Patti+austin

The late famed session jazz guitarist Eric Gale (not to be confused with Eric Gales) may not be a household name on the jazz scene, but in a long career, he was highly sought after as a top session player. He appeared on over 500 albums, and recorded with artists that included Billy Joel, Quincy Jones, Van Morrison, Lena Horne, Gábor Szabó, Chuck Rainey, Grover Washington Jr., Phil Upchurch, Tom Scott, Patti Austin, and Paul Simon. "Multiplication" is highly polished late 70s jazz fusion. It’s mellow, uncomplicated, cool, and Eric used a tight funk approach on some of the tracks. The album is a joy to listen to and is not just for jazz fans.

Lee Ritenour goes techno/pop/rock on an album originally released on the pop Elektra label – and as such is not recommended to jazz fans with a low tolerance for the stuff. Here Captain Fingers extends his reach to play keyboards and programmed electronic drums on a few tracks, along with very competent rock guitar .

Signed to Warner Bros. in 1977, Farrell, who had been a valued sideman, had also released a few albums under his own name. On CTI, he released albums like Moon Germs, Song of the Wind, and Outback. But like many artists of his type, he was only as good as his producers and the album's premises. Ralph McDonald and William Eaton produced La Catedral Y El Toro. Despite the authoritative title, this is a fairly standard fusion set. The title track aims for Chick Corea-like expansion and excitement, but the production renders it listless, even Stanley Clarke's bass solo sounds enervated. "Promise Me Your Love" is trademark low-key and soothing McDonald and Eaton, with guitarist Eric Gale and Richard Tee's keyboards ably assisting Farrell's fluid soprano and tenor sax solos…

Like Tom Browne and Lenny White/Twennynine, Bernard Wright was part of Jamaica, Queens' R&B/funk scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, which gave us such major hits as Twennynine's "Peanut Butter" and Browne's "Funkin' for Jamaica." Browne and White were both talented jazz musicians, but R&B/funk was their main focus at that time. Similarly, keyboardist/pianist Wright occasionally flirts with instrumental jazz on his debut album, 'Nard, but pays a lot more attention to vocal-oriented soul and funk. The only instrumentals on this out-of-print LP are the jazz-funk smoker "Firebolt Hustle," the Rodney Franklin-ish "Bread Sandwiches," and a relaxed interpretation of Miles Davis' "Solar," which finds Wright forming an acoustic piano trio with bassist Buster Williams and drummer Roy Haynes.

Four CD solo anthology from the American singer/songwriter and former Fat Chance member. This set contains 70 remastered tracks tracing the respected solo career of LaBounty, covering virtually the entirety of his solo albums. Includes 18 unreleased demos and five songs from the debut album Promised Love, which has never been released on CD. Features musical assistance from James Taylor, Larry Carlton, Jeff Porcaro, Willie Weeks, Steve Lukather, Lenny Castro, Robbie Dupree, Patti Austin, Jennifer Warnes, Steve Gadd and many others.

Heads is the fifth album by jazz musician Bob James. It was his first album released on his newly formed Tappan Zee label, which was distributed at the time by Columbia Records.

An enormous commercial success, 1981's The Dude is a cross-cultural success blending jazz, Latin music, soul ballads, and straight pop into an admittedly slick but never over-produced or soulless stew. The album opens with a surprise: "Ai No Corrida" is a synthesizer-driven yet still funky Latin dance track written by Chaz Jankel of Ian Dury & the Blockheads, suggesting that unlike a lot of musicians his age, Quincy Jones kept his ears open to new music. The proto-rap title track accomplishes the same thing. The rest of the album is more conventional, with James Ingram and Patti Austin trading vocals on a smooth collection of tracks highlighted by the masterful love ballads "One Hundred Ways" and "Just Once," staples of adult contemporary stations, and the haunting Stevie Wonder-penned instrumental "Velas." The Dude is an outstanding collection that was massively influential on the '80s R&B scene.