David Nadien

This albums concept is totally what CTI label boss Creed Taylor was after. The album's title track is from Marvin Gaye's album released around the same time as this "Trouble Man". Both albums are large scale productions with lots of musicians and an Orchestra conducted and arranged on this album by Bob James who also plays keys on the album. The core band of players consists of Ron Carter on acoustic bass, Eric Gale on guitar,Billy Cobham on drums and Richard Tee on organ and keyboards. Pianist Harold Mabern also guests on electric piano. Idris Muhammad also plays drums on a track. The orchestra contains many big jazz names such as Randy Brecker on trumpet, Pepper Adams on baritone sax, Joe Farrell on tenor sax and Jerry Dodigon on alto sax. A who's who of Jazz horn talent all backing Turrentine.

By Three, Bob James – the pianist, composer, and arranger – was deep into jazz-funk. The five tracks here reflect his obsession with hard, danceable grooves that take as much from the soul-jazz book as they do his years with CTI. Using many of the same session players he bonded with at his former label – including Eric Gale, Hugh McCracken, Hubert Laws, Will Lee, and Harvey Mason – and a large host of stellar horn players (among them Lew Soloff and Jon Faddis), James offers five selections of simple but fun jazz-pop.

The album 1996 contains 12 pieces arranged for violin (Everton Nelson, David Nadien, or Barry Finclair), cello (Jaques Morelenbaum), and piano (Ryuichi Sakamoto), including both new compositions and music used in the soundtracks to The Last Emperor, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Sheltering Sky, and High Heels. The music is for the most part restrained and reflective, as Sakamoto makes use of the contrasting timbres of the chamber instrumentation, mixing melodic and rhythmic effects soothingly (the exceptions being the more quick-moving "M.A.Y. in the Backyard" and "1919," which uses a barely audible voice and staccato playing to stirring effect).

For the second of his three Mainstream sessions (one that has been reissued on CD), the bebop altoist Charles McPherson pays tribute to Billie Holiday; in fact, "Siku Ya Bibi" means "Day of the Lady" in Swahili.