Thursday, October 9, 2008

Vinyl of the Day - "Roger Kellaway & Houston Person"

Vinyl of the Day
Roger Kellaway & Houston Person: "The French/African Connection" (CTI) 1984
Produced by Creed Taylor at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, it was issued in the USA under another title, "Creation", on the Greenestreet label. Kellaway adapted classical pieces by French impressionists Claude Debussy & Maurice Ravel, and wrote three new tunes: "Windows", "Summer's Dance" (the album highlight thanks to Kellaway's groove on the Fender Rhodes), and the title tune "Creation", a bizarre collaboration with Jamaican singer/rapper Ripton Hylton, better known as Eek-A-Mouse and regarded as a reggae star.
Besides the Rhodes, Kellaway plays acoustic piano and Prophet 5.600 synthesizer, while Houston Person's soulful tenor sax reveals the influence of Stanley Turrentine and Fats Theus.
Another key contributor is the late Gary King, who, besides impeccable electric bass (Hayashi bass and Guild bass) playing throughout the album, used a sequential 6-track bass, programmed the Linn LM II drum machine and, anticipating the hip hop days, added scratch parts.
Really an one-of-kind undervalued tecno-jazz album.
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5 comments:

  1. Alain ManuelJuly 30, 2009 at 8:50 AM

    Bonjour Mr Arnaldo DeSouteiro

    Pressing US is a little different
    (see my blog)

    Blake Taylor (design) is a parent to Creed ?


    your comments are always interesting
    Thank
    Alain

    ReplyDelete
  2. Arnaldo DeSouteiroAugust 3, 2009 at 11:45 AM

    Bonjour Alain,
    Yes, the US pressing was issued on the Greenestreet label, under a different title (Creation).
    Blake Taylor is one of Creed Taylor's three sons.
    Btw, when Creed started CTI, he also created some publishing companies to be used for new material composed by CTI artists. The most famous (and profitable) one was Char-Liz Music.
    Another one was Three Brothers Music; its title was a reference to Creed's three sons.
    As you may know, Creed also started a CTI subsidary label named Three Brothers, in 1973, but only released one full LP (by Lou Christie) and some 45rpm singles by Christie and, most significantly, a psychedelic single by the trio The Clams, formed by Steve Gadd, Tony Levin & Pete Levin, which became a Top 40 hit in 1974.
    Blake Taylor started to work as CTI's album designer in the early 80s, but left the company in 1997 (after doing the cover art to Jurgen Friedrich's superb CD "Summerflood") to pursue a "solo career" on his own company called "ideaworks". But he returned briefly to work with his father in 2002, on the "Absolute Brass" compilation. Blake was also involved on the controversial PDCTI series. Sometimes, Blake was credited on the CD booklets as Blake "Hotfood" Taylor...
    Another Creed's son who worked a lot for CTI was John W. Taylor, who co-produced such CDs as "Evolution/Thus Spoke Z" and did some pics for albums by Donald Harrison and Steve Laury.
    Thanks for your support, A bientot,
    Arnaldo

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alain ManuelAugust 6, 2009 at 2:46 PM

    Bonjour Mr Arnaldo Desouteiro

    I did not know the CD "Summerflood".
    I will buy today.

    I listened the Claudio Roditi "Red on red" with Kenia Ashby this week. It is very good. Kenia, she sings divine (elle chante divinement)

    Alain

    ReplyDelete
  4. Arnaldo DeSouteiroAugust 6, 2009 at 3:50 PM

    Bon soir Alain,
    "Summerflood" is currently available on two different CD versions, with 2 different covers and masterings.
    The European issue can be found on JPC, Amazon, HMV, Fnac as well as on Ebay.
    The US CD can be purchased directly from Creed's official CTI website: www.ctijazz.com or www.ctirecords.com
    Good luck! And tell me which one you got!
    Merci, a bientot,
    Arnaldo

    ReplyDelete
  5. Arnaldo DeSouteiroAugust 6, 2009 at 3:57 PM

    PS: I had the pleasure to work with Jurgen Friedrich on two albums that I produced for Ithamara Koorax: "Love Dance" (Milestone, 2003, also featuring John McLaughlin and Gonzalo Rubalcaba) and "Autumn in NY - Ithamara Koorax with the Jurgen Friedrich Trio" (EMI, 2004).

    Here are some links about "Summerflood" here in the blog:

    http://jazzstation-oblogdearnaldodesouteiros.blogspot.com/search?q=Summerflood

    http://jazzstation-oblogdearnaldodesouteiros.blogspot.com/2008/04/cd-of-day-jurgen-friedrich-4.html

    http://jazzstation-oblogdearnaldodesouteiros.blogspot.com/2007/09/cd-of-day-jurgen-friedrich-summerflood.html

    http://jazzstation-oblogdearnaldodesouteiros.blogspot.com/2008/04/cti-memorabilia-jurgen-friedrich-ad.html

    http://jazzstation-oblogdearnaldodesouteiros.blogspot.com/2008/04/cti-memorabilia-jurgen-friedrich-jazz.html

    Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete