The Magnificent Goldberg

Well, OK, but Mothers' Day (Mothering Sunday) is 26 March over here (this year). MG

Savant/High Note is successor to Muse which was a successor to Cobblestone. All were operated by Joe Fields, former sales manager for Prestige. I first met Joe in the '60s when he arrived in Chicago by bus to flog Prestige. The "Prestige model" (low bread, minimal studio time, cheap manufacturing and good profits) was his guide. Joe told me this back in the early '70s when he wanted to license my stuff and me to produce some sessions. Thanks Chuck - I always wondered what job Joe had done at Prestige. Joe is definitely my hero for all the stuff he has brought out since the early '70s. After Prestige and Blue Note, Joe's labels are the most important in my collection. (Don't y'all forget Fedora, his blues label, which has some very good stuff on it.) MG

Well, I went round the other side of Terry's stall today and found these: Then Terry showed me this So I bought that one, too. It's a good compilation for me; I don't have any Smiley Lewis, haven't any of the Pee Wee Crayton included, although I have quite a lot of the Guitar Slim, it's not on CD. All I have on CD are the 8 tracks by T-Bone Walker. There are also three tracks by Boo Breeding included. The sleeve notes trash them! He is described as "a halfway decent singer", "a disciple of Guitar Slim, inevitably lacking the charismatic abandon of his mentor. He's abetted by an anonymous sextet who may not be the usual suspects. Of particular note is the guitarist, whose persistence isn't quite matched by his invention..." Actually, they're not as bad as all that. But, if JSP thought the tracks were that bad, why did they include them? MG

I find CD Universe a bit cheaper for quite a few things. Gittar player and the Ron Levy are deleted, following the demise of Levy's company Cannonball. Second hand is all you'll get for those. "What you hear is what you get" is another good one of Mel's own albums. That's out on Savant, as well - originally issued on Nectar. Sparks fans tend to think that his solo on Rusty Bryant's "Soul liberation" is his best. I don't think it's his best, but that's a damn fine album. It's included in Rusty Bryant's "Legends of Acid Jazz" PRCD???? (my copy's Japanese). Two other Acid Jazz legends CDs you might investigate are the ones by Sonny Stitt (PRCD24169) and Leon Spencer (PRCD24185). His own mid '70s albums - "Texas twister" and "Mel Sparks '75" - are included in a British issue on the Beat Goes Public label (dist by Ace) CDBGPD092. You'll have to import that but the first is great! The second is only good. MG

I'd like you to be right Jim. One of the big problems with Columbia is that they had this short track syndrome for years - even "Kind of blue" has short tracks compared to what Miles had been doing at Prestige. But I bet the full versions have been ditched. MG

Though actually he doesn't record much outside the realm of Soul Jazz. I have one Gospel album on which he appeared (by Dorothy Norwood) and one neoSoul album (by Case, and it isn't very good). As far as I can tell, Mel makes no difference to either of these albums. However, within Soul Jazz, Mel does have a wide range: very Texas-stle blues guitar work (as on "ESPM the reunion: Live at Akhbar Hall"); very straight-ahead material (as on "Sparkling"); funky Acid Jazz (much of his work); and even some Pharoah Sanders style material (as on "Give your life to G-d" from "This is it!"). Looking forward to the release of his next album "Groove on up", to be released on 23 May. What a nice sleeve that is! MG

I have one, but I ain't sellin' Mister! MG Actually, this would be a good one for Collectables to issue.

Just checked - I'm missing 3 albums: one each by by Jimmy Witherspoon, Etta Jones & Leon Thomas. Oh well... MG

Yeah, me too. I have a strong feeling I have everything he's ever recorded, as leader or sideman. MG

I think the Muse albums are generally more interesting than the HighNotes - though "What's new" is as good as anything he's done before. I like the two with John Patton - "Mean streets - no bridges", and "Jump", "To reach a dream" and "Soul eyes" best. But grab what you can! MG

I get the impression he was watching the pianist. MG

I had better put it down for April. MG

I bet Ernie Andrews STILL doesn't want to be an actress. MG

Thank you Steven - nice interview. I don't understand the video thing; the screen says that the video's playing, but I can't see it. Do you have to be a member before you can see it? MG

It's Jimmy Ponder's 60th birthday today. Happy birthday Jimmy and thanks for four decades of listening pleasure. Here's a list of Jimmy's own albums and recording dates. While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Cadet 1973 Illusion - Impulse 1976 White Room - Impulse 1977 All Things Beautiful - LRC 1978 Seven Minds - America 1978 Down Here On The Ground - Milestone 1983 So Many Stars - Milestone 1984 Mean Streets - No Bridges - Muse 1987 Jump - Muse 1988 To Reach A Dream - Muse 1988 & 1989 Come On Down - Muse 1990 Soul Eyes - Muse 1991 Something To Ponder - Muse 1994 James Street - Highnote 1997 Ain't Misbehavin' - Highnote 1998 Guitar Christmas - Highnote 1998 Thumbs Up - Highnote 2000 Alone - Highnote 2000 What's New - Highnote 2002 MG

Blimey! Struth! And WILD BILL MOORE AND ELI FOUNTAIN PISSIN' ALL OVER Houston Person! I'd love to see that. MG

I haven't got that one. I haven't got it on my OJC list either. WHat do you think of it? MG

Just looked it up. Koenig's sleeve notes say that he wanted "to experiment with more interesting, alive and natural sounds", so the job was done in the gymnasium-auditorium of the Los Angeles Police Academy. I must say, the sound of the album has never made any specfic impression on me. The Hawes album I DO think has a funny sound is "High in the sky", which has a cover photo of the trio playing in some lounge overlooking an airport, but was recorded in the Vault studios. You couldn't be thinking of this, could you? MG I'm probably just misremembering something from Ted Gioia's book West Coast Jazz--anyone have a copy handy? I remember it had a few comments on the circumstances of recording. In view of what you said, I listened to Hamp's first two albums earlier. I suppose there's a difference, but I wouldn't characterise it as very noticeable. MG

Looks like James Brown shops there, too! First time they put it in there, I had to do a double take. MG

There's one more; his first recording. Tommy Dean Tommy Dean (org); Fred Lee (ts); Grant Green (eg); Hattuch Alexander (b); Milton Wilson (d, bgo); Joe Buckner (voc). Universal Recording, Chicago, October 23, 1956 56-562 Boogie Googie (part 1) Vee-Jay unissued 56-563 Boogie Googie (part 2) 56-564 Ain't No Justice 56-565 She Left Me Alone 56-566 Come On That would be REALLY interesting to hear. I have a couple of 78s by Dean and his band swung like crazy! MG

I'm afraid you're confusing congas and bongos here - Sabars, or Sabhars, as their name is pronounced correctly, are smaller than congas. This pic shows three congas on stands with a pair of bongos mounted on top, so you can see the size relations: Here are some old style congueros: Here are sabar players to give an idea of the drum size: (should be an interesting CD, BTW: Sabar Wolof-Dance Drumming Of Senegal) On an average, sabar drums are smaller than conga drums. Thanks Mike. I got a different impression from the bands which I saw using them, maybe because they were in racks, so appearing taller than they really are (and allowing the drummers freedom for the choreography). MG

Just looked it up. Koenig's sleeve notes say that he wanted "to experiment with more interesting, alive and natural sounds", so the job was done in the gymnasium-auditorium of the Los Angeles Police Academy. I must say, the sound of the album has never made any specfic impression on me. The Hawes album I DO think has a funny sound is "High in the sky", which has a cover photo of the trio playing in some lounge overlooking an airport, but was recorded in the Vault studios. You couldn't be thinking of this, could you? MG

? There aren't any notes on Houston Person's "The real thing" - well, not on my edition (Eastbound 2EB9010), anyway. MG

Very, very nice indeed. That was the first Blue Mitchell I ever bought. And a lovely cover, as you say. MG

I like congas; love the groove. I don't doubt that they're unsuitable for some sessions but I've never yet heard one. I also like sabars, which are slightly bigger and are played with sticks. To see a couple of sabar drummers playing their pairs of sabars in unison is to watch a tremendously exciting drum choreography. MG