Bob James—keyboardist, pianist, composer and arranger—opens Feel Like Making Live! with his original tune, “Angela (Theme From ‘Taxi’).” Everyone has heard it—that is what exposure from a popular television show can do. That series ran from 1978 to 1983. Taxi music, along with his albums on Creed Taylor’s CTI Records during this time, in addition to his taking on arranging chores for the label, for the likes of saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr. and more, made a name for James. So, a short history of a sixty year career: his first album, Bold Conceptions (Mercury Records) released in 1963, fifty or so more albums followed, a dozen with his group Fourplay; his contribution to hip hop via sampling of his recordings, and finally coming around now to a trio offering—a mode of making music he calls …”a perfect way that I can express myself”—with Feel Like making Live!, an audio/visual experience that includes, along with the CD, a Blue Ray disc of James and his trio performing in the studio.
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