The Magnificent Goldberg

I think so too. I got "Something you got" when it came out here andthought it was great. But when "Fever" and "Down home girl" came out, I simply couldn't believe it! Only one other of Alvin's singles came out here; "Whatever you had, you ain't got it no more", which I thought was as good as "Down home girl". Looking out those singles just now, I found I've bloody well LOST "Whatever you had"! Aaaarghhhh! I must have got it mixed up with a pile of my daughter's 45s which I chucked out when we moved! Alvin also appeared on Dr John's LP "Tango Palace", just playing guitar and doing background vocals on "Something you got" - a bit of a waste in my view. Larry has some interesting stuff on his site. MG

Me again. I seem to be nearly the only fan Freddie has got. See other forum. MG

Bill's very interesting, isn't he? Didn't know Andrew Hill played organ. Does he play it in the same style as piano? Don Pullen is another pianist who also plays some organ - but his organ playing is completely different from his piano playing. I like his organ work with Charles Wiliams and Maceo Parker very much. MG

Buddy was right there at the top of the thread as one of the reasons for it. I have to confess I've only got one Herschel Evans record - a 78 of Basie's "Blue & Sentimental" that, for obvious reasons, doesn't get played too often. But it's a great solo. MG

You're right Fasstrack. I don't know why he didn't appear in my original list up at the front of the thread. I have his "Organic chemistry" album and love it. I also love the work he did with Ruth Brown and Irene Reid. He made and LP for Dobre in the late 70s, which I wish I had, too. But he didn't make nearly as many records as someone of his talent should have. MG

But most convincing on "Walking death". MG

OT: My ex-wife had a Jane Fonda tape with soundtrack music by Steps Ahead. Anyone whose seen me can guess that I didn't ever actually do the workouts, but it was kinda fun to watch the spandex-clad Fonda-bots do thier thing while Michael Brecker was going off over synthy funk grooves! Of course - don't you think health is an important result in our present culture of gross overconsumption? MG

Oh, and I just remembered Al Abreu, who played on the Freedom Sounds' "People get ready". Very wailing soprano sax, as well as good tenor. I wonder what happened to him. MG

Root Beer's non-alcoholic, isn't it? Like Ginger Beer over here. I aren't half learning stuff on this site! Gawd blesher guv! MG

Thanks for that; I'll try to recall it correctly. IBC sounds like it ought to be a disease... I've heard Kirk Whalum play and I agree; he CAN. Just doesn't often. So... MG

Billy Higgins is the rich man's Billy Higgins. MG

Coo - wish I had that. MG

Found out yesterday Frank was from San Francisco. What's IIRC? Some honorary thing that non-Texans can get, like naturalisation papers? MG

Billy Harper! Kirk Whalum. I kid you not. Er... Kirk Whalum's from Memphis MG

I think you're all trying to define music by reference to what it "is". Personally, I prefer to think of it in objective terms - ie what's it FOR? So, it's a cultural activity, originally based on sounds heard in the natural world, though now more technological and diverse, which is intended to bring about some type of cultural result. Some of the more important cultural results are: sex; marriage; politics; financial gain; religious exaltation; aesthetic exaltation; aerobics; magic; entertainment; and communication. The definition of music does not require that this list of common examples be exhaustive, since cultures are very varied and constantly changing. MG

Two CDs of singing preachers of the 1920s This stuff was amazingly popular in the twenties. Burnett's "Fall of Nebuchadnezzar" outsold the most popular Bessie Smith records of the time by four to one. Gates was the best selling black artist of 1930, mainly because his sales didn't fall off in the depression. MG

My favourites are "Chicken & dumplin's" and "Soul food". My favourite Timmons tunes are "Pretty memory" and "The return of Ghengis Khan". MG

There are loads of killer Soul Jazz albums that haven't come out on CD. However, there's no point in inviting Mosaic to issue them; they wouldn't touch them with a very long bargepole. Water seems an outfit that is much more in touch with my taste. But they never include bonus tracks which, I have to admit, is a point in Mosaic's favour. MG

I posted that without checking, I thought it was '70 or '71. Actually, I had it in my car by chance and saw the date was '69 just after I posted so I guess all '70s jazz DID suck! I perceive that you WERE joking! MG

Yes, that's correct - it's the title track from "Child's dance". The label says it was written by Ramon Morris, but, of course, it was written by Donald Byrd. MG

Never heard of that one, nor have i heard of Frank Haynes. Tell us more. Picture of Heath ( Jimmy Heath) is a favorite of mine on Xanadu as well as the Sam Note (Act One) with Joe Romano, Barry Harris and Billy Higgins. OK - Bish Bash is Xanadu 114. It's made up of 2 sessions; live on 2 Aug 1964; studio 15 May 1968. Trax - side A Days of wine & roses Willow weep for me side B Summertime ------ Minor motive Yesterday's dream Party time My man's gone now Viva! Above the line is the live stuff: Bish; Frank Haynes (ts); Eddie Khan (b); Dick Berk (d) Below the line is the studio date: Bish; Reggie Johnson (b); Idris Muhammad (d) Frank Haynes was a little known tenor player from San Francisco. He never recorded as a leader and made few recordings as a sideman. He died young. He appeared on one Gerald Wilson LP, from 1954 and moved to NYC in 1960. He was on 3 Dave Bailey albums: "Reaching Out" (the date with Grant Green), "Bash" (which has also been issued under the names of Tommy Flanagan and Kenny Dorham); and "Two feet in the gutter". He also played on a few tracks of Sonny Forriest's Decca LP; Les McCann in New York; a live T-Bone Walker date with the Walter Bishop band featured on "Bish Bash"; and Randy Weston's "Blues" on Trip. And that's it. I haven't got the Wilson, Forriest or T-Bone Walker albums but all the others are great albums and Haynes' playing is invariably superb. He reminds me of Dexter Gordon, but ultra funky with a more straightforward groove to his lines. MG

Lots of Soul Jazz in the 70s was very good indeed. But I've got to agree that the Mizells didn't do Soul Jazz any favours. MG PS Fancy free was recorded in 1969...

Help! My grasp of this technology is less than moderate. When I click on the "Say it loud" link on the "Night lights" site, it says "do you want to save or open this file?" What do I do? MG MG, are you right-clicking or left-clicking? It should simply be opening in either Real Player or Windows Media if you're left-clicking. If you continue to have trouble, I'll check with our webmaster. I don't think you should have to save it. I'm left clicking. MG PS For some reason I'm not getting e-mails notifying me of replies, although it says I am. Could you send me the answer by a PM please? MG

I just dug out Fancy Free yesterday, when I was looking around for anything else I had with Jimmy Ponder. (I just got the John Patton Select on Tuesday, and Ponder's on one of those dates, "That Certain Feeling" from '68.) Haven't spun it (Fancy Free) yet, but I will shortly. Nice album, no, very nice. But it and Kofi aren't in the same league as Electric Byrd, which I find incredibly beautiful and the Byrd I love best. MG

I've got a couple of Xanadus; Saturday Morning, Inimitable Edwards, Cuber Libre. But the one I treasure most is the Walter Bishop, Bish Bash, mostly a live date with the utterly great Frank Haynes. Surprised no one else has mentioned this. MG