Quincy JONES – Smackwater Jack 1971

Quincy JONES – Smackwater Jack 1971
SP-3037

Jazz

Quincy Jones had jazz fans wondering when he released his killer GULA MATARI album in 1970. That set, with a gorgeous reading of Paul Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with a lead vocal by none other than Valerie Simpson, pointed quite solidly into the direction Jones was traveling: unabashedly toward pop, but with his own trademark taste and sophistication at the forefront. Its follow-up, SMACKWATER JACK, marked Jones, along with Phil Ramone and Ray Brown in the producer's chair, and knocked purist jazz fans on their heads with its killer meld of pop tunes, television and film themes, pop vocals, and big-band charts. The personnel list is a who's-who of jazzers including Monty Alexander, Jim Hall, Pete Christlieb, Joe Beck, Bobby Scott, Ernie Royal, Freddie Hubbard, Jerome Richardson, Ray Brown, Jaki Byard, Toots Thielemans, and many others. But it also hosted the talents of new school players who dug pop and soul, such as Grady Tate, Bob James, Joe Sample, Chuck Rainey, Paul Humphries, Eric Gale, and others. And yes, Simpson was back on this session in an epic reading of Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On,'" that featured Carol Kaye and Harry Lookofsky on soulful, psychedelic jazz strings and a smoking harmonica solo by Thielemans. The title cut, of course, is a reading of the Gerry Goffin and Carole King number, done in a taut, funky soul style with Rainey's bassline popping and bubbling under the entire mix. Other highlights include a rocking version of the television theme from Ironside, and "Hikky-Burr," the now infamous theme from the Bill Cosby Show with a guest vocal from Bill. The version of Vince Guaraldi's "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" is one of the loveliest tracks here. The album's final cut is a Jones original that sums up the theme of the entire album. Entitled "Guitar Blues Odyssey: From Roots to Fruits," it travels the path of Robert Johnson and Skip James through toJimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton with stops along the way at Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, and Grant Green. This set has provided some key samples for rappers and electronic music producers over the years--and there's plenty more to steal -- but as an album, it is one of Q's true masterpieces.
**
This is where a lot of serious jazz purists get off the train but for the rest of us, this is an exciting journey into Quincy Jones territory where labels are meaningless. Though Q takes us deep into Hollywood and TV with his themes to Ironside, The Anderson Tapes and the first Bill Cosby Show (with humorous vocals from the Cos' himself), his jazz base remains intact in these fascinating charts, and stellar friends like Freddie Hubbard, Milt Jackson, Toots Thielemans, and Jim Hall are left alone to shine. The centerpiece, "Guitar Blues Odyssey: From Roots to Fruits" is the first of many attempts by Q to summarize musical evolution in one fell swoop. Moreover, this ambitious collage actually works -- and it's great fun to hear Thielemans, Hall, Eric Gale and Joe Beck try to mimic guitarists from Robert Johnson to Wes Montgomery to Jimi Hendrix. One can't be quite as enthusiastic about Q's rather weak-kneed vocals on two tracks, but that's about the only stumble in this hugely enjoyable project
By Richard S. Ginell. AMG.
**
Bass [Fender]- Carol Kaye , Chuck Rainey
Bass [String]- Bob Cranshaw , Ray Brown
Drums- Grady Tate , Paul Humphries
Flugelhorn- Freddie Hubbard , Marvin Stamm
Flute, Saxophone [Tenor]- Hubert Laws
Guitar- Arthur Adams , Eric Gale , Freddie Robinson , Jim Hall , Joe Beck
Guitar, Harmonica, Whistle- Toots Thielemans
Organ- Jimmy Smith
Percussion- George Devens , Larry Bunker
Piano- Bobby Scott
Piano [Fender Rhodes]- Bob James , Jaki Byard , Joe Sample
Piano [Tack]- Monty Alexander
Piano, Harpsichord [Electric]- Dick Hyman
Saxophone [Soprano, Tenor]- Jerome Richardson
Saxophone [Tenor]- Pete Christlieb
Synthesizer [Moog]- Paul Beaver
Trombone [Bass]- Alan Raph , Dick Hixon* , Tony Studd
Trombone [Tenor]- Garnett Brown , Wayne Andre
Trumpet- Buddy Childers , Ernie Royal , Eugene Young , Joe Newman
**
A1. Smackwater Jack 3:23
    Backing Vocals - Barbara Massey , Joshie Armstead , Maretha Stewart* , Marilyn Jackson , Valerie     Simpson
    Vocals - Quincy Jones
A2. Cast Your Fate To The Wind 4:25
    Written-By - Vince Guaraldi
A3. Ironside (Theme From "Ironside"; NBC-TV) 3:53
A4. What's Going On? 9:52
    Backing Vocals - Barbara Massey , Joshie Armstead , Maretha Stewart* , Marilyn Jackson
    Vibraphone - Milt Jackson
    Violin - Harry Lookofsky
    Vocals - Quincy Jones , Valerie Simpson
B1. Theme From "The Anderson Tapes" 5:16
    Synthesizer [Moog] - Edd Kalehoff
    Vibraphone - Milt Jackson
B2. Brown Ballad 4:18
B3. Hikky-Burr (Theme From "The Bill Cosby Show"; NBC-TV) 5:03
    Vocals - Bill Cosby
B4. Guitar Blues Odyssey: From Roots To Fruits 6:38
**

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Quincy JONES - In The Heat Of The Night 1967

Quincy JONES - In The Heat Of The Night 1967

Jazz

Jones was born in Chicago and reared in Bremerton, Washington, where he studied the trumpet and worked locally with the then-unknown pianist-singer Ray Charles. In the early 1950s Jones studied briefly at the prestigious Schillinger House (now Berklee College of Music) in Boston before touring with Lionel Hampton as a trumpeter and arranger. He soon became a prolific freelance arranger, working with Clifford Brown, Gigi Gryce, Oscar Pettiford, Cannonball Adderley, Count Basie, Dinah Washington, and many others. He toured with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in 1956, recorded his first album as a leader in the same year, worked in Paris for the Barclay label as an arranger and producer in the late 1950s, and continued to compose. Some of his more successful compositions from this period include Stockholm Sweetnin’, For Lena and Lennie, and Jessica’s Day.

Back in the United States in 1961, Jones became an artists-and-repertoire (or “A&R” in trade jargon) director for Mercury Records. In 1964 he was named a vice president at Mercury, thereby becoming one of the first African Americans to hold a top executive position at a major American record label. In the 1960s Jones recorded occasional jazz dates, arranged albums for many singers (including Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, and Billy Eckstine), and composed music for several films, including The Pawnbroker (1964), In the Heat of the Night (1967), and In Cold Blood (1967). Jones next worked for the A&M label from 1969 to 1981 (with a brief hiatus as he recovered from a brain aneurysm in 1974) and moved increasingly away from jazz toward pop music. During this time he became one of the most famous producers in the world, his success enabling him to start his own record label, Qwest, in 1980.

Jones’s best-known work includes producing an all-time best-selling album, Michael Jackson’s Thriller (1982), organizing the all-star charity recording We Are the World (1985), and producing the film The Color Purple (1985) and the television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–96). In 1993 he founded the magazine Vibe, which he sold in 2006. Throughout the years, Jones has worked with a “who’s who” of figures from all fields of popular music. He was nominated for more than 75 Grammy Awards (winning more than 25) and seven Academy Awards and received an Emmy Award for the theme music he wrote for the television miniseries Roots (1977). Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones was published in 2001.
**
In a musical career that has spanned six decades, Quincy Jones has earned his reputation as a renaissance man of American music. Jones has distinguished himself as a bandleader, a solo artist, a sideman, a songwriter, a producer, an arranger, a film composer, and a record label executive, and outside of music, he's also written books, produced major motion pictures, and helped create television series. And a quick look at a few of the artists Jones has worked with suggests the remarkable diversity of his career Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Lesley Gore, Michael Jackson, Peggy Lee, Ray Charles, Paul Simon, and Aretha Franklin.
**
His first major Hollywood contract was with Universal Pictures. Jones became an African American pioneer in film and television industries during 1966-69 and he had few black colleagues. But television news reports were increasingly presenting images of discord and America was coming to terms with growing racial conflict. Amidst the struggle for civil rights, Jones worked in Hollywood to help destroy the negative stereotypes of African Americans. In 1965, he was hired to score the film Mirage, starring Gregory Peck and he scored In The Heat Of The Night (1967) starring the top box office star of the era, Sydney Poitier
**
A1. In The Heat Of The Night 2:30
    Vocals - Ray Charles
A2. Peep-Freak Patrol Car 1:30
A3. Cotton Curtain 2:33
A4. Where Whitey Ain't Around 1:11
A5. Whipping Boy 1:25
A6. No You Won't 1:34
A7. Nitty Gritty Time 1:50
A8. It Sure Is Groovy ! 2:30
    Vocals - Gil Bernal

B1. Bowlegged Polly 2:30
    Vocals - Glen Campbell
B2. Shag Bag, Hounds & Harvey 3:28
B3. Chief's Drive To Mayor 1:10
B4. Give Me Until Morning 1:09
B5. On Your Feet, Boy ! 1:37
B6. Blood & Roots 1:07
B7. Mama Caleba's Blues 5:00
    Piano - Ray Charles
B8. Foul Owl 2:30
    Vocals - Boomer , Travis
**
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Quincy JONES - In Cold Blood 1967

Quincy JONES - In Cold Blood 1967

Jazz

The true breakthrough for black composers in Hollywood came with Quincy Jones's riveting work on 1967's "In Cold Blood". That year, Jones did the music for both "In the Heat of the Night" and "In Cold Blood". Although his theme for "In the Heat of the Night", sung by the late Ray Charles, gained more popularity with the mass audience, critics devoted more attention to his work on "In Cold Blood", in which he pushed farthest the infusing of a jazz score with a deeply disquieting musical idiom.

Jones, a new Hollywood composer in the 1960s, demonstrated great flexibility and openness to experimentation, but he also displayed a capacity to let go of any posture of preciousness toward his own artistic creations when the situation demanded. For example, when Richard Brooks, the director of the film, disliked a section of Jones's score, Brooks instructed the sound mixer, Jack Solomon, to simply leave it out. Solomon, however, played Jones's composition backwards on the tape and decided to use the music in this way to accompany a scene where two drifters approach the farmhouse of their victims. Brooks was delighted with the results, as was Jones.

Perhaps the greatest compliment paid to Quincy Jones for his revolutionary score for "In Cold Blood" was the fact that he was only one of three persons listed (along with the film's director Richard Brooks and the book's author Truman Capote) on the original one-sheet movie poster used to advertise the film.
**
A1. In Cold Blood
A2. Clutter Family Theme
A3. Hangin' Paper
A4. Down Clutter's Lane
A5. Seduction
A6. Perry's Theme

B1. Lonely Bottles
B2. No Witnesses
B3. I'll Have To Kill You
B4. Nina
B5. Murder Scene
B6. The Corner
    (Vocals - Gil Bernal)
**
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Quincy JONES - Mode 1974

Quincy JONES - Mode 1974

Jazz

A 2LP set issued in 1974  one that features an assortment of late 50s and early 60s recordings done by Quincy for the ABC label! The album's graced with a stylish photo of Quincy on the cover, clearly designed to cash in on his big albums of the time  but the sound here is more in an older big band mode  the roots of 70s soul jazz and soundtrack grooves, heard in the earliest sides that Quincy recorded as a leader. Tracks are pulled from the albums Go West Young Man, This Is How I Feel About Jazz, The Quintessence, and My Fair Lady Loves Jazz, a Billy Taylor album arranged by Quincy -- and titles include "Boo's Bloos", "Stockholm Sweetnin", "The Oom Is Blues", "No Bones At All", "Quintessence", and "Dancin Pants".
From Dusty Groove.
**
A1. For Lena And Lennie 4:15
A2. Sermonette 5:56
A3. I Could Have Danced All Night 4:01
A4. No Bones At All 3:58

B1. Quintessence 4:19
B2. Little Karen 3:43
B3. Walkin' 10:46

C1. Dancin' Pants 3:44
C2. On The Street Where You Live 3:42
C3. Bright Moon 4:51
C4. Hard Sock Dance 3:19
C5. Be My Guest 4:30

D1. London Derriere 4:04
D2. Boo's Bloos 5:10
D3. Stockholm Sweetnin' 5:40
D4. The Oom Is Blues 5:11
**
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Quincy JONES and Bill Cosby - The Original Jam Sessions 1969

Quincy JONES and Bill Cosby - The Original Jam Sessions 1969
Label: Concord
Recorded at Warner Brothers/Seven Arts, Burbank, California (1969)
Audio CD: (June 22, 2004)

Jazz

The first Bill Cosby Show ran from 1969 to 1971, and Quincy Jones was its musical director. With the discovery of the show's lost tracks, a new generation can indulge in these sizzling and soulful moods and grooves. With electric and acoustic pianists Monty Alexander, Joe Sample, and Les McCann, guitarist Arthur Adams, and bassist Ray Brown highlighting the rhythm section, these sides are an excellent sonic snapshot of the soul-jazz sounds of the era. The velvet vibes of Milt Jackson sanctify the gospel-tinged "Oh Happy Day," and the incredible Jimmy Smith pulls off a Hammond B-3 solo tour de force on "Jimmy Cookin' on Top (interlude)." There are also three versions of the Jones/Cosby penned "Hikky Burr," one featuring saxophonist Eddie Harris, one with Cosby's hilarious vocals, and one a funky remix courtesy of Mix Master Mike.
By Eugene Holley, Jr.
**
This spirited set of tunes--or rather jams--documents the original and long-forgotten recording sessions made for the television sitcom THE BILL COSBY SHOW. Fronted by legendary producer and arranger Quincy Jones, THE ORIGINAL JAM SESSIONS 1969 ...    Full Descriptionis made up of funk, funk, and more funk.

An all-star band was assembled for this project, and on "Eubie Walkin'" and "Groovy Gravy," the bluesy guitar work of LA session great Arthur Adams adds just the right down-home flavor to the proceedings. Other tracks, such as the swinging "Toe Jam," highlight the jazz musicians on the date, namely saxophonist Tom Scott, pianist Joe Sample, and vibraphonist Victor Feldman. The most memorable track is "Hikky-Burr." This tune features Cosby himself scatting humorously atop an ad-lib vamp. Contagiously groovy, these spontaneous jams feel more like a party than a recording session. They are carefree, uninhibited, and at times, perfectly goofy. Who would expect anything else from the great comedian?
From CD Universe.
**
Quincy Jones
Bill Cosby- (Vocals);
Arthur Adams- (Guitar);
Eddie Harris, Ernie Watts- (Tenor Saxophone);
Claire Fischer, Les McCann, Monty Alexander- (Piano);
Joe Sample- (Fender Rhodes Piano);
Jimmy Smith- (Hammond b-3 organ);
Victor Feldman, Milt Jackson- (Vibraphone);
Ray Brown, Carol Kaye- (Bass);
John Guerin, Paul Humphrey- (Drums).
**
01. Hikky-Burr (Kincaid Kinfolk) 5:56 
02. Groovy Gravy 8:10
03. Oh Happy Day 4:18  
04. Jimmy Cookin' On Top (Interlude) 1:42  
05. Toe Jam 7:49 
06. Jive Den 3:13 
07. Eubie Walkin' 7:00  
08. Monty, Is That You? 6:42  
09. The Drawing Room 0:59 
10. Hikky-Burr 3:36  
11. Hikky-Burr (Mix Master Mike, bonus track) 3:01
**
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