Googa Mooga

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

FREDDIE ROACH - THE SOUL BOOK - PR 7490 (13&28/6/1966)

FREDDIE ROACH - MOCHA MOTION - PR 7507 (5/1/1967)

(The above 2 LPs are available in GB on Beat GoesPublic CDBGPD122 - 2 on 1)

FREDDIE ROACH - MY PEOPLE (SOUL PEOPLE) - PR 7521 (22&29/6/1967)

what is this "GB on beat goes public"-- is that some kind of record label? i am very interested in hearing about what these lps sound like- if someone can share-- are they really funky?-- also very interested in All thats good-- thats the one w/ joe henderson, right?

Beat goes public is a record label; a subsidiary of the UK reissue specialist company Ace.

Freddie isn't funky like Jimmy McGriff, Leon Spencer or Charles Earland; he plays like a person who happens to be a friend of yours. But he's funky all right; he comes from deep down in the black community. Some of his records are great dance material, but he never took James Brown on board in the way that Freddie McCoy or Lou Donaldson did.

"Brown Sugar" was the one with Joe Henderson. Freddie's intention with that LP was to capture the feel of going out at night and dancing and socialising.

"All that's good" has the fabulous Conrad Lester on tenor (he's also on "Mo Greens Please"). I think Conrad only recorded four or five times and is the greatest of the great unknowns. It also has Calvin Newborn on guitr, another man who recorded rarely, but always wonderfully. Freddie here tried to create the feeling of a storefront church, without actually doing any gospel tracks. There's a small vocal chorus on this one.

"The Soul Book" is a fairly straightahead album, in which Freddie tried to capture a number of different feelings associated with the word "Soul".

"Mocha motion" is closer to a conventional funk album than any of Freddie's others. He also sings on one track; a blues for the black soldiers dying in Vietnam.

"My people (soul people)" once more seeks to interpret a number of different facets of the black community. Freddie sings on one track, plays piano on another (the best groove on the LP - "Drunk") and plays flute on another. The tracks are all fairly short. This album is by a larger band than Freddie normally used. He has James Anderson (who later recorded with Jimmy Ponder and John Patton) on soprano, Conrad again and Roland Alexander on tenor, Kiane Zawadi on trombone and euphonium, Henry White on fluegelhorn, Eddie Wright on guitar and Eddie Gladden on drums. Despite the size of the band, the arrangements are light and loose.

OK, so I love freddie Roach...

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

PS

If I had to choose one Freddie Roach, I'd choose "All that's good", "Brown sugar" and "My People".

Ooops!

Well, otherwise I'd choose 'em all.

MG

[Guest]

very informative- many thanks to you. why did freddie stop recording after that? did the end of his recording carreer coinside with his death, or is there more to the story?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

very informative- many thanks to you. why did freddie stop recording after that? did the end of his recording carreer coinside with his death, or is there more to the story?

He died, but I don't know when. I remember Bob Porter mentioning in sleeve notes for someone else's record that Freddie and Sam Lazar (and maybe some other organists) had died, but I can't remember which album it was.

MG

[Guest]

do you rekon any of these cds will be released domestically as single issues, or perhaps a mosaic box?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

do you rekon any of these cds will be released domestically as single issues, or perhaps a mosaic box?

Mosaic is the least likely outcome, I should have thought. I recall when "Good move" came out there was some comment from Michael Cuscuna, perhaps in the "True Blue" magazine, or maybe on the Blue Note website, to the effect that that was the only proper jazz record the man made, so there. I doubt it Blue Note would have licensed "Brown sugar" to Water records this year had they any idea of issuing it.

Freddie is, I fear, caught between two stools. His work isn't particularly dancefloor friendly, so big sales can't be expected that way, but it's still Soul Jazz and very funky and feels very black, so it doesn't go down with serious jazz fans. Except in Japan. I don't understand the Japanese market, but I'm very grateful to it.

MG

[Guest]

so brown sugar should be avail. in US stores then, correct?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

so brown sugar should be avail. in US stores then, correct?

Yep. Water's based in San francsco. I imported mine from the US in August.

MG

[andybleaden]

Soul Stream,

Here is the info on the rejected Roach session. I got it from jazzdisco.org, which is not too reliable, but on the other hand I don't think they would have made this up. I haven't had a chance to confirm in Cuscuna/Ruppli.

Bertrand.

Freddie Roach Trio

Freddie Roach (org) Kenny Burrell (g) Ronnie Cole (d)

Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, December 4, 1962

Is You or Is You Ain't My Baby BN rejected

Googa Mooga -

Blues in the Front Room -

Edit: Speaking of the general and well-documented jazzdisco.org sloppiness, shouldn't it be 'Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby'? And who is Ronnie Cole?

Spot on compared to the Ruppli in front of me at the mo .......even has the same is you or is you theme.....guess the may not be the only ones

[andybleaden]

FREDDIE ROACH - THE SOUL BOOK - PR 7490 (13&28/6/1966)

FREDDIE ROACH - MOCHA MOTION - PR 7507 (5/1/1967)

(The above 2 LPs are available in GB on Beat GoesPublic CDBGPD122 - 2 on 1)

FREDDIE ROACH - MY PEOPLE (SOUL PEOPLE) - PR 7521 (22&29/6/1967)

what is this "GB on beat goes public"-- is that some kind of record label? i am very interested in hearing about what these lps sound like- if someone can share-- are they really funky?-- also very interested in All thats good-- thats the one w/ joe henderson, right?

I have the two fer cd and the japanese copy of my people...saw it an thought ...that ain't gonna be on the OJC series so nabbed it immediately

Nice cd too

The other two I had a lps and then sold them and got the twofer cd

the profit from the lps paid big bucks towards the tocj cds from erm either mundo/hiroshi or dusty groove

BGP have put some stonkin jazz out without much noise.....houston person was one with 'the real thing'

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

BGP have put some stonkin jazz out without much noise.....houston person was one with 'the real thing'

One of the most interesting ones BGP has put out is The Pazant Brothers "Live at the Museum of Modern Art", a previously unissued album privately recorded by the band in about 1971 when the brothers were getting their thing together. Check this one out, if you haven't heard it.

MG