The Magnificent Goldberg

MG

I felt the same about that album, but it's one I return to a few times every year. I also have Harold playing with Jimmy Liggins and his Drops of Joy in the late 40s. I do like to remember where these guys did their training. MG I like Xocia's Dance, but I agree it's a bit uneven. A few of the tunes on there really blow me away though..."Dark Mood" is one of my favorite Land compositions. What is the Jimmy Liggins recording? I'd love to hear more Land from that period. I have some early tracks he did on a compilation called "Black California" and they're outstanding. It's called "Jimmy Liggins & his Drops of Joy" Specialty SPCD7005 - not yet deleted by Concord, I trust. Note, this is pure R&B; you won't get much soloing from Land. MG

A tune by that name appears on Blue Mitchell's "Blue's moods" and Don Patterson's "Opus de Don" (CD "Dem New York Dues"), on which Blue played. In both cases the tune is credited to Blue Mitchell. Is this a different tune, perhaps? MG

I felt the same about that album, but it's one I return to a few times every year. I also have Harold playing with Jimmy Liggins and his Drops of Joy in the late 40s. I do like to remember where these guys did their training. MG

No Shit? I ain't got no shit, either. MG

I'm on Mongo '70 now. Struth! Is Reed playing hell out of that reed or what?! (Sorry, deliberate) MG

Bernstein's playing rarely reminds me of Grant, at least overtly. He's got a lot of Jim Hall in him, too, and plenty of his own thing. I was going to say the same thing. GG's influence is clearly there, but to my ears, Peter's got his own sound. Well, perhaps it's because I tend to hear him with organists. MG

I've just been listening to "Soul connection" and paid particular attention to Grant Reed, the tenor player on the date. Apart from this, Reed has, to my knowledge, only appeared on 2 Mongo Santamaria albums - "Mongo '70" and "Mongo's way". But he's a great tenor player; rather reminiscent of Booker Ervin and John Manning. Does anyone know anything about him? Is he from Texas? Has he appeared on any other albums? MG

Randy is far and away my favourite among the post '70s players. I have all nine of his own CDs, and probably most of his sideman stuff so far. To me, he embodies the SPIRIT of Grant Green, while sounding very different - though as Chrome says, v funky. He has that same enthusiasm for playing that you could always feel with GG. Bobby Broom, as lots of people have said, is pretty good - I like him with the Deep Blue Organ Trio as much as on "Modern Man". Rodney Jones is good, too, when he's on, which seems to be about half the time. Check out "Right now" and "Soul Manifesto Live" (much more enjoyable then "Soul Manifesto" (dead)). Peter Bernstein sounds too much like GG. So does Grant Green Jr (Greg Green), but in a sense he's entitled to. After all, if your Dad was GG, and gave you LESSONS, who else are you gonna sound like? But I do like "Back to the groove" (PaddleWheel) and "Jungle Soul" (Venus). MG

I gotta find a copy of that. The auction ended at $21.00. Any board member the lucky winner? That's pretty cheap! And here I thought I had a valuable original! MG

Thanks to Jim for posting this a while back. First instalment of the clear up outstanding OJCs before Concord slashes them MG

I was playing David Newman's "Under a Woodstock moon" yesterday. Some nice Spring things in that one. MG

Our removal firm brought along a lot of sturdy cardboard boxes (though they underestimated the number needed). It nearly killed the guys getting them up the stairs (my collection is upstairs in the new house), but they did it. It nearly killed me organising the boxes, once upstairs, so I could get the stuff out in approximately the right order, too. If you're doing the move yourself, why not contact some removers and ask to buy a quantity of the type of boxes they use? Best of luck. MG

Nice one! MG

I do agree it's a thankless job, whether you get it right or wrong. The idea of putting the somewhat duff cuts out as downloads sounds pretty sensible, to me. Perhaps someone would put Grant Green's first five tracks from 1956 out that way. MG

How do you get a job like that, David? MG

It's a good sleeve note, but I wish there had been some discographical information (aside from which company liscensed which cut). I would like to have dates and personnel for each selection. I have a Gospel music discography on my shelf, from which I can get those details, or whatever is known about them. Many of these songs have been recorded more than once by the artists concerned; can you let me have the details of which companies each track was licensed from? (By the way, Joel has less than 20/20 hindsight. Harold Vick's album "After the dance", which came out on Dorn's first label, Wolf, had no sleeve note.) MG

I forgot Hoagy. You reminded me; the bridge on "Skylark" is just incredible, especially the way Hoagy sang it on his Pacific Jazz album. Better get that out and play it later. MG

At present, we don't have any pets, though one of the reasons we moved last year was to get a garden and have a dog again. We haven't got around to it yet. We used to have a cat (well two, but the thick one got run over when she was about a year old) and two dogs; a Pug and, later, a Peke. The Pug, Toby, was a total nutter. The cat, Golly, was 7 when we got him. He started out by thinking he was a cat and couldn't understand why he couldn't get up on the back of the settee as easily as she did. She tolerated him for the rest of her life - she was 18 when she died - but used to get an evil pleasure out of baiting him. She'd dart at him, then dart away and he'd give chase around the flat (apartment). She'd leap onto the hall table and, as Toby would rush around, passing benneath her, she'd lean over and bop him one; it didn't slow him down a bit. She had a number of tricks. One was knocking on the front door when she wanted to come in - lifting the letter-box flap. But when we were in bed, she'd leap onto the 1" window ledge, hanging on by her claws, and scrabble loudly with her hind legs. We used to take her on holiday to my in-laws, who lived in the country. Because we were worried about her getting lost, we put her on a lead. And she didn't mind at all! Later, she used to go on her own holidays, too. During the summer, she went to stay with the neighbours over the back fence. That was how we got friendly with them. Pugs, however, are THE dogs for funny things. Toby couldn't be punished. He enjoyed all kinds of punishment, including anything our daughter fancied doing to him (she was 7 years older than him). He used to love showing us how naughty he'd been. He'd slip into our daughter's room and find a soft toy, spend a short while chewing it lovingly, then bring it in to show us. Very apologetic when punished, then go and do it again. He used to sleep in the kitchen and there was a street light outside that room. In the late afternoon, he'd sit in the kitchen, looking at the light, and barking to make it come on. When it did, he'd go mad barking like crazy, then put himself to bed. He also loved chasing trains and, regrettably, cars. He ALWAYS had to be on a lead on the road but, down on the cricket pitch by the railway, we could let him go. And could he go when a southbound train went past! Then he'd come back saying, "sent that one off, didn't I?" The only trouble with Pugs is the folds in their face, which trap snot. Toby used to clean his face by rubbing it on our white leather suite. YUKKKKK! The Peke, Blossom, didn't do anything much, but she was nice. MG

Good sleeve note. MG

I understand what you're saying but, in terms of looking after the heritage of its recordings, there's no company I know of except Delmark and ECM that doesn't or hasn't deleted some of its material. That doesn't mean that, at some point or other, the company won't reissue it. They'd be somewhat more likely to, I feel, if people were to tell them they'd rather like to buy the stuff than if they were to remain silent. For my part, I still haven't finished getting all the James Cleveland, Bishop Jeff Banks, Dr Charles G Hayes and Donald Vails Choraleers CDs I want yet (but there are 85 OJCs on my "to buy before Concord slash them" list). MG

Frank Rosolino and that trombonist who played a lot with Louis Armstrong who I always think is Frank Rosolino. (but probably isn't) MG

I don't think Stan Kenton did - Chris seems to have been the only one of his singers he didn't marry. MG

Nor have I; though I do have 2 by Urban Knights. (Hur hur) MG

MG