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| The Essential Collection - 24 Smooth Jazz Classics (2CD) |
| Bob James, Earl Klugh |
első megjelenés éve: 2002
167 perc |
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| (2006)
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2 x CD |
Kérjen
árajánlatot! |
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| 1. CD tartalma: |
| 1. | Night on Bald Mountain
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| 2. | Feel Like Makin' Love
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| 3. | Nautilus
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| 4. | Farandole
L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2
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| 5. | Take Me to the Mardi Gras
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| 6. | Women of Ireland
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| 7. | Westchester Lady
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| 8. | Where the Wind Blows Free
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| 9. | Heads
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| 10. | Night Crawler
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| 11. | Kari
with Earl Klugh |
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| 2. CD tartalma: |
| 1. | Angela
Theme from Taxi
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| 2. | Touchdown
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| 3. | Blue Lick
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| 4. | Shepherd's Song
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| 5. | Thoroughbred
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| 6. | Reunited
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| 7. | Sign of the Times
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| 8. | Spunky
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| 9. | Miranda
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| 10. | Marco Polo
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| 11. | Ruby Ruby Ruby
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| 12. | Ensenada Madness
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| 13. | Brooklyn Heights Boogie
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Jazz / Smooth Jazz; Jazz-Pop; Crossover Jazz
Bob James - keyboards
Richie Resnicoff - guitar
Harold Kohon - violin
Charles Libove - violin
Gene Orloff - violin
Max Ellen - violin
Paul Gershman - violin
Emanuel Green - violin
Harry Lookofsky - violin
Joe Malin - violin
David Nadien - violin
Seymour Barab - cello
Jesse Levy - cello
Charles McCracken - cello
Alan Shulman - cello
George Ricci - cello
Anthony Sophos - cello
George Marge - alto flute
Romeo Penque - alto flute
Jon Faddis - trumpet
Alan Rubin - trumpet
Lew Soloff - trumpet
Marvin Stamm - trumpet
Victor Paz - trumpet
Thad Jones - trumpet
Wayne Andre - trombone
Jack Gale - bass trombone
Alan Ralph - bass trombone
Paul Faulise - bass trombone
Gary King - bass instrument
Steve Gadd - drums
Ralph MacDonald - percussion
With recent vogue for New York style and chilled-out moods Metro Doubles introduces a comprehensive collection from smooth jazz maestro Bob James. His early intricate avant-garde style, as represented by tracks such as ‘Nautilus’, ‘Westchester Lady’, and ‘Take Me To The Mardi Gras’ were embraced by early Hip-hop DJs and producers and are still sought out for their amazing percussion-breaks today. However, his most well-known track has to be ‘Angela’ that was written as the theme to the cult US comedy show ‘Taxi’, and sums up the feel of a night drive through Manhattan perfectly. This is a must for lovers of laid back Jazz and late night vibes.
Disc 1: 73:51 min.
Disc 2: 74:11 min.
Issued by the U.K.-based Metro Doubles label in 2002, Essential Collection: 24 Smooth Jazz Classics only overlaps 2001's Restoration anthology with eight of the same tracks, and concentrates on material originally released from 1974 to 1984 (apart from 1995's "Ensenada Madness," everything fits into that time frame). A fine chronological overview of James' most productive period, this is a very attractive package that includes informative and insightful liner notes. "Nautilus," "Westchester Lady," "Take Me to the Mardi Gras," "Angela (Theme From Taxi)," "Touchdown," and "Sign of the Times" are among the inclusions. Naturally, this double-disc set can serve any number of purposes: as pleasant, occasionally funky background music, as proof of your extensive knowledge of hip-hop samples, or as cruel torture for your jazz purist peers.
---Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
The light fusion that emerged in the '70s - gentle funky grooves, comforting textures and jazzy melodies - was the forerunner of the contemporary trend Smooth Jazz and, significantly, was similarly regarded. Easy on the ear, popular with many who weren't necessarily hard-core jazz listeners and therefore dismissed by purists as at best, misguided and at worst a bland, exploitative sub-class of jazz, people like Bob James - a veritable auteur of the music - have been virtually air-brushed out of many a jazz reference book.
Of course, nothing raises the hackles of a passionate minority-interest commentator like a capable musician finding a commercially successful style and sticking to it, which is broadly what James did in his heyday. But what Bob did he did beautifully and there's little evidence that his music was ever driven by anything other than his own prodigious desire to make it. As for his music being misrepresented as formulaic, for an artist as productive as Bob James, inspiration may have been more evident at certain times than at others but his range is undeniable. An accomplished and sincere musician with deep jazz roots, his pop, funk, classical and folk influences would often flower into something that, on the surface had a textural homogeneity and prettiness, but in the detail displayed many colours from many places.
Discovered by Quincy Jones, James's first album in '62 was a straight bop affair while his '65 follow-up was an intrepid free jazz excursion. Following three years as Sarah Vaughan's MD - no job for a lightweight - he made a name as a resourceful session man before landing a contract with Creed Taylor's CTI records in 1974. Between now and then there have been countless record appearances, eight albums with fusion supergroup Fourplay and thirty-odd albums under his own name, many on his own Tappan Zee label. They range from highly-polished jazz-funk to classical ventures to solo jazz piano and have generated thirteen Grammy nominations, two Grammy awards and millions of album sales. He's worked with numerous smooth artists (Lee Ritenour, George Benson), vocalists (Aretha Franklin, Al Jarreau), straight-ahead jazzers (Paul Desmond, Chet Baker) and has also been heard in a key role on albums such as Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years and Frank Sinatra's L.A. Is My Lady.
And this multi-faceted artist shows no sign of slowing down. Fourplay go from strength to strength, Straight Up (1995) was a fine jazz trio album, Joined At The Hip (1996) was an admirable collaboration with Kirk Whalum and nearly forty years after his debut, the excellent acoustic piano recital Dancing On The Water (2001) suggests Bob James could be just getting into his stride. Jazz history may regard him indifferently but to impartial listeners Bob James is a master musician and to smooth jazz aficionados, he's a Godfather. Here, we proudly present twenty-three choice cuts from the years 1974-1995.
CD1
1. Night On Bald Mountain
A sizzling cop-show adaptation of the Mussorsky piece that Lalo Schifren would be proud of. It moves from the tremendous drama of its fanfare into breathless, propulsive fusion jamming interjected with brassy figures; a kind of progressive disco. Expertly arranged and played, it's dynamic and surprising; the polar opposite of what James is known for
2. Feel Like Makin' Love
Archetypal Bob James jazz-pop. A soulful pop tune (discovered by James at a Roberta Flack session), super-cool groove by drummer Idris Muhammed and bassist Gary King and gently funky melodic licks played on James's trademark Fender Rhodes electric piano. Stylish and soothing, it's a smooth jazz classic.
3. Nautilus
After the breezy, fluty theme, James's minor key improvisations display an edge he's seldom given credit for. Angular and atmospheric, his electric piano lines explore some pretty dark corners as the spacey, synthetic textures blend with the strings to haunting effect.
4. Farandole
Another distinctive classical adaptation, this time it's Farandole from Bizet's L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2 that gets the epic prog-dance treatment. The flautist who brings the secondary theme out so vividly before delivering his taut, frenzied improvisation is Hubert Laws.
5. Take Me To The Mardi Gras
Bob James's keyboards were central contributions to Paul Simon's early '70s soft rock masterpieces There Goes Rhymin' Simon and Still Crazy After All These Years Here James recasts the groove of the great songwriter's gentle reggae number as a jolly, funksome workout with faintly dissonant picture-painting interludes, though Simon's memorable New Orleans jazz band effect at the fade is reprised.
6. Women Of Ireland
The beautiful theme was composed/discovered by traditional Irish music legend Sean O'Riada (mentor to The Chieftains) and featured in Kubrick's Barry Lyndon but has been much covered since. Here James attempts an audacious, cheerful hybrid by blending a Gaelic melody with a reggae feel, a very rare groove indeed in mid '70s American music.
7. Westchester Lady
Classic Bob James and one of his most famous original compositions. Everyone remembers the initial perky musical motif that appears throughout, but it's sometimes forgotten that the setting is nearly seven and an half minutes of meticulously crafted, muso-groove fusion.
8. Where The Wind Blows Free
An assertive funk groove underpins a typically sunny James melody and characteristic theatrical developments in the bridge, though the highlight is probably Eric Gale's lean and blue guitar solo.
9. Heads
As his detractors accused him of formulism, so the more sheened, glamorous and popular James's music became. By no means his most ambitious work, Heads nevertheless cooks along marvellously, blending acoustic timbres with attractively squelchy Oberheim synth sounds and features a model James piano solo.
10. Night Crawler
A prowling bass line, a funky, bluesy theme and a perfectly grooving vehicle for David Sanborn's proto-smooth alto sax. If you had to pick a single track that characterised what James music was in the '70s, it would be this.
11. Kari (with Earl Klugh)
A charming calypso from the pen of pretty-toned guitarist and session co-leader Earl Klugh. Like the album from which it is taken, this track sets an enchanting mood and just stays there, no compositional or arrangement muscle flexing, no extravagant improvisation, just beautiful sounds as smooth and musical as they come.
CD2
1. Angela (theme from Taxi)
If much of James's music sounds like '70s TV, none does more so than Angela, the actual signature tune from popular US sitcom Taxi. There was an underlying, faintly sentimental melancholy about the programme's humour which James's resigned, shoulder-shrug of a theme underscored perfectly.
2. Touchdown
With a tune strong enough to be a soul-pop hit, James - with harmonic suspensions and unpredictable rhythmic syncopations - typically turns it into something closer to a disco 'tone parallel', to borrow Duke Ellington's not altogether inappropriate phrase.
3. Blue Lick
Knocking them out by the handful in the late '70s (James recorded six albums in 1979 alone), Blue Lick represents one of Bob's more thoughtful fusion achievements of the period. Textured and arranged just so, as ever, it also benefits from juicy chords in the transitional passages.
4. Shepherd's Song
A rather lovely reading of the traditional melody, led with great musical sensitivity and restraint from the grand piano by Bob. Also featuring Hiram Bullock soloing on acoustic guitar, a relatively rare lead instrument in James's oeuvre.
5. Thoroughbred
A gorgeous galloping groove, an expansive, tolling piano theme and bold, Big Country strings characterise this grand piece. Listen also for the Spanish-flavoured piano solo, full of Hispanic colour and tension.
6. Reunited
A good example of Bob James's affinity for a well-crafted pop tune, in this case Peaches And Herb's massive soul smoocher Reunited. The expressive care Bob James invests in the phrasing of the melody is testament to his heartfelt interpretive gifts.
7. Sign Of The Times
A snazzy vocal arrangement for soul-jazz choir by ex-Heatwave and then-rising soul-pop arranger/composer Rod Temperton dominates this cut. Textural similarities to the Temperton contributions to Michael Jackson's album “Off The Wall” are not a coincidence. Listen out for James's cheeky solo on whistling synth.
8. Spunky
Pumping and bubbling along like a mechanised production line and with effects and electronic gestures replacing actual tunes, Spunky is clearly influenced by the emerging electro-pop movement. However, with his signature electric piano at the centre, it still could be no one but Bob James.
9. Miranda
Whether James's output (or indeed anybody's) from the synth-splashed '80s will attain the coolness that his '70s stuff has is for the future to decide. However, there's no resisting Miranda, a beautiful acoustic piano performance of gossamer delicacy and restraint. His critics must have wondered why he didn't do it more.
10. Marco Polo
An archetypal James heroic disco marathon that starts out boogying innocently enough - with cod-military fanfares and cracking whips - but is full of little compositional details and arrangement asides that betray an ambitious musician with genuine reach.
11. Ruby Ruby Ruby
Here James introduces -later becoming a sort of mentor for - Kirk Whalum, a Grover Washington-style saxophonist who has a soaring, expressive sound that fits perfectly within the James aesthetic. The young hornman also provided the catchy Spyra Gyra-esque tune.
12. Ensenada Madness
Harmonically complex, rhythmically restless and centred around roving, rangy piano work, this is mature Bob James, entirely unfettered by commercial considerations. There's barely a hint of a settled dance groove in this gallant music as it flashes from one musical highlight to another. Gloriously unsettling.
13. Brooklyn Heights Boogie
From an album that developed some of the background music James composed for Taxi, this piece perfectly describes a scurrying, urban scenario with a breathless, relentless bass-driven disco groove (similar to Joe Jackson's Steppin' Out which appeared a year earlier). A vivid 1980s glamour and excitement is breezily conjured.
---Chris Ingham
Divide his time between playing music, writing about it and teaching it, Chris Ingham is pianist/vocalist with the Flanagan-Ingham Quartet and is the Jazz critic for MOJO magazine. Often wishing when doing one thing to be doing the other, his family remain patient for now. |
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