savoy records was nuts

[Big Beat Steve]

well, there are crooks and there are CROOKS - especially in the music biz, Big Beat - and Lubinsky was definitely one of the worst -

Lubinsky interests me quite a lot, but I've read little about him. Where did you get your info from Allen?

MG

Whenever Savoy and Lubinsky are mentioned (mags, liner notes, books), the bottom line always is the same.

Also, there is a pretty comprehensive chapter on the man in a book called "Newark Nightlife" dealing with black/jazz/jazz-related entertainment in the Newark area from the beginning up to the 50s. Fascinating reading and yours for the taking (and shelling out the bucks) on Amazon.

Also, there is a bio/memoirs by Teddy Reig. I haven't been able to obtain it (yet) but I guess he'd have a handful to say about Lubinsky too.

Edited October 28, 2008 by Big Beat Steve

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Jimmy Smith didn't popularise the organ in the black community. He did popularise it in the white community, of course.

Wild Bill Davis was the man in the black community. His recordings for OkeH were the real start of the organ movement. He was followed quickly by Bill Doggett and Milt Buckner (though I've never been sure of how popular in the black community Buckner really was). Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis started the tenor/organ concept in 1951, but those recordings for Roost never sold, though they're interesting. But from 1956, his recordings with Shirley Scott on King, Roulette and then Prestige, leading up to the classic Cookbooks of 1958 were another very important factor in the spreading popularity of organ jazz in the black community.

It seems to me that JOS didn't get into targeting the black audience until the sessions, which I think were intended to produce juke box 45s, rather than an album, of 1958 and 1959, which eventually made up "Home cookin'", then in 1960, "Open house" & "Plain talk" (neither of which was issued at the time), and a month later "Midnight special" & "Back at the Chicken Shack". That's my impression; I know you know people at Blue Note, Kevin. Is there any knowledge there (now) of what market Lion and Wolff were aiming at with different recordings? (correspondence and stuff - or someone as long in acquaintance as Chris Albertson, who could come in here?"

MG

I think you misunderstand the urban black market in the US. When I worked at the JRM in the '60s, the vast majority of JOS sales (80%) were to working class blacks. The Sermon and House Party were at the top of the list. These were folks buying second and third copies because the others had been damaged at parties. This was primarily a white store.

The singles business was a blues and r&b market at the time.

Thanks Chuck - it's hard to get the right impression from over here.

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

well, there are crooks and there are CROOKS - especially in the music biz, Big Beat - and Lubinsky was definitely one of the worst -

Lubinsky interests me quite a lot, but I've read little about him. Where did you get your info from Allen?

MG

Whenever Savoy and Lubinsky are mentioned (mags, liner notes, books), the bottom line always is the same.

Also, there is a pretty comprehensive chapter on the man in a book called "Newark Nightlife" dealing with black/jazz/jazz-related entertainment in the Newark area from the beginning up to the 50s. Fascinating reading and yours for the taking (and shelling out the bucks) on Amazon.

Also, there is a bio/memoirs by Teddy Reig. I haven't been able to obtain it (yet) but I guess he'd have a handful to say about Lubinsky too.

Thanks Allen. Is this the book you're referring to?

And isn't that Lubinsky in the striped suit on the cover?

MG

[Big Beat Steve]

Well, I'm not Allen (even when I replied to you ), and yes, this is the book, and Lubinsky is the cigar-munching character.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Well, I'm not Allen (even when I replied to you ), and yes, this is the book, and Lubinsky is the cigar-munching character.

Oh, sorry Steve - I didn't look. Thanks.

MG

[AllenLowe]

I can't give citations right now, have to do some research; I do remember that Curley Russell basically told me that with Lubinsky, when you shook hands with him, it was a good idea to count your fingers afterwards...

I actually may be thinking of Reig's book, which I have somewhere and will try to dig out - I do recall him being appalled by Lubinsky's treatment of musicians (and Reig was a mobster, so his standards were not that high) - will have to look around for it -