Dan Gould

Its on the rare Jazz Workshop label, Motown's jazz imprint. Anyone heard of this?

I was looking through a discography of the obscure and highly sought after Motown subsidiary label Workshop Jazz and discovered that "Breaking Through" was supposed to be their very first LP for the label. Just like a handful of Blue Notes, the LP was pictured on inner sleeves but never released, apparently pulled by Berry Gordy. It was issued on CD in 1999 as Lost and Found: Breaking Through . Here's the AMG review: The Four Tops' early years as a jazz-vocal group are generally glossed over in capsule histories. Long before they signed to Motown — nearly a full decade as a matter of fact — they had been one of the popular Detroit jazz-vocal groups, earning the admiration of such luminaries as Smokey Robinson and Billy Eckstine, whom the group supported. After some persuasion, the group signed with Motown on the condition that they could record jazz. Over the course of a year, they cut nearly two albums' worth of material, which boiled down to one album, Breaking Through. Berry Gordy pulled the record at the last minute, believing that it would have been a commercial failure. Gordy's fears were not unfounded — indeed, had the album that comprises Breaking Through (1963-1964) been put out in 1964, it likely wouldn't have found much of an audience. Still, Breaking Through is a strong record, firmly within its tradition and working well on those terms. The Four Tops may not sound as distinctive singing jazz as they did with pop-soul, but they are convincing, as are the Motown house band. Neither of them take many chances, however. The songs are primarily standards, plus four new songs that feel like standards, all given good generic arrangements. This may sound like a dismissal, but it isn't; it's hard to do this kind of music right, but the group most certainly does. And it's not just one member that shines; everyone gets to take a lead, and the results are uniformly strong. Even so, Breaking Through appeals primarily to hardcore fans of the group, plus a handful of straight-ahead vocal-jazz aficionados. Reminiscent of a cross between Eckstine and the Four Freshmen, it's good stuff, but it's essentially a curiosity. — Stephen Thomas Erlewine Anyone ever hear this?

I discovered something interesting this morning when I swung by AAJ and here. I logged off both sites essentially simultaneously last night, but when I came back this morning, there were only 17 active threads at AAJ but something like 25 here. Surprising that Organissimo was more active than AAJ, I'm pretty sure that was the first time its happened. A personal word: I went away for a time, came back because I thought this was a better group to poll regarding my interview with Eddie Higgins, and because that Higgins interview led to some off-board interaction with Chris A., I'm finding it harder to slam him on the political threads. So, with that constraint in place, I think I'll keep hanging here. And I agree with Chuck, though I think part of it is Rooster's active posting which has really played to the era he enjoys most.

Up at Minton's includes Horace Parlan and Grant Green and is quite good. But the best in the group is The Complete Blue Hour. Some find the original date sleep-inducing but it is, IMO, a gorgeous set of late-night, soulful blues, an all-time desert-island disc (and I say that not just because I am the (former) Gene Harris Fanatic!). The second disc isn't as cohesive or as consistent as the first but it has more uptempo tunes and is still pretty nice. Its actually interesting to see how in picking tunes Alfred had a hand in creating a masterpiece. Its clear from the two recording sessions that he didn't set out to make a late-night downtempo blues album, but he had the insight to recognize the best that the musicians laid down and then took one of Gene Harris' originals to give the date its name.

I've sworn off speculative buying because it seems that invariably the item I think is OOP is in print, or the item I think will fetch big bucks either doesn't fetch anything at all or I barely make the $$ back.

I tried to use an emoticon for "dead" but it didn't work.

Is that all that much worse than walking into a public restroom to find someone having an animated cel phone conversation while seated on the throne?

I guess since the law and common decency keeps people from getting shock value from their genital piercings, they have to find something new to do. I'm waiting til someone decides that spikes through the nose or, even better, temple, is the newest "new thing" in body "modification".

Thanks David. They kill you on the shipping charge, lucky my wife won't be seeing it. This thing better live up to the raves I've been reading!

Since even Mr. Tanno has now failed, I am just about losing hope that I will find Tango in Harlem by the dear departed Teddy Edwards. Unless of course some kind person is willing to do something off-board

Chris, Chris, Chris .... Can't people have principles different from yours and still be principled? You're just demonstrating what I am saying ... if you are black and don't adhere to the Jesse Jackson/Carol Mosely Braun/Al Sharpton agenda, then you are an unprincipled whore, selling out your people because the "man" throws you a few crumbs. It is the worst example of how people try to enforce Politically Correct views or else destroy those who stray.

But only if it were true that she had held the principles before she "compromised" them. What is always missing from these assertions is a willingness to accept that black Americans might actually, honestly, sincerely, and rationally come to the conclusion that they support the policies or principles of conservatives. Instead, they must always be "traitors" or "whores" because, in the eye of certain people, the only rational explanation is that they are selling out their people for personal gain.

Gloria Coleman, Soul Sisters on Impulse with Grant Green and Leo Wright Jon Hendricks, A Good Git Together on World Pacific with Nat and Cannonball among others.

Al, I saw the reviews but have not picked up First Lady yet. And Mark, I have no idea if Coyote V. Acme appeared in National Lampoon originally, though I can check when I get home. I'll second the nominations of the Hitchhiker books, though I would probably stick with the first three and let the last two slide.

Al, I saw your thread and instantly thought "Christopher Buckley" but in reading the actual post I see that you already know about him. I have enjoyed his work ever since "The White House Mess" and while "Thank You For Smoking" was extremely funny I thought in the end he lost his nerve a bit. Have you seen his collection of humor pieces, Wry Martinis? I found that one in an amusing location: the "Drinks" subsection of the Cook Book section of a Barnes and Noble! Another compilation book that has its moments is Coyote V. Acme by Ian Frazier. The title essay imagines the opening statement of an attorney representing Wile E. Coyote in a product liability suit against the Acme Company. I know you're asking for novels but thinking about Christopher Buckley brought me to these two recommendations.

Well, I wanted to thank the participants for their opinions. The final result was that I chose music that was a mix of "Chicago Players" and people Eddie worked with because I wanted to use music as a trigger for memories and I also hoped to choose tunes or at least players that he had a good chance of remembering. The blindfold part went OK, though in the end he missed most of them including Ira Sullivan who he has known for over 50 years-he was definitely disturbed at that. However, I will also tell you that the interview itself went ten times better than my fondest dreams. Eddie is an exceptionally personable and accomodating gentleman and to my great surprise we ended up speaking for a little over two and a half hours (and to think I was concerned that for whatever reason he might set a time limit that might effect my ability to conduct the blindfold test). He must have ultimately felt very comfortable because he shared some wonderfully moving anecdotes as well as some very funny ones and very informative ones. When I have written my article and found a home for it, y'all will be among the first to know. B)

I never objected to the half-naked women but really, hasn't he gone too far?

Not a bad point, Aggie. Though I think that if I go with the option of playing tunes by people he played with/Chicago musicians, after a couple of spins he will see what I am doing anyway. He may not want to hear a selection to trigger a memory or thought-for that I could just play "Name Association" with him. Thanks to everyone for the input.

Thanks John, the one problem is I do not know just how much time Eddie is allotting me so I may not get a chance to play more than 5 or 6 tunes at most. That's also making me think exclusively in terms of shorter tracks which unfortunately eliminates a tune that would be othrwise perfect. Its from Ira Sullivan's Delmar LP with Johnny Griffin, I can't think of the title but it features Sullivan on all of his instruments plus Johnny Griffin on both alto and baritone ... Eddie has played pretty regularly with Sullivan in South Florida, so I am definitely considering something by him, but this tune runs 18 minutes or so and I can't see listening to the whole darn thing!

I have managed to finagle an interview with Eddie Higgins next weekend. He has also graciously agreed to subject himself to a "Blindfold Test" and I am now trying to decide the approach I should take. I am not promising to follow the results of the board but I am interested to hear the suggestions of board members. I am leaning toward option 3 as it would hopefully trigger more memories/commentary and it would also ease Eddie's one expressed concern, looking foolish if he doesn't recognize the music/musicians. Because I do not want to post this at AAJ since I may approach them with the finished article, I have temporarily withdrawn my self-imposed posting ban. Thanks for the feedback.

Anyone who takes a look at my waistline can tell that I have a real problem with ignoring temptations. See you when the software includes an ignore function. Bye.

Let's put it this way. I had an epiphany yesterday. Life is too short to waste it getting annoyed by people I don't give a shit about. So unless you can enable an ignore function, I'll be at AAJ where the software keeps my blood pressure down.

Weizen can confirm this, but I am pretty sure this is what is called a "push poll". (Sorry Jeff, I kept this in the political realm)

Paul Bryant

Paul Chambers