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Jazz Articles about Bob James

9
Album Review

Bob James: Jazz Hands

Read "Jazz Hands" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Let us groove into a H.G. Wells mode and ride a time machine back to 1979 and revisit One On One (Tappan Zee), pianist Bob James' collaboration with guitarist Earl Klugh. The disc won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. It was a polished production, full of catchy rhythms and bright, memorable melodies--music that was as widely engaging as it could be. Now turn that time machine's dial to fast forward and revisit 1990's Grand Piano Canyon (Warner ...

98
Live Review

Double Vision Revisited at SFJAZZ

Read "Double Vision Revisited at SFJAZZ" reviewed by Walter Atkins


Bob James, David Sanborn and Marcus Miller SFJAZZ, Miner Auditorium Double Vision Revisited Tour San Francisco, CA January 14, 2022 SFJAZZ celebrated the 35th anniversary release of the seminal album Double Vision (Warner Brothers 1986), by Bob James, David Sanborn and Marcus Miller. The group performed the popular 1987 Grammy-winning album with a few pleasant surprises for a receptive audience in the comfortable Miner Auditorium. In keeping with the times, SFJAZZ installed a new ...

16
Album Review

Bob James Trio: Feel Like Making Live!

Read "Feel Like Making Live!" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


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, ...

9
Album Review

Bob James: Once Upon A Time: The Lost 1965 New York Studio Sessions

Read "Once Upon A Time: The Lost 1965 New York Studio Sessions" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Most people have heard the music of Bob James. He wrote “Angela," the theme song for the popular television comedy Taxi. The show ran from 1978 to 1983, and reruns are ongoing. The Bob James became one of the fathers and most successful purveyors of the smooth/fusion jazz sound, in recordings under his own name, with the group Foreplay and in teamings with saxophonist David Sanborn. Once Upon A Time: The Lost 1965 New York Studio Sessions takes ...

8
SoCal Jazz

Bob James, David Sanborn, and Marcus Miller: The Lost Tour

Read "Bob James, David Sanborn, and Marcus Miller: The Lost Tour" reviewed by Jim Worsley


Backing a new record with a live tour is, of course, standard practice. So, a tour in support of Double Vision (Warner Brothers, 1986) would be nothing out of the ordinary. The Bob James and David Sanborn classic, that also features Marcus Miller and Steve Gadd, proved to be visionary in its scope and profound in its significance. So much so, that it won a Grammy for Best Improvisational Jazz Album in 1986. The tour seems like it was only ...

16
Live Review

Double Vision Revisited: Bob James, David Sanborn, and Marcus Miller at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium

Read "Double Vision Revisited: Bob James, David Sanborn, and Marcus Miller at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


Double Vision Revisited: Bob James, David Sanborn, and Marcus Miller Lakewood Civic Auditorium Lakewood, Ohio August 17, 2019 By the mid '80s, there started to be a major shift in the quality and focus of the music termed as jazz fusion. The genre had started in the late '60s with rockier strains popularized by groups like Tony Williams' Emergency and subsequently the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Eventually the rougher and more substantial strains of this style would ...

9
Album Review

Bob James Trio: Expresso

Read "Expresso" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Bob James wrote “Angela," the theme song to the popular late-1970s/early 1980s television show, Taxi, a feather in the cap that introduced his sound to millions of listeners who might not ever slip a jazz CD into the stereo. For those with an ear and a love of jazz, he is probably most familiar for his work with the group Fourplay and saxophonist David Sanborn, along with a three record, mid-1970s stint with Creed Taylor's CTI Recordings, and three Grammy ...


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