The Music Of Norman Connors

In the '70s and '80s, the Philadelphia-born drummer Norman Connors was one of the most prolific and talented artists/producers in all of music. By the mid '70s, his jazz training and application led to a career that embraced a confident musicality and intelligence regardless of the genre. Although he's best known at finding great new talent and romantic albums, it didn't start out this way.

After earning raves as a tough jazz drummer for acts like Pharoah Sanders, Connors was signed to Cobblestone/Buddah Records in 1972. Early albums like Dance of Magic, Dark of Light, Love From The Sun show his nascent style and potent drumming rising to the fore. 1974's Slewfoot is the archetypal transition album as the sounds ranged from the silly title track to the hard-jazz of "Mother of the Future" which featured Jean Carn.



Saturday Night Special is the album where Connors's R&B sound coalesced. The strong effort was recorded in mid 1975 and fairly early on in the particular sound's germination.The album featured Jean Carn's vocal on the engrossing cover on the Antonio Carlos Jobim classic "Dindi" and her duet with Michael Henderson, the romantic and fond "Valentine Love" (10 #R&B). Connors's next album made him a household name.



In 1976 Connors released You Are My Starship. The album's first single was a strutting duet with Michael Henderson and Phyllis Hyman, "We Both Need Each Other (#27 R&B). The next song did even better. The melodic and insistent "You Are My Starship" (#4 R&B, #27 pop) benefited from the stellar production values and Michael Henderson's crooning vocals. While the single "You Are My Starship" caused the effort to move a lot of units, one song in particular all but set the Norman Connors style. Phyllis Hyman's impassioned cover of the Stylistics classic, "Betcha By Golly Wow" all but set the template for his methodical and unabashedly romantic style. You Are My Starship was a multigenre hit (# 2 Jazz, #5 R&B, #39 pop) and received a gold certification.



Unlike a lot of jazz artist who experienced pop success, Connors didn't simplify his sound to court the mainstream audience. If anything, 1977's Romantic Journey was more of potent mix of jazz and R&B then You Are My Starship. Connors enlisted Eleanor Mills and Prince Phillip Mitchell as the lead vocalists for this effort. The two of them duetted on the engrossing "For You Everything" and Mitchell's solo spot for "Destination Moon" and Mills's vocal on the Stylistics classic, "You Are Everything" are among the album's sonic highlights.

By 1977, Connors's label Buddah Records was dissolved and the roster was sent to Arista Records. Connors didn't miss a step and soon released the This Is Your Life album in early 1978. To many Connors' fans, this is the album that truly captured all of Connors's varying sounds and styles. Eleanor Mills was the chief vocalist for the album and she led a poignant take on Jimmy Webb's "This Is Your Life." The pensive "Listen to Me" featured James Robinson on lead vocals. The confidence and production was so strong on this album that both Mills and Robinson all but glided through a great jazzy version of Herbie Hancock's "Butterfly." Connors himself sang lead on the super smooth and playful "Say You Love Me."

Around this time Connors also produced a classic album with avant-garde saxophonist Pharoah Sanders Love Will Find a Way. The LP was released on Arista and featured the mellifluous title track and the Phyllis Hyman lead vocal on the much loved ballad, "As You Are."



Unlike a lot of artists who wore too many hats, Connors always had a bunch of talented people around him. Producers, arrangers and players like Jacques Burvick, Skip Drinkwater, Onaje Allan Gumbs, Jerry Peters, Marion Meadows, McKinley Jackson—among others all helped to give Connors a signature sound. Connors's coterie of top level musicians included a players like Lee Ritenour, Eddie "Bongo" Brown and David T. Walker. In that regard, alto and soprano saxophonist Gary Bartz also played many memorable lines on Norman Connors's albums and productions.



In 1979, Connors released the so-so Invitation. Despite a thumping version of "Your Love Is My Ecstasy" featuring Al Johnson and Ada Dyer's (Miss Adaritha) strong vocals on the ballads, "Handle Me Gently," "Invitation" and "You Bring Me Joy," it seemed that the style was beginning to decline.

To make matters interesting, by the early '80s Connors's work was scattered between albums, labels and different directions. Groups like The Starship Orchestra, Aquarium Dream received trademark Connors productions on songs like "Wait (The Waiting Game)" and "Yesterday We So Nice Today" while some of the work under his own name wasn't quite as strong.



By early '80s the sound and market had changed. Albums like Take it To the Limit and Mr. C were neither promoted nor performed well. 1981's "Melancholy Fire" (#20 R&B)—featuring Glenn Jones, provided the era's bright spot and garnered a lot of radio airplay.

In a way it seemed like Connors's production assignments seemed to supersede his solo career. Connors produced tracks for Jean Carn's early '80s efforts Sweet and Wonderful and Trust Meand they included the moving ballad "Don't Say No" and a great, dramatic cover of Minnie Riperton's classic, "Completeness."



Connors also produced some of the best tracks on Phyllis Hyman's 1982 album Can't We Fall in Love Again including the title track duet with Michael Henderson and "Sunshine in My Life" which hearkened back to that classic Connors late '70s style.



In 1988 Connors was signed to Capitol Records and released Passion in late 1988. The album marked Connors coming to terms with the changing and less orchestrated and organic sounds of the day. This effort also displayed new talent like the supple vocals Spencer Harruson (who sounded like a male Phyllis Hyman) and the sweet-voiced Gabrielle Goodman. Radio responded favorably to the album, especially Harrison's lead on the atmospheric "You're My Melody." During the same time, Connors produced and arranged a song for Angela Bofill's 1988 Intuition, "In Your Lovers Eyes."



While Connors's output seemed to slow in the '80s, his music provided the backbone and ethos of many radio stations late night, early morning playlists. By 1993, Connors had new music to add to DJ's set. Connors signed to Motown's jazz label MoJazz and offered the fond Remember Who You Are. The album was like old home week and featured vocals from Phyllis Hyman, Spencer Harrison among others. Like his best work, Remember Who You Are featured new talent. The best song on the album, a cover of Herbie Hancock's "Tell Me a Bedtime Story" got a spirited recasting and vocal from Eve Cornelius.

After 1996's Easy Living on MoJazz, Connors signed to the Right Stuff and released 2000's Eternity. The album featured a nice cover of his own "You Are My Starship" this time featuring Peabo Bryson on vocals. Connors released Star Power in 2009.

In 2017 the respected label Soul Music released a great 2-CD Valentine Love: The Buddah/Arista Anthology with featured classics all of the essentials up to the early '80s.

In 2022 Connors got the true honor of having his own Unsung episode. Viewers got to see his musicology, classic concert footage and got to see how intense and proficient he is as a drummer.

Norman Connors's entire catalog makes for compelling listening and he's one of R&B and jazz's most talented artists.

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