The Magnificent Goldberg

Thanks Ken. PM sent. MG

"Originally called Bennie Ross Crawford, Jr., he picked up the name “Hank” while in college, as he was said to play like another saxophonist named Hank O’Day." Thanks very much. I never heard of Hank O'Day. Where did you find that, Marcello? MG

Nat John Knott Hangman

To be Frank and Ernest, Ella Fitzgerald ain't no Irene Reid, Etta Jones or Gloria Lynne. Pass wouldn't stop me buying one of THEIR albums. MG

I got this album as a download from CD Baby about a year ago. Carl Lott Trio (with Arnett Cobb & Don Wilkerson) - Live at Lott's Emporium So great I want to get it for my friend's birthday. But he hasn't got a computer, so I need a CD, which CD Baby haven't got any more of. They said, months ago, they'd let me know when it comes back in stock but it's still not there and I'll have to burn a copy for him. I'd rather pay Carl some money. So, I gather he's still in Houston. Can anyone help me get in touch with him to get either a CD or, even, details (not in the DL) of who the pianist and bassman are? MG

Asterix Obelix Getafix

Thanks - that's an interesting little list. No Hank/Bennie Ross Crawford in it. Damn! MG

Back in 2001, I got a big pile of cheap jazz CDs (including TOCJs) in Tower Dublin, but I expect it's gone now. Anyway, you should check out restaurants and pubs in Dublin, don't worry about music for a bit MG

Ah, so it's a mistake to pass up a Milt Jackson album just because Pass is on it? Noted, thanks. MG

Hm - I forgot to ask when we met, but I've always wondered why Bennie Ross Crawford Jr was called Hank. Anyone know? MG

Hank Crawford - Midnight ramble - Milestone MG

Vick Air Led Zeppelin

Thanks, all very interesting. So why wasn't Eddie Ellington good enough? MG

Why was Sonny Stitt called 'String'? Why was Eddie Ellington called 'Duke'? Wasn't Eddie good enough? Why was Gene Ammons called 'Jug'? Was he a boozer? I'd like to know, really. But let's not limit ourselves to those three; any explanations of jazz nicknames welcome. MG

Billy Strayhorn Al Viola String

Pleased to see I'm not alone in my feelings about Mr Pass. MG

Earlier My cover's not quite as awesomely bright as this one Illinois Jacquet - Bottoms up - Prestige John Stubblefield - Midnight over Memphis - Denon Nice disco album from 1978 - though not as nice as Mr Stubblefield's hat. If I could wear hats, I'd get one like that. MG

Pinky Perky Porcy 1962

It's not missing everywhere. I saw Youssou Ndour in St Louis, Senegal in 1997, playing in the square in front of the regional governor's mansion. The whole of the town turned out; young, middle and old; rich and poor. I sat behind a group of elderly ladies in their seventies/eighties, dripping with gold, and they were singing along with the songs from his recent albums. It's not from lack of choice - the entire panoply of western popular music is available there; jazz, reggae, soul, rap, salsa, pop. You hear it on the radio and TV, you see new releases advertised on lampposts, you only have to go to a different shop to get it. I don't know anyone who has tattoos. I don't have a mobile phone; I can't be bothered to learn how to use them; a proper phone is good enough. Oh, and I've been sticking earplugs in me earoles for thirty years or more, when I go out and about and no one's EVER asked what I'm listening to. Is it because I don't have a tattoo? MG

Sheepstealer Cannibal Grey Ghost

I know. Almost as if people who are interested in Les McCann are supposed to access his music in some other way. They charge an outrageous 60 pence per album and that's how they treat the people who wouldn't buy it anyway, even if it DID contain Les McCann. Still, I guess its just another Porsche in the garage to these euro-crooks (or another villa in Spain - while dead musicians starve!). Les lives! (Well, I think so.) Actually, I'd buy it if there were some McCann in it. I bought the execrable and pretentious (in my view) Joe Pass Mosaic, just for the two Les McCann albums included. MG pretentious? how so....? I feel that Pass, in his work with the likes of Holmes, McCann, Clifford Scott, Earl Bostic, Gerald Wislon, was being truly himself and really enjoying it. Other material seems to be deliberately aimed at getting him regarded as a 'great jazz guitarist'. Well, of course, that's a good way to make plenty of cash... MG

No thanks Fent99 - I've got 'em on my hard drive now, which is fine for the home for the ageing incompetent, when (if) I get there MG

A download for me please. MG

He lasted longer than most of his contemporaries in the soul business. RIP. MG

Summer ended half an hour ago - managed to get the washing in beforehand (phew!) MG