David Nadien

David Matthews & Electric Birds - Digital Love (1979) {Japan Electric Bird The Best 1000 Series KICJ-2371 rel 2014}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 298 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 106 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 17 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remastering
© 1979, 2014 Electric Bird / King Record Japan | KICJ-2371
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Fusion

Reissue with the latest 24-bit remastering. Features original cover artwork. Comes with a descripton in Japanese. Fast and funky fusion from David Matthews – building off the sound of his later Kudu recordings with a sweet electric groove! The album's got a pretty full approach overall – with Matthews on electric piano, and directing a large group of players that includes Mike Maineri, Michael Brecker, Jon Faddis, Shunzo Ohno, and Ronnie Cuber – and a number of tracks feature a vocal chorus that includes Ullanda McCullough and Yvonne Lewis. The overall style is slick, but not in a bad way – and Matthews more than meets the Japanese fusion sound head to head for this non-US release from the time!

Altoist David Sanborn has long been one of the leaders of what could be called rhythm & jazz (R&B-oriented jazz). His debut for Warner Brothers was a major commercial success and helped make him into a major name. The music is fairly commercial but certainly danceable and melodic. Even at that point in time, Sanborn's alto cries were immediately recognizable; the Brecker Brothers, guitarist Steve Khan and Howard Johnson on baritone and tuba are prominent in support.

Popular crossover smash session linking two instrumental pop stars for a 1975 album. Beck played in a slick, light style, while Sanborn, although restrained, would occasionally slip in a hot blues lick or a fluid alto solo.

This 1975 Kudu album by Joe Beck was never reissued on CD in the United States but available only as a Japanese import on the King label. Beck is a masterpiece of mid-'70s funky jazz and fusion. Beck retired in 1971 to be a dairy farmer. He returned to make this album his opus. Featuring David Sanborn, Don Grolnick, Will Lee, and Chris Parker, all of the album's six tracks were recorded in two days. Overdubs were done in another day and the minimal strings added by Don Sebesky were added on a third day. "Star Fire" opens the set and features the interplay of Beck's riffing and lead fills with Sanborn's timely, rhythmic legato phrasing, and the communication level is high and the groove level even higher. On "Texas Ann," another Beck original, Sanborn hits the blues stride from the jump, but Beck comes in adding the funk underneath Grolnick's keyboard while never losing his Albert Collins' feel. On "Red Eye," Beck's two- and three-chord funk vamps inform the verse while Sebesky's unobtrusive strings provide a gorgeous backdrop for Sanborn, who stays in the mellow pocket until the refrains, when he cuts loose in his best Maceo Parker. The deep funk of Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin's "Café Black Rose" showcases the band's commitment to groove jazz with a razor's edge.

Robert McElhiney James (born December 25, 1939), known professionally as Bob James, is an American jazz keyboardist, arranger, and record producer. He founded the band Fourplay and wrote "Angela", the theme song for the TV show Taxi…

An entry within Metro Doubles series, One, Two, Three & BJ4: The Legendary Albums is a two-CD set containing Bob James' first four albums, presented in chronological order. The set is a good way to pick up these four James' discs – not only is it a convenient, concise way to get the records, but they're presented well with good liner notes, including track-by-track commentary by Chris Ingham.