Ooh yes for me, he has still got that sound
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Still in the higher end of the alphabet drawer and inspired whilst watching with no comms the footy and Atalantas No77(?)
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Yes, remember Boot’s selling records back then. It was a very decent selection. They always had a faint smell of cosmetics for a while after purchase I think. I remember buying ‘Double A’ by The Movies from upstairs in Boot’s in Crewe in 1977. I still have that copy!
Do you alternate the Spatial X3 and the MoFi SourcePoint 10 in your main system?
Crisp and happy (blues).
The Definitive Black & Blue Sessions Review by Eugene Chadbourne
Black and Blue, a French jazz label rather than a state of being following a physical interrogation, made beaucoup use of drummer Oliver Jackson for a bit less than a decade beginning in 1977. The title of The Definitive Black & Blue Sessions could theoretically have something to do with any number of projects he was involved in during this tenure, including backing up a series of classic jazz bandleaders.
Reissue collections of all of the material released by this label happen to share the title of The Definitive Black & Blue Sessions as well, meaning Jackson’s attempts at definitive drumming can be found on many other titles in this series besides the volume released under his own name.
Featuring a total of 11 tracks, the 2004 set does not make much of an attempt to represent the totality of Jackson’s releases as a leader for the label, even though doing so would not have required prowling through that much material.
Most of the efforts of this drummer when assuming leadership involve a traditional piano trio, the instrumentation presented throughout The Definitive Black & Blue Sessions. The drummer does not play in such a way that would quickly establish his leadership status, not that this could really be done in this format without mucking it up. An entire LP featuring pianist Cliff Smalls starts things off; the original running order of tracks is retained. The focus is on standards, the concluding “Softly As in a Morning Sunrise” allowing Smalls an opportunity to make big with the rhythmic accents. Jackson allows many nice moments to emerge simply by not being overly demonstrative.
Two tracks from 1975 with goony, self-referencing titles are presented in a concluding flashback of sorts. “Jackson Is Wigging” plays with both the drummer’s name and that of pianist Gerry Wiggins, with whom Jackson also recorded in 1977 in a trio with bassist Major Holley. The same rhythm section of Jackson and Holley played on B.B. King’s Grammy-winning Blues ‘N’ Jazz effort from 1983, but here the bassist is Bill Pemberton. He is not in good shape from the title of “Bill Is Bleeding.” He plays as if getting shot or at the very least getting slashed was a prerequisite for playing a walking bassline – an appealing concept for the more violent non-jazz fans.
The latter would not be the proper audience for the works of such a serious and seasoned jazzman as Jackson, who by the time of the Black and Blue relationship had gone from the bebop scene to the modern jazz impressionism of Yusef Lateef to a kind of swing enclave hiding behind beakers of cafe au lait in Paris.
By then Jackson had put in time with many a piano trio, including that of Teddy Wilson, whom Smalls resembles in no tiny way on titles such as “Love for Sale.” The rambunctious take on “One O’Clock Jump” brings out the best in bassist Leonard Gaskin and is perhaps the highlight of the set. It might have been nice to have included a track or two from Jackson’s quintet session Billie’s Bounce, originally released in 1984.
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ATGR is one of my favourite albums. It lulls you into a false sense of security by starting quietly on acoustic guitar, before morphing into a noisy monster a few tracks later with ‘Southern Man’, my favourite ever NY song.
And I always wondered why that photo shot wasn’t taken a couple of seconds later, so that NY didn’t appear to have a homunculus growing out of his back.
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Paul McCartney - McCartney / Archive Collection - CD (1970)
54 years ago, Paul McCartney’s debut solo album, McCartney, started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart. Apart from Linda McCartney’s vocal contributions, McCartney performed and recorded the entire album solo. The album featured ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’, which Rod Stewart and the Faces featured on their 1971 album Long Player.
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The Beatles - Let It Be - CD (1970)
The Beatles 12th and final studio album ‘Let It Be’ started a three week run at No.1 on the UK chart, 54years ago today 23/05/70 featuring ‘The Long And Winding Road’, ‘Across The Universe’ and the title track.
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Phil Collins - Face Value
I can’t believe I’m listening to a Phil Collins solo album - I blame the jokes thread. This and its successor, Hello I Must Be Going, were very popular among girls when I was at university. I think every girl I knew had a copy of one or both and I grew rather tired of PC. I’m not sure I’ll be able to stick with it for long.
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Billie Holiday - Some Other Spring on Breakfast on BBC R3 FM.
Presenter Petroc Trelawney has just reminded listeners that the next six weeks will be an EFZ, an election free zone, ‘apart from in their short news bulletins.’
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