Dave Sanborn

Strangely enough, Tiger in the Rain would have been a smoother transition from Sleeping Gypsy, just as Burchfield Nines would have been a more natural follow-up to The Art of Tea. For the first time, Michael Franks made an album completely without the production team of Tommy LiPuma, Al Schmitt and Lee Hershberg, employing instead John Simon (the Band, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen). The recording boasts a large number of celebrated horn and string players, as well as jazz luminaries Ron Carter, Bucky Pizzarelli, Kenny Barron, Mike Mainieri and Flora Purim. Lush, romantic and more experimental than previous efforts, Tiger in the Rain has a seriousness of purpose that faithfully echoes that of Sleeping Gypsy, with less of a Brazilian feel and overall a more somber tone of lost love.

The Peterson Brothers - keyboard player Ricky, bass player Billy, drummer / guitar player Paul and their nephew, saxophonist Jason - are true brothers in arms, Minneapolis institutions, members and survivors of that city's musical revolution. They lay the music out like an uptown groove buffet.

An all-star cast assists Maynard Ferguson in this disco-tinged big-band outing. Ferguson's trademark trumpet playing is featured in all its screaming glory, and Mark Colby contributes a couple of high-energy sax solos. "Primal Scream" and "Invitation" sound as though they were lifted right off the mid-'70s disco dancefloor, complete with T.S.O.P.-type strings and pulsing rhythms. "Pagliacci," too, has the disco beat pounding underneath a Jay Chattaway adaptation of an operatic melody, with Bobby Militello featured on an energetic, overblown flute solo. Chick Corea's "The Cheshire Cat Walk" sounds like latter-day Return to Forever, as Corea's synth trades licks with Ferguson's horn over a familiar RTF rhythmic/chordal bassline sequence. The final cut, Eric Gale's "Swamp," stands out because of its reggae beat.

Studio and session guitarist Joe Beck was best known for hits when backing vocalist Esther Phillips on Kudu in the '70s. During the '80s he made a series of competent fusion and pop/jazz recordings for DMP and had a big hit recording with Dave Sanborn on CTI in 1975. His career continued into the '90s and beyond with albums like 1991's Relaxin', 1997's Alto and his 2000 collaboration with Jimmy Bruno, Polarity.