Saxophonist Azar Lawrence recorded his third and final album for the Prestige label ‘People Moving’ in 1976, and probably the most overlooked of the three. It features some heavyweight musicians including Patrice Rushen, Harvey Mason, Headhunters bassist Paul Jackson, Jerry Peters, Lee Ritenour, Ernie Watts and Mtume amongst others. Naturally with this cast, it is a quality Jazz Funk set produced by Skip Scarborough.
‘Theme For A New Day’ is a delightful upper mid tempo groover which has a Mizell Brothers feel. The superb laid back ‘The Awakening’ has a very Herbie Hancock feel and could easily have fitted on his ‘Manchild’ album of a similar vintage. There is a good version of Patrice Rushen’s funky tune ‘Kickin Back’ taken a slightly slower pace than her take, featuring Patrice, Cheryl Barnes and Josie James on backing vocals, who also feature on his excellent take of Scarborough’s most famous and most recorded song ‘Can’t Hide Love’. The title track is also a standout track on this consistently good album.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.