The Magnificent Goldberg Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 ok can people lay down their personal faves out of these reissues? so many mcgriff/holmes/etc i have avoided because i thought they would be rote. what are some good ones to your ears? I don't know exactly which GMs have been reissued. But for my money, Holmes' "American pie" has very hot playing; I think it's the hottest of Groove's GM albums. For McGriff, there's "The main squeeze" and "Fly dude", both of which concentrate on very straight ahead playing. "Stump juice" is very good, with more structured arrangements and a slightly larger band - but still not moving too far from straight up and down stuff. In addition, there is a splendid live album; "Friday the 13th". Half McGriff; Lucky Thompson playing soprano on the other half. Can't say I like Thompson much but others say his side is very good. I've been surprised, having got them in recent weeks, at how good O'Donel Levy's "Black velvet", "Simba" and "Breeding of mind" are. Charles Covington, who plays organ or keyboards on these, is also pretty interesting. You'll appreciate this is a judgement based on a couple of hearings, not three decades worth, as with the Holmes & McGriffs. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 phew - nothing availbale for decades, and then almost all of them, two CD issues and LP ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donald petersen Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 how about any of these joe thomas albums? anything good? it's weird-so much reissues and stuff falls through the cracks...like i really like the jimmy mcgriff "outside looking in" album. which is not part of the batch. "dump juice" is very good. i just avoided the earlier mcgriff ones, thinking they were more blues-based meh. and MG, i guess maybe i was right. hmmm maybe some of this buddy rich stuff is worth a listen... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donald petersen Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 hmm i like "stump juice" because i think it is a little different than what i would have expected. though you, MG, have heard a lot more than me.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 For those of you mp3 friendly, many (all?) of these are available on emusic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donald petersen Posted July 12, 2007 Report Share Posted July 12, 2007 i signed up for the free preview...g_d emusic still sucks. i don't know how you guys do it. poor selection and it seems like a lot of chedda for a few fake albums a month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted July 12, 2007 Report Share Posted July 12, 2007 i signed up for the free preview...g_d emusic still sucks. i don't know how you guys do it. poor selection and it seems like a lot of chedda for a few fake albums a month. "Poor selection?" Not for jazz! Best deal out there for legally downloading DRM-free mps. You prefer iTunes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donald petersen Posted July 12, 2007 Report Share Posted July 12, 2007 itunes...hellz no. i think the whole concept sucks and wish it never existed. i would rather spend 20 bucks on two real flesh and blood CDs than 75 mp3 things. but seriously i am on here and the groove merchant selection is weak sauce, imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheldonm Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 I picked up a couple of these from the Bastards this weekend....Dr. Lonnie Smith's "Keep on Lovin'" and Lucky Thompson's "Illuminations". The Thompson disc is pretty staight forward playing by Lucky...Walton's electric piano gives it a trippy feel. I really like Lonnie's disc as well with the exception of his singing on the title track. He sings on at least one other track that I can get into. Overall, I'll pick up others from this batch of releases. Note.... the liner notes leave a LOT to be desired. Nothing there but the song titles and a few credits. m~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donald petersen Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 i was curious about the lonnie smith as i have not heard it-it isn't um how do i say overwhelmingly produced? i was worried it would be like the mcgriff "red beans" and just be thick with sort of uninteresting studio musician disco funk grooves. and this is coming from a guy who likes mizell stuff. just from what i have heard-sometimes the groove merchant stuff (also joe thomas, for instance) can get a bit stiff when using the mironovs and babbitts of the world. but the smith is a good one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 i was curious about the lonnie smith as i have not heard it-it isn't um how do i say overwhelmingly produced? i was worried it would be like the mcgriff "red beans" and just be thick with sort of uninteresting studio musician disco funk grooves. and this is coming from a guy who likes mizell stuff. just from what i have heard-sometimes the groove merchant stuff (also joe thomas, for instance) can get a bit stiff when using the mironovs and babbitts of the world. but the smith is a good one? If it's "Keep on loving" you're talking about, it's one for completists. It's very much like "Red beans" & co - perhaps not quite as stiff as that, but there's LOTS better GMs - and lots better Dr Smiffs. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donald petersen Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 thanks mg. i think "afro-desia" is better, no? but that one wasn't reissued in this batch... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 thanks mg. i think "afro-desia" is better, no? but that one wasn't reissued in this batch... "Afrodesia" is half good - actually half brilliant. But the other half stinks. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluerein Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 I don't think the original LP's had liner notes (but I might be wrong). I'm happy with these reissues, keep 'em coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 I don't think the original LP's had liner notes (but I might be wrong). I'm happy with these reissues, keep 'em coming. Offhand, I think the only GM that had liner notes was Jimmy McGriff's "Let's stay together" - not that they were up to much anyway. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 i picked up stump juice on CD. very good. mg, i don't know what you mean about afro-desia. i know it was reissued in different incarnations and i found what i think is the ORGINAL setlist on CD...and it is all very good. i think other reissues contain some later, worse tracks. My copy of Afrodesia, which is the original, has these tracks: Side 1 Afrodesia Spirits free Side 2 Straight to the point Favors The awakening I don't like either track on side 1. I haven't played that side since about 1970something. But I think side 2 is fabulous! Perhaps, in view of what you've said, I should give side 1 another try... what is the best joe thomas album? I don't have any of his GM albums. But I have "Speak your piece" by Joe Thomas and Bill Elliott on Sue, which I like very much. They were two thirds of the original Rhoda Scott Trio and took in Jiggs Chase on organ to replace her when she went to France. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted November 29, 2007 Report Share Posted November 29, 2007 rube, you probably will not like it because like stump juice-it's half sort of funky and half straighter. i like the format of both albums. so it sounds like you enjoyed the straighter parts of afro-desia and no reason you need to enjoy the funkier stuff, imo. there is a rhoda scott album i have heard with joe thomas which was pretty good. live in europe. good team, they were. surprising version of also sprach zathustra on that one. i was thinking more the joe thomas sonny lester-produced stuff. any of those albums any good? Well, I like "Stump juice" a lot. Seems strange for me to be thought of as not liking the funky stuff much Anyway, I'm going to have another go at side 1 of "Afrodesia". No, as I said, I don't have any of the Sonny Lester material. Probably a mistake, but you can't buy everything (well, Rod can, but I can't ) MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted November 29, 2007 Report Share Posted November 29, 2007 i meant, rube, that you do not seem to like commercialized disco funk kind of stuff as much based on your dislike of "keep on lovin" and "red beans", for instance. and the other half of "afrodesia" is more pointed in that direction though still keeping it legit to my ears. but certainly did not mean to dog you in any way. we are not talking about high quality music here. i imagined that joe thomas' albums for lester fall into this boat a lot, but maybe one or two are gems... Oh well, that's kind of fair enough, though I AM prepared to put up with a lot of it from people I like anyway. And Lonnie definitely falls into that bag. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted September 10, 2013 Report Share Posted September 10, 2013 Not sure if this was ever a Groove Merchant release, but how is Joe Williams' HAVING THE BLUES UNDER A EUROPEAN SKY? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted September 14, 2013 Report Share Posted September 14, 2013 Never heard of it. (This is my entry in the 'Least helpful post of 2013' competition.) MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.