Question from Gilberto: “What song was recorded first? Marcus Belgrave’s Space Oddissey or Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay? Been always curious about that one.”
Answer: Through the magic that is Google, the “Red Clay” recording sessions were laid down in late January of 1970 so we can presume “Red Clay” was originally composed sometime in early 1970 or late 1969. Tribe Records, for whom Marcus Belgrave recorded Gemini II, didn’t even release its first album until 1972 and Gemini II, on which “Space Odyssey” appeared, didn’t appear until 1974.
So I’m going to have to go with Freddie on this one: sounds like Belgrave was influenced by “Red Clay” in composing “Space Odyssey.”
Question from Dan: “As I am debating whether or not to sell a bunch of vinyl I forgot I even had, what is the biggest regret you have when it comes to records you never should have sold, but for some reason did… and / or records you could have bought but for some unknown / ridiculous reason didn’t.”
Answer: Ok, there’s two question there, so to answer the first…
I’ve never regretted selling a record. I’m a real packrat (runs in my family) and if I let stuff go, it’s only because I’ve decided “I don’t want this” and so far, I haven’t reversed course. Now, there’s been perhaps one case where I accidentally sold an album I thought I had an extra copy of, only to learn that that I didn’t. It was Ronnie Foster’s Two Headed Freap and, if I recall, I had an original copy and a repress and I forgot that the repress was a repress..and sold the original, thinking it was an extra copy. So yeah, that was kind of stupid and it took me years to procure another original.
As for missed opportunities…there are small cases. I once saw Bohananon’s Stop and Go in a record store on the Lower East Side, probably around 1998 or ’99. The price tag wasn’t even that much – definitely less than $40, maybe even under $30 but I was trying to stay budget minded so I didn’t bother to get it…only to realize how near impossible it is to find the LP in the field (at least, back then). So I did regret not just getting it right then/there but Stop and Go, while a great album, isn’t a holy grail. It may be hard to find in the field but on eBay? Not an issue.
And since then, there’s no “big fish that got away” that I have nightmares about. So long as you think of collecting as a long-term process, records always come back around (maybe not at the prices you want them to, but…). I think it also helps to realize that most of us will never have the perfect collection; there will always be new records we learn about that we pine for or records that we know we’ll never be able to afford and are highly unlike to find in the field; you make peace with that by realizing that any collection will have incredible/wonderful records that will give you enjoyment and pride and just because you don’t have all the toys doesn’t mean you have none of them.
Question from Adil: “This might be an easier question than some of the others that people are coming up with, but who are some of the emerging soul artists/bands that you’re most excited about right now? I’m defining “”emerging”” as one released album or less. ”
Answer: I only have one answer for that and it’s a bit of a cheat: Lady. New group, about to put out their first album but the members of Lady – Nicole Wray and Terri Walker – have released a slew of projects as solo artists. But I don’t care: this album is easily already on my Top 10 for 2013.
Other than them though, I haven’t heard much else but if you’re willing to peep out a jazz singer with deep soul? Check out Heidel Vogel of the UK’s Red Eye. I like this track, the closer from their new album, quite a bit:
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