The Magnificent Goldberg

You can NOT be serious! He was a producer for Prestige in the mid sixties. Produced Freddie McCoy's albums, George Braith, Houston Person, Groove Holmes, etc etc. Not as great a producer as Bob Porter, but a lot of very good stuff came out. MG

It's "Master Farter". MG

And Teddy Edwards, I think. But I don't think I've heard any Teddy Edwards songs played by anyone else, so I'm not sure how recognisable they'd be. But they all have a very down to earth feel about them and a good groove, as well as sounding as if they were meant to have words - Teddy wrote his own words to many, which were also very down to earth. MG

Buddy Johnson MG

Is that so? I never heard that before. So Brubeck would have been getting big bucks then, and Ellington and a few others? MG

Yes, but you're thinking of Barry Miles. So was I. So who the hell is Butch Miles? I assume you don't mean Buddy Miles. MG

I agree. The longevity of some of those albums has been way over anything Columbia could have expected. "Kind of Blue" had gone over the two million mark and "Sketches of Spain" over half a million by 2001. But isn't that the result of his popularity as a result of the surplus publicity? It isn't what justified the payments in the first place. MG

Well, I put her in the list of the dozen most important; do you think lots of people wouldn't agree with that? MG

Yes, you're right about "pop star" rather than "rock star" in the fifties and early sixties. But whether we're talking pop stars or rock stars, then what we're talking about is hits and Miles had few in the top 100; fewer than Brubeck in the sixties and, over his career, the same number in the top 100 as Getz (but Getz put 4 into the top 30). Even Cannonball did better on the top 100 than Miles (3 in the top 30). Now, if you look at sales for Johnny Mathis or Andy Williams, Brubeck, Getz and Cannon are smallish beer. In terms of hit records, Miles was way overpaid (and consequently overpromoted) for what he actually produced for Columbia. That surplus promotion made him something different from Brubeck, Getz or Cannon. MG

You won't get any here... MG

I'll definitely agree with that. Should have put him in the list. MG

Neither the other thread referred to, nor this one, seem to have identified that Miles' success began earlier than his signing with Columbia. I can't remember where I heard it but Prestige had their records pressed by Columbia. The manager of the Columbia plant told the people back in HQ that he was making a hell of a lot of Miles Davis records for Prestige. Zap! Columbia probably started off by having to pay more to get Miles away from Prestige than was normally the case with jazz musicians; Bob Weinstock knew how many Miles Davis records he was selling, too. They certainly had to pay Miles a bundle; I read somewhere that it was many years after Miles signed with Columbia that the cumulative royalties due to him exceeded the cumulative advances he'd been given. I seem to recollect that this was around the time of "Bitches brew". That album was Miles' only top 50 hit (only reaching #35). He only got 5 other albums onto the billboard top 100. What I think happened at Columbia was that Miles was being paid like a rock star; without a hit, Miles was rich, probably very rich, by 1960. To get their money back Columbia needed to promote him like a rock star. And there's no doubt that he was promotable in that way. Even so, he was only selling like a reasonably popular jazz musician, far below Brubeck or Getz for example, in the sixties. I think his extreme and perennial popularity is down to his getting what might be called "surplus promotion" over and above what might normally be justified. But the initial impetus came from his Prestige records. There's no doubt that those records were selling as well as they were on merit. MG

Miles Davis John McLaughlin Beethoven Lots of people I don't like, but I can't get worked up about them. MG

Doesn't matter that it's not jazz. In a hundred years, people might be saying the same things about jazz. What you're doing with Cajun music is as important as anything in the musical world. We shouldn't let bits of the world's cultures fall through the cracks just because there's no profit. In Britain, Ace Records have released quite a lot of that material, so there must be a market, at least for a proportion of it. I bet your site gets a fair few hits from Britain. MG

I forgot Rhoda; yes, her bass lines are splendid. Clarence Palmer also played electric piano on Grant Green's "Carryin' on" and organ on the title track of Fats Theus' "Black out", which also featured GG. He's pretty good. MG

Thanks a lot; gives me more confidence. MG

I highly recommend picking up the JRVG version. You will find that it leaps out of the speakers as well. The domestic mastering sounds really lame. Worth the extra $, because "Sunshine Superman" has to be played LOUD! I'm thinking of taking your advice. I was disappointed in how quiet it was. When you say JRVG, is that the Japanese RVG? Isn't that version available yet in the US? MG Right, the mini-lp version. Sound is really muted on the domestic. What's a mini-lp? MG Edit - Oh, do you mean a CD in a paper sleve that looks like an LP? I guess it hasn't got "Dancin' in an easy groove" on it. Is that right? Yes, it does have "Dancin' in an easy Groove" Great tune. Yeah, it's the paper sleeve edition. Don't know if getting the superior mastering will lead to any upgrade assessment on your part for the session, but at least you can hear it better. I really think the domestic version is terribly muted. Can't hear shit. Thanks, I'll pursue that. My present copy isn't even US, it was made in Holland. MG

Groove Holmes - Welcome home Jack McDuff - Live at the Jazz Workshop MG

It's a little known fact that, in Wales, now that heavy industry's been knocked out, the largest volume of greenhouse gas emissions comes out of the back end of sheep, which outnumber people by about twenty to one, here. I've suggested that, to revive the economy and clean up the atmosphere, sheep hunting should be instituted as a major tourist attraction, but few appear to think the idea has merit. MG

There was a TV documentary a few (a good few) years ago about this guy. Fabulous! Thanks for saving me the trouble of looking for the link, Brownie. MG

Holmes' "Working on a groovy thing" has been on my wish list forever. I'm down for that one. MG

There are a dozen really significant Soul Jazz organists: Wild Bill Davis; Charles Earland; Richard “Groove” Holmes; Jack McDuff; Jimmy McGriff; Don Patterson; John Patton; Shirley Scott; Jimmy Smith; Johnny “Hammond” Smith; Lonnie Smith; and Larry Young. But there are so many other great organists, whose work I can never listen to enough. So Who are your favourite organists who aren't on this list? Mine are Lou Bennett Paul Bryant Milt Buckner Gloria Coleman Jackie Ivory Charles Kynard Billy Larkin Sam Lazar Bu Pleasant Freddie Roach Leon Spencer Jr Baby Face Willette Carl Wilson Reuben Wilson MG

The band also recorded a number called "The Boppers". I'll dig it up and give it a listen again. That was originally called "Floogie boo" and, according to the sleeve notes, was written by Cootie and Cleanhead. It was recorded on 4 Jan 1944, some weeks before Coleman Hawkins made the first Bebop record. (Ahem!) MG The cd on which I have it (Jazz Archives) claims that it was written by Cootie alone and that it's the same as "You Talk a Little Trash"-- which it is, just speeded up. However the cd notes also make the dubious claim that the alto solo may be by Bird, so who knows how much they can be trusted. BTW I'd say that Ken Kersey who plays on Epistrophy also brings some Bop to the band. I hadn't noticed that - I'll play them both later. The sleeve of my edition (Phoenix LP1) just gives Williams as the writer of Trash but both him and Vinson for the same song faster. Funny.... ? MG Just listened to them both. I don't think they're the same tune. They're both blues. There are some similar figures in them. That's it, far's I cnsi. MG It's taken me a while to get back to this but I've just played them again and on the cd I have Trash and Bopper are virtually the same but at different tempos. I wonder if the songs are labeled differently on the 2 records. Yours says that Epistrophy and Floogie Boo are the same? No, my copy doesn't say anything about Epistrophy. The source of that is Lord, I think, and possibly some other places I can't remember. Cootie's band did another version of "Trash" a few years later - 1947 - that's a bit faster then the 1944 version, from what I can remember. I'll get that out later this evening, perhaps. MG

Very pointed random thought... and very true. MG

I highly recommend picking up the JRVG version. You will find that it leaps out of the speakers as well. The domestic mastering sounds really lame. Worth the extra $, because "Sunshine Superman" has to be played LOUD! I'm thinking of taking your advice. I was disappointed in how quiet it was. When you say JRVG, is that the Japanese RVG? Isn't that version available yet in the US? MG Right, the mini-lp version. Sound is really muted on the domestic. What's a mini-lp? MG Edit - Oh, do you mean a CD in a paper sleve that looks like an LP? I guess it hasn't got "Dancin' in an easy groove" on it. Is that right?