Burl Veneer’s Music Blog

The Real James Taylor

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:00:57 -0700

When I talk about James Taylor, some people think I'm talking about some weedy American singer-songwriter from the 1970s. I am not. I am talking about the modern British master of the Hammond B3 organ, the leader of the James Taylor Quartet, the New Jersey Kings, and more recently James Taylor's 4th Dimension. He's been playing cop show and spy music since the 80s, such as this original theme from the imaginary movie of the same name, "The Money Spyder:"

01-The Money Spyder

James Taylor Quartet

Get it? Spyder, as in spy? The 1990s saw the original quartet grow to a septet (at least) with the addition of horn players and a percussionist, but kept the Quartet moniker. 1997's Creation album included Taylor's first original theme for a real movie, "Austin's Theme" from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Also on the album were two cop music covers, Lalo Schifrin's theme from Dirty Harry, and the theme from Starsky and Hutch:

01-Theme from Starsky and Hutch

James Taylor Quartet

Creation was an important album for me, as it introduced me to the Acid Jazz scene that had been going on for years without my knowing about it. And it came out just when I needed it: my previous musical interests were all drying up, and I didn't like much of what I was hearing otherwise. My son Pierce was three years old when I brought this home (he turns 13 today!), and he liked it too, so we ended up listening and dancing around to it together a lot. He's too cool to dance now, but he'll get it back someday.

The JTQ was back down to a quartet in the 2000s, and the new James Taylor's 4th Dimension is a quartet as well. It's on my list of things to get around to.

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Cruisin' with The Sound Stylistics

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:01:22 -0700

Still cruisin'--here's one that I would like to be my cruising-the-nightlife song, but it has become my de facto crawling-through-traffic song. Which is perfect, because it's so upbeat it gives me the illusion of moving even when I'm not. The Sound Stylistics are a supergroup of UK funksters (though to tell the truth, the only name listed in this review that I recognize is that of Hammond organ guru James Taylor) who recorded an album called The Sound Stylistics Play Deep Funk for a film music library in 2002. But by popular demand the album was released to mere consumers this year on Freestyle Records (and iTunes). The high point of the album is track three, "The Players Theme," which demonstrates what happens when funk players turn it up to eleven, and features a generously long drum break (a category I think I'll explore in future posts). (What is it about the third track, is that the "power position" on an album? This is the fourth track three in a row that I've posted!) At just under five minutes long, it's just right for driving to the grocery store (and then starting over for the drive back):

03 The Players Theme

The Sound Stylistics

The Sound Stylistics apparently like playing together enough to reunite for occasional live gigs; YouTube has a live version of "The Players Theme" from a June 13 performance at the Jazz Cafe:

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Cruisin' with the Greyboy Allstars

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 19:25:59 -0700

Car-chase music isn't the only good vehicular music genre; simple car driving music can be plenty fulfilling. "Fried Grease" by the Greyboy Allstars with Fred Wesley (1995) has become my official cruising-down-the-freeway-with-the-top-down song. Never mind that the top of our minivan doesn't actually go down; this groovy track makes it feel like it's down. I'm not usually a fan of the "everybody gets a solo" format, but it works in this case because all the players "bring it" (I think that's the correct term today). After two ensemble runs through the central motif, the soloing begins: first up is legendary JB Horns trombonist Fred Wesley, followed by Karl Denson on alto sax, Harold Todd on flute, Robert Walter on electric piano, and finally Elgin Park on guitar before the ensemble kicks back in to play a completely different riff for the outro. It's pure gold. There's no bass solo, but Chris Stilwell's hyperkinetic basslines keep the tune bouncing, and at this point I may as well give a tip of the hat to drummer Zak Najor and percussionist Craig Levitz for pinning the whole thing down so flawlessly.

Greyboy Allstars-Fried Grease

Greyboy Allstars

The Greyboy Allstars formed in 1993 to play the kind of retro funk and acid jazz on the records that DJ Greyboy (Andreas Stevens) was playing at the Green Circle Bar in San Diego. I first encountered them on the soundtrack to Get Shorty, a pretty good movie with inexplicably great music, most of it by former Lounge Lizard John Lurie. After some years apart the Allstars reunited this year (all the original members plus Greyboy himself) for a new album, What Happened to Television? It's fine, funky stuff; there's no "Fried Grease" on it, but "Left Coast Boogaloo" comes close.

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