The Magnificent Goldberg

I think alternative takes are often interesting. However, to maximise the interest, one really needs to know the original take quite well, so as to be able to spot differences. If one hasn't heard the album before, it makes sense to be able to play the original LP through by itself quite a few times, so that one can make these comparisons. That is not helped if the alternative takes are spread among the "original" ones. Best to put them at the end, I think. MG

Priced very competitively with OJC. Stone the crows! MG

I'm not trying to cast aspersions, but how can you tell that's an original pressing? It probably went through scores of repressings within weeks of issue. MG True, but I assume that: 1) I didn't burn it from a cd 2) I didn't download it 3) It's a 1841 Broadway label 4) It sounds gorgeous 5) It's not a cassette 6) It's not a bootleg 7) It's not a later reissue Now, tell me: Did I say it's a 'original first' pressing? Ah, I read more into what you said than you meant. Ta. MG

Struth, in 1960 I worked at Harrods; we got a staff discount of 5%. And that was on Harrods prices! MG

I'm not trying to cast aspersions, but how can you tell that's an original pressing? It probably went through scores of repressings within weeks of issue. MG

I just got this recently, also (though not the Japanese edition). VERY nice. I didn't get the Japanese version, I got a German manufactured version of the OJC - that sleeve was what I got when I looked for the image on the web. It's a really nice album, though. I think, on first hearing it, that I'll turn out to like it even more than the other trio material he was doing at the same time. Can't imagine why Koenig didn't issue the album; there were plenty of empty periods in Hawes' recording career. MG

Jazz Crusaders - very loudly! Yes, yes. MG

MG

Earl Bostic - Jazz as I feel it - with Groove Holmes & Joe Pass - very nice sessions. And the disc is so goddamn heavy! It must be the heaviest LP in my collection. King original. MG

Of course! Another I'd forgotten! MG

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

Ah, the only two I've got from that period are the ones with Bobby Bland. Thanks for the info. MG

Well, if you have stereo copies of Jackie Ivory's "Soul Discovery" and Willis Jackson's "Swivelhips", put me down for those, please. MG

No shame there. Louis (I've also seen it spelled Lewis) was strictly "local" as far as jazz goes. He played w/BB King for years (on tenor and bari) and never did any jazz recordings. For years, playing parts on the road was what he did. But when he came off the road, ca. 1974-5, he settled in and decided to get his jazz playing together. And he did. As you might suspect, nobody could beat him on a medium blues. Nobody! Great guy to hang with, too. Some of us youngsters used to take him out for breakfast after the last set at The Recovery Room (where you'd often catch him sitting in w/Marchel) just to listen to his talk. Stories out the wazzoo, and one of the most genuinely warm cats I've ever known. He had a way of stirring sugar into his coffee that was one of the most elegant things I've ever seen in my life. Everything about him exuded style and true class. He passed away sometime in the early '80's, but his spirit still lives in those who knew him. Ah B B King. I've got this B B King LP on Ace, which B B recorded while he was contracted to Kent, but they didn't issue. It's all instrumentals and there are some great tenor solos on it. There's no personnel listing, though. Are these likely to be by Louis Hubert? MG

Oi! I've been saving my collection up so that, now I've retired, I can listen to it! My wife will have the bother of flogging it. It is NOT a job for retirement! MG You have a nice wife! Mine would never let me listen to it, if I was retired and at home with her. I wouldn't have a moment's peace if I tried, so I might as well sell it then. We moved to a bigger house, partly because it enabled her to get me a bit farther away - I'm upstairs with the records, she's downstairs with the TV. And when she goes out visiting, I crank the volume up more than a tad. She actually hates the music. MG

Billy Harper! Kirk Whalum. I kid you not. Didn't know either was a Texan. Didn't know you were a tenor player, either, Jim. Didn't know Frank Haynes was from there, either. Completely forgot John Hardee and Herschel Evans! And I've never heard of Louis Hubert or Shelley Carroll. And who the hell are Jerry and Gibby? MG

Oi! I've been saving my collection up so that, now I've retired, I can listen to it! My wife will have the bother of flogging it. It is NOT a job for retirement! MG

There are two JohnnyLytle's that should be issued - they could come out on one CD. "The soulful rebel" is very good. "People and love" is Lytle's best LP ever. Just his 12 minute version of The Stylistics' piece of shit "People make the workd go round" is enough to warrant release; it's an object lesson in how a jazzman can turn shit into gold. And it grooves like crazy. Marvin Cabell is on this LP, as well as Butch Cornell. There are also two great Jimmy Ponder LPs - "Down here on the ground" and "So many stars". Both of them are really good. I wouldn't mind seeing the Johnny "Hammond" Smiths coming out, either. MG

It would be King Curtis' 72nd birthday today, if he hadn't been murdered. I was listening to "It's party time with Jesse Powell" last night. And today the postman brought me Buddy Tate's "Groovin' with Tate" and the new David Newman album. Texas tenor players KICK ASS! Wilton Felder Illinois Jacquet Arnett Cobb Clifford Scott Booker Ervin Curtis Amy Don Wilkerson John Manning Wild Bill Moore Marchel Ivery James Clay Budd Johnson Harold Land Any more? MG

These just arrived in the post. Haven't even taken the cellophane off. MG

Dylan is a VERY common name in Wales. Bob Dylan took his name from the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. MG

I used to have one or two of the Roost LPs but ditched them, because they sounded a bit too much like Bebop. I will buy the set, but only for the Don Patterson material. MG

Try and find "Scratch my back" By David Newman - sexy cover, too. Should be cheap - no one cares about this stuff. But worth buying a turntable for. MG

My favourite strings album is "Warm & sonny" by Sonny Criss. Bit of a disco album but, God, does he play? (Yes, as ever, he does play.) MG

Wow! fuckin' Wow! MG