started off writing down "marimba", then added an "s", then wrote "3", then wrote "lots". Then I decided it must be a Gamelan orchestra. 3 More classical piano. This one felt like Satie. 4 More classical music. I thought this was very interesting because this is, I think, what classical players think an alto sax SHOULD sound like, if you could stop those jazz musicians from playing them. 5 There's a very familiar feel to this. I got a definite impression of Abdullah Ibrahim here, particularly in the beginning. 6 Vibes and bass - couldn't work out if there were two vibes or one. Gary Burton's name occurred to me, but I've heard almost nothing of his work, so that's as big a shot in the dark as everything else. 7 18th Century harpsichord. Not rhythmic enough to be French, so I guess it's German. 8 I wondered on this if there were two keyboard players or only one, double tracking. I couldn't recognise the language. I liked the bass solo (or was it a cello, as on the theme outro?) 9 This one sounded as if it was based on folk music. I liked the Chrstmas music at the end. 10 I think this was some more classical music. 11 Dunno. I haven't any reactions at all to this one. 12 I liked this. It has a vaguely African feel to it; perhaps Middle East or North Africa. 13 A German version of Spike Jones. Most enjoyable. Or is it Spike Jones pretending to be German? 14 Back again to the harpsichord. Very familiar tune but I couldn't name it in 37. Thanks for some interesting hours, Mike. MG

1986 Hi I am new to the board, just wanting to see if someone might be able to provide some info...In the liner notes to Live at the Lighthouse, Bob Belden mentions a session with Houston Person that does not appear in any Grant discographies...if this session is all that BB says it is then it must be a very special and important recording.. especially in light of when it was made...does anyone have any knowledge of this By the way thanks for all the wonderful things I've been able to read here on Grant, John Patton and George Braith etc al... Post 10 in this thread gives what is known about unreleased Grant Green led dates (plus a few others). Post 11 gives a link to another thread about the specific session you're interested in. Mosaic say Blue Note will issue it. MG

Billy was one of the jazz organists whose singles I bought in the early '60s. His versions of "The masquerade is over", "Drown in my own tears" and "Don't let the sun catch you crying" are still as wonderful as anything done in those days. Sorry to hear he's gone. MG

The third of Ursula Rucker's albums turned up in the post today, just before we went out. Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet (been listening to too much Grant Green and Al Grey). MG

Thanks Jim - it's super whizzo now. MG

Seems to have picked up this morning. MG

I bought "You better believe it", "On stage" and "Feelin' kinda blues" between '65 and '67 and I've loved that stuff ever since. I STILL don't think there are better examples of organ/big band than the first two of those LPs. And Teddy Edwards playing! I hadn't heard him until I heard these LPs and I became an immediate fan; he's so extremely funky and meaty and wailing - even on the ballads. And I'm still sorry that Mosaic didn't include the LP Gerald made with Les McCann. That's another example of pure fun. No one need be surprised at how well Gerald was orchestrating these pop songs. The first time I encountered his name was backing singers like Sam Cooke - if you never heard Sam sing "Cool train" with the GW orch wailing behind him (Sam could sing the blues very, very, poignantly) you're missing a great sound. Unfortunately, so am I 'cos I got rid of the single in the '60s (I think the A side was "Frankie & Johnny" also with GW). My memory insists, perhaps foolishly, that GW also arranged "Little red rooster" for Sam. He also, I think, backed up Lou Rawls and Nancy Wilson, as well as others. MG

I've just found, on Ray Bryant's "Soul", a really classic piece of offal, by someone called Rick Willard. "Ray Bryant attacks a piano like a boll weevil attacks cotton, softly with love but firmly with compassion." It's bloody heartbreaking. MG

You mean like, causes hurricanes in Iraq? MG

I don't know - one was enough for me. MG

I did that once - in 1966 - too exhilarating for now. (I had a VERY tolerant girl friend in those days.) MG

That's quite a list. Viagra? On the instalment plan! MG

Don't you mean "Fried buzzard"? Or is this a rare release with Dex guesting? MG

Oh, and I forgot Ike Quebec - Blue and sentimental Coleman Hawkins - At ease Arnett Cobb - Ballads by Cobb San "The Man" Taylor - The bad and the beautiful Hint - it is important not to allow your fingers to trace out the solos on your lady's shoulder, back or bottom. MG

Nothing can beat a big fat-sounding tenor player playing ballads and slow blues. Stan Turrentine - Blue hour Stan Turrentine - The look of love Sil Austin - Honey sax (a favourite of my wife and I many years ago) Sil Austin plays pretty for the people Houston Person - My romance Houston Person - Soft lights Houston Person - In a sentmental mood Houston Person - Blue velvet Houston Person - Sentimental journey Willis Jackson - In my solitude Gene Ammons - Nice and cool Gene Ammons - The soulful moods of Gene Ammons Illinois Jacquet - Bosses of the ballad Except The fat organ sound (!) of Milt Buckner and colleagues (Wild Bill Davis & Bill Doggett) on Midnight slows vols 1 - 10 MG

The second Ursula Rucker in three days. Number three coming in about a week, they say. These albums are the real answer to what Kenny Drew Jr was saying. To listen to these is to realise what beauty there can be in Rap and, therefore, by how much most Rap is falling short. MG

I suppose you didn't just let your glance flash down to the bottom to see who was responsible for that trot, did you? MG Sorry, I should've given credit to the authors for the very unique assemblage of words. It was written by Philippe Carles (Jazz Magazine), English translation by Gerard Rouy. Ah, good tactics: if you can't evade responsibility - share it. MG

Thornell Wilde Butch Thornell MG

I suppose you didn't just let your glance flash down to the bottom to see who was responsible for that trot, did you? MG

Well, the postman’s just come with two more bundles of goodies. The first lot, from CD Universe, contained: Melvin Sparks’ new one – Groove on up Big Jay McNeely – Live at Cisco’s – my old copy of this is unplayable so I’m really glad it’s been reissued (Pooh, only poxy little pix of this on the web.) Tiny Grimes & Coleman Hawkins – Blues groove And from an Amazon UK seller My first Ursula Rucker – Supa Sista Looking forward mucho to hearing this: Rap plus beautiful music. MG