100 INESSENTIAL, but rather enjoyable

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Even harder to do Paps.

My list covers the spectrum of Soul Jazz, from stuff like "Katanga" and "Soul connection", which lean a bit over into Hard Bop, to "Soul discovery" and "Life on Planet Groove", which lean over a bit into R&B. Where you enter depends on where you're coming from. As the Irishman who was asked for directions said, "I wouldn't start from here."

The other answer is, "it doesn't matter where you start off, it matters that you travel."

MG

[Kalo]

Geez, I only have one each from the two lists: Curtis Amy's Katanga and Marion Brown's Porto Novo.

[papsrus]

  The Magnificent Goldberg said:

Even harder to do Paps.

My list covers the spectrum of Soul Jazz, from stuff like "Katanga" and "Soul connection", which lean a bit over into Hard Bop, to "Soul discovery" and "Life on Planet Groove", which lean over a bit into R&B. Where you enter depends on where you're coming from. As the Irishman who was asked for directions said, "I wouldn't start from here."

The other answer is, "it doesn't matter where you start off, it matters that you travel."

MG

I like that. My wish list has been ballooning over the past couple of months, but I'll be returning to this thread to cherry pick titles when I can. Thanks.

[Hot Ptah]

  The Magnificent Goldberg said:

  Hot Ptah said:

MG, Just for fun, I started to compile my own list of "Inessential But Enjoyable Jazz Albums in All Genres", but gave up. I am highly impressed by your achievement in putting together your list of 100 Soul Jazz albums. It's difficult to make up one of these lists! My head hurts from trying to do it.

Yes, it's hard. You agonise over each one you have to ditch. And for what? It's only a list

MG

It's not "just a list". This is one of the most useful written items I have come across in 35+ years of reading the major jazz magazines and many jazz books.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

  Hot Ptah said:

  The Magnificent Goldberg said:

  Hot Ptah said:

MG, Just for fun, I started to compile my own list of "Inessential But Enjoyable Jazz Albums in All Genres", but gave up. I am highly impressed by your achievement in putting together your list of 100 Soul Jazz albums. It's difficult to make up one of these lists! My head hurts from trying to do it.

Yes, it's hard. You agonise over each one you have to ditch. And for what? It's only a list

MG

It's not "just a list". This is one of the most useful written items I have come across in 35+ years of reading the major jazz magazines and many jazz books.

It took most of the day but it was a spur of the moment job. If I did it again next month - I SHAN'T - I guess a very significant proportion would be different. So it's nothing approaching definitive.

If it's useful to some, well that's fine.

MG

[jostber]

You might feel good wearing this:

http://store.ropeadope.com/index.asp?PageA...&ProdID=111

[GA Russell]

  Dan Gould said:

I think there are other Curtis Amy PJs that fit into the "Soul Jazz" bag better than Katanga does. Unless I'm thinking of a different one, that always struck me as a little more modernist, a bit less "soul".

I was listening to Sirius this morning, and the disc jockey on the 60s channel Pat St. John said that Curtis Amy had the sax solo on The Doors' Touch Me. I didn't know that.

edit for typo

Edited June 14, 2008 by GA Russell

[Dan Gould]

  GA Russell said:

  Dan Gould said:

I think there are other Curtis Amy PJs that fit into the "Soul Jazz" bag better than Katanga does. Unless I'm thinking of a different one, that always struck me as a little more modernist, a bit less "soul".

I was listening to Sirius this morning, and the disc jockey on the 60s channel Pat St. John said that Curtis Amy had the sax solo on The Door's Touch Me. I didn't know that.

Chewy did.

[AndrewHill]

Nice lists MG and CT!

Man I thought I owned a decent amount of free stuff until I saw that Cliff's list. I have alot of stuff to check out.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

  Dan Gould said:

  GA Russell said:

  Dan Gould said:

I think there are other Curtis Amy PJs that fit into the "Soul Jazz" bag better than Katanga does. Unless I'm thinking of a different one, that always struck me as a little more modernist, a bit less "soul".

I was listening to Sirius this morning, and the disc jockey on the 60s channel Pat St. John said that Curtis Amy had the sax solo on The Door's Touch Me. I didn't know that.

Chewy did.

I knew, but I'd forgotten. I'm sure he got a credit on the sleeve of whatever Doors LP came out in 1969.

He played the soprano solo on "It's too late", by the girl who wrote it (can't be asked to look it up).

And he was on some stuff on the Stones' LP with a birthday cake on it, I think.

MG

[Hot Ptah]

  clifford_thornton said:

Just as many inessential, but very good, free jazz records.

1. Ric Colbeck – The Sun Is Coming Up – (Fontana)

2. Ray Russell – Secret Asylum – (Black Lion)

3. Willem Breuker – Litany for the 14th of June 1966 – (Relax/Wergo)

4. Marzette Watts – Marzette Watts Ensemble – (Savoy)

5. Marion Brown – Porto Novo – (Polydor)

6. Kalaparusha – Forces & Feelings – (Delmark)

7. Andrew Cyrille – Junction – (IPS)

8. Arthur Doyle – Alabama Feeling – (Ak-Ba)

9. Alfred Harth – 4 Januar. 1970 – (no label)

10. Huseyin Ertunc – Musiki – (Intex)

11. The Jazz Composers Orchestra – Communication – (Fontana)

12. Byron Allen – Trio – (ESP)

13. James Zitro – Zitro – (ESP)

14. Smiley Winters – Memorial Quartet – (FMO)

15. Wolfgang Dauner – Output – (ECM)

16. Paul Flaherty & Randall Colbourne – Endangered Species – (Cadence)

17. Muhal Richard Abrams – Afrisong – (Whynot)

18. Steve Lacy – Esthilacos – (Sassetti)

19. Francois Tusques – Intercommunal Music – (Shandar)

20. Joe Giardullo – Gravity – (Breeze)

21. Friedmann Graef – Daily New Paradox – (FMP)

22. Kenny Wheeler – Song For Someone – (Incus)

23. The Tony Oxley/Alan Davie Duo (ADMW)

24. The People Band (Transatlantic)

25. Spontaneous Music Ensemble – Challenge – (Eyemark)

26. Instant Composers’ Pool – Groupcomposing – (ICP)

27. Alan Braufman – Valley of Search – (India Navigation)

28. Richard Landry – Solos – (Chatham Square)

29. William Hooker – Brighter Lights – (Reality Unit Concepts)

30. The Sea Ensemble – Manzara – (Red Record)

31. Sam Rivers – Paragon – (Fluid)

32. Joe McPhee – Underground Railroad – (CJR)

33. Michel Portal – Splendid Yzlment – (CBS/AKT)

34. Alan Shorter – Tes Esat – (America)

35. Michel Pilz – Carpathes – (FMP)

36. Howard Riley – Facets – (Impetus)

37. Wilber Morris – Wilber Force – (DIW)

38. Wally Shoup – The Levitation Shuffle – (Clean Feed)

39. Doppelmoppel – Outside This Area – (Intakt)

40. Bengt Nordstrom – Now’s The Frippe Time – (Dragon)

41. Ascension – LP – (Fusetron)

42. The Music Ensemble – (Roaratorio)

43. Dewey Redman – Look For The Black Star – (Fontana)

44. John Tchicai – Real Tchicai – (Steeplechase)

45. Adam Lane – New Magical Kingdom – (Clean Feed)

46. Vinny Golia – Openhearted – (Nine Winds)

47. Horace Tapscott – The Dark Tree – (Hat Art)

48. Derek Bailey – Aida – (Incus)

49. Kazutoki Umezu – Seikatsu Kojyo Iinkai – (SKI)

50. Mototeru Takagi – Mosura Freight – (Interval)

51. Universal Jazz Symphonette – Sound Craft 75 – (Anima)

52. Khan Jamal – Drumdance to the Motherland – (Dogtown)

53. Sabu Toyozumi – Message to Chicago – (Nadja)

54. Burton Greene/Daoud Amin – Trees – (Button Nose)

55. Marco Eneidi – Vermont Spring 1986 – (Botticelli)

56. Alan Silva – Inner Song – (Center of the World)

57. Frank Wright – Church Number Nine – (Calumet)

58. Bob Feldman – Triplicity – (One Way)

59. Graham Collier – Songs For My Father – (Fontana)

60. In Order To Survive – Compassion Seizes Bed-Stuy – (Homestead)

61. Rob Brown – Breath Rhyme – (Silkheart)

62. Mongezi Feza – Free Jam – (Ayler)

63. Selwyn Lissack – Friendship Next of Kin – (Goody)

64. Bobby Few – Lights and Shadows – (Boxholder)

65. Charles Tyler – Live in Europe – (Ak-Ba)

66. New Life Trio – Visions of the Third Eye – (Mustevic)

67. The Thing/School Days – The Music of Norman Howard – (Anagram)

68. The Vandermark Five – The Color of Memory – (Atavistic)

69. G.L. Unit – Orangutang! – (EMI Odeon)

70. Sunny Murray – Charred Earth – (Kharma)

71. Jerome Cooper – The Unpredictability of Predictability – (About Time)

72. Marc Edwards – The Black Queen – (Alpha Phonics)

73. Joel Futterman – Inneraction – (JDF)

74. Bruce Eisenbeil – Carnival Skin – (Nemu)

75. Jason Adasiewicz – Roll Down – (482 Music)

76. Jemeel Moondoc – Revolt of the Negro Lawn Jockeys – (Eremite)

77. Ted Daniel – Sextet – (Ujamaa)

78. Mario Pavone – Shodo – (Alacra)

79. Michael Gregory Jackson – Clarity – (Bija)

80. Antithesis – Antithesis – (Arise)

81. Irene Schweizer – Ramifications – (Ogun)

82. Jimmy Lyons – The Boxed Set – (Ayler)

83. Julius Hemphill/Abdul Wadud – Live In New York – (Red)

84. Jacques Coursil – The Black Suite – (America)

85. Acting Trio – (BYG Actuel)

86. Frank Lowe – The Other Side – (Palm)

87. Baikaida Carroll – Orange Fish Tears – (Palm)

88. Manuel Villaroel – Terremoto – (Futura)

89. Giorgio Gaslini – Nuovi Sentimenti – (Voce del Padrone)

90. Don Cherry – Togetherness – (Durium)

91. Gato Barbieri/Dollar Brand – Hamba Khale – (Togetherness)

92. Hamiet Bluiett – Birthright – (India Navigation)

93. Jack Wright – Free Life, Singing – (Spring Garden)

94. Archie Shepp & Philly Joe Jones – (America)

95. Now Creative Arts Jazz Ensemble – Now! – (Arhoolie)

96. Dizzy Reece – From In To Out – (Futura)

97. Hans Dulfer – Jazz In Paradiso – (Heavy Soul)

98. Han Bennink – Tempo Comodo – (Data)

99. Mike Osborne – Outback – (Turtle)

100. Cohelmec Ensemble – Hippotigris Zebra-Zebra – (Saravah)

I have gone back and read this list again, and want to thank you for putting it together for us. I thought that I had a reasonably good handle on free jazz, but there are many albums on this list that I do not have, and in fact, that I have never heard of. It will be fun to try to find some of these in future months and years.

[mjzee]

TMG: Your first post now contains only 79 inessential, but rather enjoyable, Soul Jazz albums (probably from deleting duplicates). Your 5/15/08 post added 9 compilations. That leaves us bereft of 12 Soul Jazz classics. Please complete the list!!!

[David Ayers]

A list of 79 seems just WRONG.

[.:.impossible]

Surprisingly, I have more from MG's list than Clifford's.

Come on man. The Dark Tree? Inessential? But I wouldn't have considered it "free" either... Awesome set.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

  On 1/8/2012 at 1:14 AM, David Ayers said:

A list of 79 seems just WRONG.

Well, it is wrong!

I just went back to my original spreadsheet on which I'd listed the albums and I found that the numbering of the rows (not my numbering, Excell's) skips from 51 - Lonnie SMith's Club Mozambique - to 73, which is Visions. And there's a thick line betwen them. So I fiddled and found out how to find out what's under the thick line and it's a bunch of John Wright and Johnny Griffin albums, left over from the original list which I copied into Excell. And of course, the last row in the spreadsheet is numbered 101, (there's a row of column headings, see?) so I assumed Excell was telling me that I had a hundred. No wonder it was so hard to cut the list down - I could have had twenty-one more

If anyone wants my original spreadssheet, with 374 albums in it, send me a note: I'm not allowed to post Excell onto the board for some reason

MG

[David Ayers]

Well if you feel like doing a little community payback why not get the list to 100 and post it?

[paul secor]

Welcome back, MG! You may have been posting before this, but it's the first I've seen.

[Noj]

*Begins chant* MG! MG! MG! MG!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

In response to a request, I’ll put down a few more albums, that I hadn’t heard when I did the original list.

The Fabulous Counts – Jan Jan – Cotillion

Sonny Stitt – Primitivo soul – Prestige

Ramsey Lewis – In Chicago – Argo

Ramsey Lewis – Hang on Ramsey – Cadet

Perri Lee – A night at Count Basie’s – Roulette

Eddie ‘Lockjaw’ Davis & Bill Doggett – Midnight slows vol 10 – Black & Blue

Shirley Scott – Superstition – Cadet

Groove Holmes – Onsaya joy

Ramsey Lewis – Goin’ Latin – Cadet

Jimmy McGriff – A bag full of blues – Solid State

Milt Buckner & Buddy Tate – Them there eyes – Black & Blue

I've been listening to a lot of Ramsey Lewis over the last year and I've found that I've under-appreciated him in the past.

MG

[David Ayers]

So now we're on 90...

I never heard any of the ones you just listed!

[Dan Gould]

Hope you have time and motivation to stick around and post, MG!

[Dan Gould]

The Perri Lee is a pretty good LP if you can find it. Still like to find her other recording with Clifford Scott - MG put me on to it years ago but it shows up far less frequently than Bigfoot, Yeti or that thing in Loch Ness.

[Leeway]

I'll roll with most of Clifford's free jazz list, but got to disagree on 76 (Moondoc), 82 (Jimmy Lyons box), and 93 (Jack Wright). Anyway, I would not want to be without them.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Since I made such a lash-up of the first list, I thought I'd do it properly

I put it in artist order this time. Some changes and, of course, some additions.

And I put numbers in, so you don't need to count them

1 Cannonball Adderley - Live In San Francisco - Riverside - 10/1959

2 Nat Adderley - Workin' - Timeless - 3/1992

3 Gene Ammons/Groove Holmes - Groovin' With Jug - Pacific Jazz - 8/1961

4 Gene Ammons - Bad Bossa Nova - Prestige - 9/1962

5 James Brown - Grits & Soul - Smash - 5&8/1964

6 Odell Brown & the Organizers - Mellow Yellow - Cadet - 4/1967

7 Paul Bryant – Something’s Happening - Fantasy - 1963

8 Rusty Bryant - Friday Night Funk For Saturday Night Brothers - Prestige - 7/1972

9 Milt Buckner - Please Mr Organ Player - Argo - 5/1960

10 Milt Buckner/Buddy Tate – Them There Eyes – Black & Blue - 12/1967

11 Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue - Blue Note - 1/1963

12 Eddie Chamblee - The Rockin' Tenor Sax Of EC - Prestige - 2/1964

13 Ray Charles/Milt Jackson - Soul Brothers - Atlantic - 9/1957

14 Hank Crawford - The World Of Hank Crawford - Milestone - 2/2000

15 Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis - Cookbooks - Prestige - 6,9&12/1958

16 Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis/Bill Doggett – Midnight Slows vol 10 – Black & Blue - 7/1978

17 Lou Donaldson - Alligator Bogaloo - Blue Note - 4/1967

18 Cornell Dupree - Bop'n'blues - Kokopelli - 11&12/1994

19 Charles Earland - Livin' Black - Prestige - 9/1970

20 Charles Earland - Leaving This Planet - Prestige - 12/1973

21 Teddy Edwards/Les McCann - It's About Time - Pacific Jazz - 8/1959

22 The Fabulous Counts – Jan Jan – Cotillion - c1968

23 Herman Foster - The Explosive Piano of HF - Epic - 5/1961

24 George Freeman - Frantic Diagnosis - Bam-Boo - c1976

25 Funk Inc - Hangin' Out - Prestige - 12/1972

26 Grant Green - Remembering - Blue Note - 8/1961

27 Grant Green - Alive! - Blue Note - 8/1970

28 Al Grey/Jimmy Forrest - OD (Out 'Dere) - Greyforrest - 7/1980

29 Red Holloway - The Burner - Prestige - 8&10/1963

30 Groove Holmes - On Basie’s Bandstand - Prestige - 4/1966

31 Groove Holmes – Onsaya Joy - Flying Dutchman - 8/1974

32 Jackie Ivory - Soul Discovery - Atco - 8/1965

33 Fred Jackson - Hootin' 'N Tootin' - Blue Note - 2/1962

34 Milt Jackson - Soul Believer - Pablo - 9/1978

35 Milt Jackson - Night Mist - Pablo Today - 4/1980

36 Willis Jackson - Star Bag - Prestige - 3/1968

37 Willis Jackson - In The Alley - Muse - 1976

38 Willis Jackson - Bar Wars - Muse - 12/1977

39 Illinois Jacquet - Go Power - Cadet - 3/1966

40 Illinois Jacquet - The Soul Explosion - Prestige - 3/1969

41 Jazz Crusaders - Live At The Lighthouse '66 - Pacific Jazz - 1/1966

42 Boogaloo Joe Jones - Snake Rhythm Rock - Prestige - 11/1972

43 Etta Jones - My Buddy - HighNote - 12/1997

44 Charles Kynard - Soul Brotherhood - Prestige - 3/1969

45 Billy Larkin & The Delegates & Clifford Scott - Blue Lights - Aura - 1965

46 Perri Lee – A Night At Count Basie’s – Roulette - 10/1960

47 Ramsey Lewis – In Chicago – Argo - 4/1960

48 Ramsey Lewis – Hang On Ramsey – Cadet - 10/1965

49 Ramsey Lewis – Goin’ Latin – Cadet - 12/1966

50 Johnny Lytle - People & Love - Milestone - 8/1972

51 Junior Mance - Soul Eyes - M&I - 4/2004

52 Les Mccann/Eddie Harris - Swiss Movement - Atlantic - 6/1969

53 Freddie McCoy - Lonely Avenue - Prestige - 1&2/1965

54 Freddie McCoy - Peas 'n Rice - Prestige - 10/1965&4&5/1967

55 Jack McDuff - Screamin’ - Prestige - 10/1962

56 Jimmy McGriff – A Bag Full Of Blues – Solid State - Summer 1967

57 Jimmy McGriff - Black Pearl - Blue Note - 1971

58 Blue Mitchell - Blue Mitchell - Mainstream - 3/1971

59 Idris Muhammad - The House Of The Rising Sun - Kudu - 6,9&10/1975

60 Calvin Newborn - Up City - Omnifarious - Mid 1996 & 1/1998

61 David Newman/Ray Charles - Fathead - Atlantic - 11/1958

62 David Newman - Davey Blue - HighNote - 5/2001

63 Maceo Parker - Life On Planet Groove - Minor Music - 3/1992

64 Don Patterson - Hip Cake Walk - Prestige - 5&7/1964

65 John Patton - The Way I Feel - Blue Note - 6/1964

66 John Patton - Soul Connection - Nilva - 6/1983

67 Houston Person - The Nearness Of You - Muse - 11/1977

68 Jimmy Ponder - To Reach A Dream - Muse - 7/1988&6/1989

69 Pucho & The Latin Soul Brothers - Groovin' High - Cannonball - c1997

70 Ike Quebec - Heavy Soul - Blue Note - 11/1961

71 Alvin Queen/Lonnie Smith - Lenox And Seventh - Black & Blue - 5/1985

72 Irene Reid - Million Dollar Secret - Savant - 2/1997

73 Freddie Roach - All That's Good - Blue Note - 10/1964

74 Clifford Scott/Les McCann - Out Front - Pacific Jazz - 2/1963

75 Rhoda Scott - Live At The Club Saint-Germain - Barclay - 5/1974

76 Rhoda Scott/Ricky Ford/Houston Person - Very Saxy - Ahead - 1&2/2004

77 Shirley Scott – Superstition – Cadet - 1973

78 Shirley Scott - One For Me - Strata East - 11/1974

79 Jimmy Smith - Home Cookin' - Blue Note - 7/1958,5&6/1959

80 Johnny 'Hammond' Smith - Black Coffee - Riverside - 11/1962

81 Johnny 'Hammond' Smith - Black Feeling - Prestige - 12/1969

82 Lonnie Smith - Live At Club Mozambique - Blue Note - 5/1970

83 Lonnie Smith/Crash - The Doctor Is In - Cellar Live - 9/2003

84 Melvin Sparks - Sparkling - Muse - 2/1981

85 Leon Spencer - Where I'm Comin' From - Prestige - 2/1972&1/1973

86 Dakota Staton - More Than The Most - Capitol - 9&10/1959

87 Dakota Staton - Madame Foo Foo - Groove Merchant - 1972?

88 Sonny Stitt – Primitivo Soul – Prestige - 12/1963

89 Sonny Stitt - Just The Way It Was: Live at the Left Bank - Label M - 3/1971

90 Stanley Turrentine - That's Where It's At - Blue Note - 1/1962

91 Stanley Turrentine - Sugar - CTI - 11/1970

92 Fred Wesley - Swing & Be Funky - Minor Music - 5/1992

93 Don Wilkerson - Elder Don - Blue Note - 5/1962

94 Baby Face Willette - Face To Face - Blue Note - 1/1961

95 Baby Face Willette - Mo' Rock - Argo - 2&4/1964

96 Baby Face Willette - Behind The 8 Ball - Argo - 11/1964

97 Charles Williams - Trees And Grass And Things - Mainstream - c1971/72

98 Reuben Wilson - Blue Mode - Blue Note - 12/1969

99 John Wright - South Side Soul - Prestige - 8/1960

100 Larry Young - Groove Street - Prestige - 2/1962

MG

[mjzee]

Ah, an updated bible! A new testament, if you will! Thanks MG!