The Magnificent Goldberg

I thought this might happen, when I read of the takeover, so I downloaded the whole Fantasy catalogue in March as a series of 806 .txt files. It's a bit hard to e-mail the lot, but if anyone wants some specific bits of info, I'll be pleased to help. MG

Romeo Penque - he must be on thousands of albums. I think he actually took a flute solo on the Deodato/Donato album, but it wasn't anything special (like the rest of the album). MG

Absolutely agree with Dupree Bolton, Frank Haynes & Baby Face Willette. In addition: Conrad Lester - 3 with Freddie Roach, one each with Joe Carroll & McGriff Sam Lazar - 3 LPs, 1 single + some unissued stuff Paul Bryant - 3 as leader, 2 as co-leader with Amy, 1 with Johnny Griffin & 1 with Howard Roberts (which I haven't got) MG

I just had to move house to get more room! (for records, not Schwann cats, but there's a lot of paper stuff) MG

I have a Schwann catalogue from 1967 which gives the release date as October 1960. MG

Indeed; but that applies to everything he recorded after "Damn" and "Angel eyes". MG

I posted some info on the other Fred Jackson thread yesterday (it's confusing to have two - can they be amalgamated?). Just checking in AMG for which of the recordings are available on CD, I see there's a compilation of Little Richard available on CD, on the Rev-ola label and called "Get Rich Quick". This must at least have that track on it, but AMG don't give the track list. It only came out this year. Apart from that, there's a Billy Wright compilation available on the French label Classics, which covers the period from 1949-1951, in which Wright had all his hits. There are three Paul Williams compilations available in Europe on the Blue Moon llabel. The tracks on which Fred played are on the second, covering the period 1949-1952. I've got three of these cuts on 78. Really, you can't hear Fred - or can you? Lord notes that on one track, "Blues at daybreak", one of the two tenor players switches to alto. The alto part is quite prominent at the start; even more so at the end, where he does a little bit of preaching. However, it's not anything out of the ordinary and I hesitate to say positively that it was Fred playing alto, rather than Cranford Wright. Apart from "Get rich quick", which has a great Fred Jackson solo, none of these recordings is worth getting specifically for Fred, and I say this as having spent forty odd years with Fred as one of my heroes. But they're all worth getting FOR THEIR OWN SAKE. In particular, I love Billy Wright's work. Unfortunately, the Clasics CD doesn't cover the whole of his work and misses out some of his most interesting material, in particular a privately recorded live performance in 1952 of "Do something for me", unissued until it appeared in 1980 on Billy's LP "Stacked Deck" on Route 66. There, Billy shows exactly why he was the most influential figure on the Atlanta R&B scene of the period. He influenced not only Little Richard but James Brown and "Do Something" lacks nothing of what JB eventually became. Snuff for a while. MG

I saw a TV programme on Motown a good few years ago in which Earl was interviewed. He claimed to be the guy who came up with the idea of using chains in the rhythm section of (eventually) about five million Motown hits. In addition to the LP, which I haven't heard, Earl made a single for Motown "How Sweet it is/I can't help myself, which I have got. Again, it's not what one would have wished to hear. MG

In addition to tenor & baritone, Fred played alto sax on Lloyd Price's LP "This is my band". There's no personnel listed on the LP but the cover shows Fred - it's clearly him, on alto. Funny thing, though, he sounded different whichever horn he played. He was also on Little Richard's first recordings, for RCA, made in Atlanta in the early 1950s, and played a blasting solo on a track called "Get Rich Quick". There are a few tracks by Billy Wright, also made in Atlanta at the same period, with Fred on them. But there are also some Wright cuts from that period with a tenor player called Fats Jackson. I've never been sure whether Fats was Fred. MG

There's an album out in Britain called "Black Cat". Some was recorded on 23 Oct 1999, live in Florida. The rest was produced by Phil Upchurch in his studio on 11 Apr 2001, which makes it the last before "Legacy". I couldn't believe how cheap this CD was! Oh, it's good all right! MG

Bill Easley. Born 1946. Early recording career is 1 track on an LP in '69, 1 track in '75, 1 LP as sideman '77. Started recording seriously in 1980, age nearly 35, with Spoon in France, then with McGriff. MG

PS The album Leo made with Bill Jennings - "Billy in the Lion's den" for King in 1954 is very, very nice. It's not as hot as his BN albums, nor the Savoy material he recorded with Dex or Jug. It's a very relaxed, laid back set. But Leo shows that he doesn't always have to be the Wild Man of the Baritone (which is how he was billed in the 40s. And on some of the ballads, his sound is wonderfully expansive. PPS Since no one seems to have mentioned them, the material he made with Dex was issued on a Dex LP "Mastertakes" and includes the original version of "Settin' the pace". The stuff with Jug, with Leo as leader, was included in an Ammons LP called "Red Top". MG

Yeah! This is a really soulful album. I like it MUCH better than "Let me tell you..." The whole thing is right; the title and the sleeve really do give the right impression of the music inside. On the inside covers of old BN LPs in the 60s, you can see this one advertised (like several other BNs that weren't released) and we used to drool over it. Until, that is, the album was released in France in 1986. Then we drooled over the real thing. After over 20 years of waiting, the album wasn't a disappointment. Buy it. If you don't like it, I'll send you $20. MG

There's a new guy I've heard on the recent Reuben Wilson and Mel Sparks releases on Savant - Cochemea Gastelum. He can play all that funk stuff really nicely. I think he deserves watching. MG