Bob James, the Godfather and master of smooth jazz on his double album "1, 2, 3 and BJ 4" the first four albums in a collection box found yesterday in another second hand shop in Aalborg, where I have never been.
Smooth jazz, what does it realy mean towards Bebop, Contemporary Jazz or Free Jazz? Some say that some of the muzak you hear quietely playing in a supermarket, is smooth jazz.
I completely utterly disagree. Bob James, born in Marshall Missouri, USA in 1939 in his day was a very innovative keyboardian, a master on his instrument and looking at the musicians on this collection album of the first four albums of his, you would know that smooth jazz was not for ameteurs, not muzak played for consumers in a super market, but seriously composed innovative jazz music, that combined more than one jazz tradition, except the improvised department, but more so fusion.
Bob James studied and finish his exams and master in music at the University of Michigan 1962, the next year he moved to N.Y.C., where he first teamed up with Maynard Ferguson on piano and became the pianist and arranger and the leader of the band behind Sarah Vaughan the next year.
He used to be a rather agressive jazz pianist playing small clubs in the 1960´s, which can be heard on the album "Explotions", by ESP Records 1965 but the idea of smooth jazz was more to built a big sound picture in fusion with many instruments involved.
In 1973, BJ got a contract with the record label CTI Records, where he met and played with Erik Gale, Grover Washington Jr., Hank Crawford, Stanley Turrentine, Steve Kahn and Earl Klugh, which led to the recording of his first solo projects playing keyboards and piano. In 1977 he founded his own record label and studio Tappan Zee, though he three times later for shorter periods of time was engaged with CBS Records as the anchor man in severel groups, decided for by the CBS because of his huge knowledge in arranging the music the best way.
Among his albums after the first four albums in smooth jazz are:
"The Genie: Themes and Variations From The TV Series Taxi", CBS 1983
"The Swan", CBS 1984 with Steve Kahn (guitars) and Marcus Miller (el. bass).
This morning from the collection of the first four albums "1, 2, 3 and BJ 4", the musicians are:
Bob James - keyboards
Grover Washington Jr. - tenor and soprano saxophone
Mark Friedman - vibes
Hugh McCracken - harmonica
Eric Gale/Hugh McCracken/Jeff Mironov - guitars
Hubert Laws - flute
Will Lee - el. bass
Gadd/Mason/Newark - drums
Ralph McDonald - percussion
String Orchestra and a Brass Band