This was the first of two albums from this loose combo whose ranks later, in the 90s, boasted Everette Harp on sax and Angel Rogers on vocals. This jazzy album was released on the short-lived but brilliant Valley Vue label in 1988, and was soon snapped up by Capitol later in the year who released it on CD. This CD is very rare, but Amazon do have limited copies! The majority of the album is instrumental, and some quite cinematic and avant-garde. Of these songs I really love two tracks and will get onto those in a moment. The supremo at the production helm was George Duke and it is his handiwork that created one of my all-time favourite songs of the late 1980s - "So Easy" (check soundbite below.) "So Easy is a masterclass in soulful vocal interplay from Josie James and Carl Carwell with a jazzy undercurrent a la George Duke style. I can easily recommend this if you are a huge fan of Chapter 8 (review of "Forever" coming soon!) and the 80s work of Michael J. Powell.The instrumentals of note really are atmospheric and haunting. Typical Duke creations, really. "Lady Of The Night" is a chilled affair and was originally put together for Miles Davis, and one listen will easily exemplify how Miles Davis could and would have taken it to another level. Leon "Ndugu" Chancler on drums, Byron Miller on bass, John Robinson on drums and the ever-cheerful Paulinho Da Costa on percussion stand shoulder to shoulder with Duke at the keyboards doing a grand job of aping a muted trumpet on his synth. A brilliant and haunting track. My second choice is, to me, breathtaking. Imagine sat out as I have done in the Midwestern scrub, sat watching the sun set and the stars appear. All you can hear is the wind blowing through the sagebrush and the call of coyote and - if you're lucky as I was - Elk. This song invokes such memories and takes me instantly back to those happy times. If you know Bob James "Far From Turtle" from his 1990 album "Grand Piano Canyon" then you may get some idea of what this track is like. Beautiful. No wonder the CD is worth a few pennies!
Barry Towler
The Vibe Scribe
The Vibe Scribe
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