Bob James
One (Analogue Remastered- 180gm Gold Vinyl)

‘Bob James One’ is the keyboard man’s first album for the CTI label, though his third overall.  James originally joined Creed Taylor’s CTI/ Kudu emporium in 1973 as an arranger for the likes of Grover Washington Jr and Johnny Hammond.  He recorded ‘One’ the following year.  It is a masterpiece and alongside ‘Bob James Three’, his finest work. The menacing ‘Valley of The Shadows’ fuses avant-garde elements that James embraced with his first two 1960’s albums with classical orchestrations.  It is also dark and funky with eclectic solos from guitarist Richie Resnicoff and Grover Washington Jr on soprano saxophone.  The interpretation of Johann Pachelbel’s seventeenth century piece ‘In The Garden’ adds C&W to the mix, but gently.  It should not work, but strangely somehow it does.  ‘Soulero’ is a funky take of a Bolero and the second James composition and is graced by another soprano sax solo from Grover.  Side two opens with an adaptation of Modest Mussorgsky’s ‘Night On Bald Mountain’ which morphs into a left-field Jazz Funk opus that skips between styles and modes with consummate ease. The version of the Roberta Flack, Eugene McDaniels composed hit ‘Feel Like Making Love’ is a delight.  The album ends on a high with the much-sampled Funk of ‘Nautilus’.  This James composition is a classic and a fitting conclusion to a fine and expansive album.