The Magnificent Goldberg

It's a dead rip off of the BN style! Really shows how much care Concord are going to take of the Fantasy heritage, doesn't it? MG

It's amazing! I never HEARD of anyone being able to negotiate a bank into a lower margin. Just shows how different things are. MG

So how can a lender calculate at the start the full cost of the mortgage, as Dan said? MG Variable rate mortgages in the US have caps on both the maximum increase in an adjustment period as well as a lifetime cap (typical are 2/5 or 1/4). Therefore, at closing, there are more disclosures given and a worse case scenario is used to determine the maximum full cost of the mortgage. I find it very surprising if fixed rate mortgages are literally unavailable in the UK, as most people recognize them as the safest, most conservative way to finance home purchases. What happens in a situation where interest rates are rising and payments increase to the point where homeowners can no longer make their payments? Usually, the mortgage lender will work out a refinancing option that takes the final payment further away in time and costs the borrower even more. Since interest rates usually rise when house prices are rising faster, there's usually sufficient equity for that to be a reasonable proposition. But people's homes do get reposessed. If that happens when prices are falling, the homeowner is in the mire; no home and a big debt. MG Are there annual or lifetime caps to how much a rate gets adjusted? Why aren't fixed-rate mortgages offered? They used to be, but I suspect the lenders caught a cold a bit too often. 35 years ago, one of my then elderly collegues used to boast about what a good deal he had with his fixed rate mortgage; it wasn't marginally better - it was a hell of a lot better than a variable rate. He got it just before the beginning of a housing boom and interest rates went up well above his fixed rate. If that happened in enough cases, it would be a powerful disincentive to lenders to try again. There are no caps. The whole thing is market set (except for the Bank of England base rates, to which all other interest rates are sensitive). Lenders compete, partly on interest rates, which keeps them all more or less in line with one another. The country is small enough for people to borrow from a very wide range of theoretically local Building Societies (equivalent to S&L I think). MG

If it'll work for you do it. Presumably that would also gain you credit for other items bought through amazon.co.uk. I get stuff from Amazon UK dealers, too. I guess quite a few here do, from time to time. MG

So how can a lender calculate at the start the full cost of the mortgage, as Dan said? MG Variable rate mortgages in the US have caps on both the maximum increase in an adjustment period as well as a lifetime cap (typical are 2/5 or 1/4). Therefore, at closing, there are more disclosures given and a worse case scenario is used to determine the maximum full cost of the mortgage. I find it very surprising if fixed rate mortgages are literally unavailable in the UK, as most people recognize them as the safest, most conservative way to finance home purchases. What happens in a situation where interest rates are rising and payments increase to the point where homeowners can no longer make their payments? Usually, the mortgage lender will work out a refinancing option that takes the final payment further away in time and costs the borrower even more. Since interest rates usually rise when house prices are rising faster, there's usually sufficient equity for that to be a reasonable proposition. But people's homes do get reposessed. If that happens when prices are falling, the homeowner is in the mire; no home and a big debt. MG

So how can a lender calculate at the start the full cost of the mortgage, as Dan said? MG Variable rate mortgages are possible but fairly uncommon in the US. Most people do have fixed rate mortgages. "possible but fairly uncommon"???? Fixed rate mortgages remain more common than variable rates in the US but variable rates have grown enormously more popular for ten years or more, and the percentage of mortgages that are fixed rate will continue to fall as different financial instruments continue to be marketed. So how do they calculate the cost of a variable rate mortgage in advance? MG

I love De La myself, and would point to them (not forgetting the contributions of Prince Paul) as central to my own personal "golden age" of rap. But it's funny how most "golden ages" seem to coincide with the observer's teens and twenties. I know for a fact that the golden age of punk happened when I was 15-17. And the golden age of the gospel quartets occurred when I was between 0 and 7. The golden age of Rhythm & Blues (original style) also occurred at that time. So did the golden age of Bebop. MG

I've wondered about that album for years. Is it worth buying? (I've always been afraid that if you're a big Sonny Clark fan, as I am, the covers could just come off as annoying.) I don't know about that particular album, but John Hicks' "Music in the key of Clark" is an album I have never got tired of playing. It really evokes Clarke very well. And of course, it has remakes of "My conception", "Minor meeting", and "Sonny's crib", as well as a few lesser known Clark numbers. MG

So how can a lender calculate at the start the full cost of the mortgage, as Dan said? MG

Cor, only three and a half months after the end of the period! Over here, we have until December, but really until October, for the tax year ending the previous April - if we miss October, the Inland Revenue will arbitrarily estimate what we owe. Then it will take ages to get the tax right for the following year. (We pay tax as we go, through employers' deductions.) MG

What period is this deadline for? MG

It's probably 40 or more years since mortgage lenders in Britain were offering mortgages at fixed rates. With a variable rate mortgage, it's not possible to know how much it will cost 30-40 years in the future. I guess you don't have variable rates in the US. MG

Karma was one of four hit albums that Pharoah had. It got to #47 on the R&B album chart and 188 on the pop chart. Funnily enough, it didn't get on the R&B chart until a few weeks after it had left the pop chart. I love this album. In the late '60s and early '70s, I used to play it to friends who exclusively liked rock and it invariably made a big impact. But I never thought that they were really digging it for what it was but only because it sounded "freaky"; ah, and because of the lyrics of "Master plan" (as well as of "Hum Allah"), which were very '60s flower power, only a bit late. One of the things that always surprised me - and still does, whenever I think of it - was that Pharoah, who is 3 years older than me, was taken in by all that idealistic flower power hogwash that the youth of that day thought was the answer to everything. But of course, it's no good arguing with Sanders' opinions; you simply have to accept that was what he thought; his views are no more objectionable than those of, say, the Dixie Hummingbirds. Historically, Pharoah, to me, is the true descendant of the honking tenor players of the '40s: Illinois Jacquet; Arnett Cobb; Big Jay McNeely (particularly); Wild Bill Moore; Willis Jackson; and Hal "Cornbread" Singer. Yes, even when he plays a ballad album like "Welcome to love", he puts that kind of sexy breathy passion into his ballads. You get everything in "Karma". While "Master plan" is obviously the major cut, "Colors" is also a wonderful ballad track. Sanders music always makes me feel good; makes me breathe more deeply; makes me smile more; makes me dance. "Karma" does all this even more than most of Pharoah's albums (exceptions are "Rejoice" "Live" and "Lord let me do no wrong"). I'm glad this is AOTW - I'll put it on when I've stopped listening to Rev Gates. MG

I have Javon Jackson's "Easy does it", which is pretty good and Lonnie Smiff's "Too damn hot", which is brilliant. I keep forgetting to check out the Greg Hatza albums on Palmetto - he was a very good Jimmy Smiff-influenced organist in the 60s. MG

"Main stem" - Kenny Burrell, Jr Mance, Tommy Flanagan, Terry Gibbs, Milt Jackson, James Moody, Oliver Nelson, Oscar Peterson, Zoot Sims, Ben Webster. Lots of others. Why do no hard bop musicians record "Way back home"? MG

What are "fold-downs"? MG Back in the old days, they use to made two different mixing, monos and stereos, from the original master tapes. A "fold-downs" is a monophonic mixing made from two channel stereo mix, not a real monophonic mixing indeed. That's interesting. I could never hear Bobby Hutcherson terrily well on my friend's stereo copy of "Let 'em roll", so I bought a mono version and could hear him much plainer. I can still hear him clearly on the (UK) CD reissue, which is stereo. MG

I liked the photos of Illinois and of Bill Crow carrying his bass across Broadway. MG

What are "fold-downs"? MG

It was Davis who refused to release Wyclef Jean's best album so far - "Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101" - so he had to take it to Koch and release it on the Sak Pase label. The album only made #66 on the R&B charts. What I don't know is; did it do so poorly because it didn't have the undoubted power of BMG behind it? or was it because it was truly out of step with the culture because so little of it was in American and concerned with America? If the latter, then there's some reason to believe that Davis may have been right. Herman Lubinsky, according to people who knew him, had no taste or feeling for music. Yet he created Savoy Records; the market leader for Bebop and honking tenor players in the forties and the most important Gospel label of the past 60 years. I don't think there is a straight answer here. I doubt if Davis is any worse than Lubinsky was. But the outcomes were entirely different. There's no denying that a record company needs someone concerned with the bottom line. As far as I can see, the real difference is because one runs major companies and the other ran his own small business, clearly focused on a market which he understood. Major companies tend to try to do all things but also direct their biggest effort at the biggest niche market - the popular market. Because this is a market of people who don't really care about the music, except in terms of a "soundtrack to their lives", they can get away with murder. I read a book about Motown once. In it there was an interview with a lady who, as a young girl in the school across the road from Motown's studio, had been hired by Gordy as their (part time) quality controller. Gordy gave her a free hand in terms of equipment and, after a while, she asked the audio engineer to make her a record player that would sound as bad as a car radio, so she could tell what the records would sound like when people heard them for that first, crucial, time. THAT's what people use the music for. MG

Glad this was upped; I missed it before. I've just started as a CDU customer, because they seem to be cheapest on the scores of OJCs I need to get soon. So I'll be doing all my orders through you. Thanks. Oh, and I don't care where it is, or what it looks like; I'm from the old school of '80s system analysts; Model T systems. MG

Canned by Tesco in Britain! (I'll drink anything, even tea!) MG

This is spot on. Why is it that we hash this whole topic over every few months? We see the same shit every time. To expect another Marvin Gaye is like waiting for the next Bird. It ain't gonna happen. Culture evolves, as does the musical continuum. Remember Lincoln Logs? Man they don't make toys like they used to... Culture evolves, but that doesn't mean it progresses. I'm not pining for the past, but I'm sure not gonna say that 21st century America, from a cultural standpoint, has progressed from where it was 30 years ago. I'm hoping for a way forward. Cultures don't progress; they change. There's no way anyone can say that any culture is the result of more progress than any other culture. MG

Because things keep changing more and more and we're freaking out that they ain't never gonna be like they used to? Why? I don't think you are. I know I'm not. Why do some people? MG

Plus, these labels are so unfixed. I had a guy write me last night and tell me how much he liked the "smooth jazz" that I was playing and that the guitar was really lovely - I was playing Wes. Wes was THE pioneer of Smooth Jazz; 10 years before it happened. MG

Doesn't that mean there's good smooth jazz? There are some Smooth Jazz albums that fit rather better into the tradition of Soul Jazz than others. Try Urban Knights for that - of course, Ramsey Lewis does make a dfference. In general, Smooth Jazz suffers from exactly the same defects as Smooth Soul - some talented musicians and singers, but not much soul, not much conviction, no real story to tell. They probably wouldn't be ALLOWED by their labels to tell their story anyway. MG