Track Listing

1. Choose Me
2. Niles a Head
3. Skidaway
4. Urban Flamingo
5. Lay Down with You
6. Fresh Start - Bob James, Earl Klugh
7. Make It More Blue
8. Bobary Coast
9. Endless Time
10. Wingapo

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #158877 in Music
• Released on: 2006-03-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Customer Reviews

acoustic
bob returns with an acoustic set, it less electronic than most of bob's recent works but all in all it's a good album.highly recommended for jazz and 'bob heads' alike.highlights niles a head (recorded in london), skidaway, lay down with me featuring his daughter hilary on vocals

Yet another great album from Uncle Bob
How he keeps coming up with them after all these years, I just don't know. For this project, he went to Dearborn, Michigan and teamed up with a number of fine Detroit musicians such as Al Turner (bass), Perry Hughes (electric guitar) ~ both of whom put in fine performances on Gene Dunlap's excellent 1994 album Groove With You ~ Dave McMurray (sax & flute), Ron Otis (drums) and his longstanding buddy Earl Klugh (acoustic guitar), with whom he recorded the still very charming One On One album back in 1979. Whether or not , James Genus & Nathan East (bass), Wayne Gerard (guitar) or Billy Kilson (drums) are also from Michigan, I don't know, but all concerned put in sterling performances, especially Ron Otis, whose drum work is absolutely great, fluid, rock-solid and brilliantly propulsive.

That having said, just a couple of tracks were recorded at other locations, namely the all-acoustic Niles Ahead, for reasons unknown recorded at Nucool Studios in Chiswick, West London and one of the two (predictably awful) vocal tracks, namely the one featuring daughter Hilary, whose singing, in my book, has never added anything of any value to any of daddy's albums. That one was recorded at Bob's long time favourite haunt, Remidi Studios at Dobbs Ferry, New York. Maybe she couldn't be bothered making the trip to Michigan.

The other vocal track, featuring Nathan East on vocals (as well as bass) is equally out of place, but don't let those two turkeys put you off, because even without them there's still 56 minutes of great music on offer here, much of it with a decidedly perky spring in its step (and great bass as well).

The opener, Choose Me, is almost 9 minutes of really pacy, motoring funk, underpinned by a great grooving, really deep electric bass line from Al Turner, classic Bob James stuff, whilst Wingapo to close ain't far behind. Stylistically, I guess this album's closest relative is the excellent Joy Ride from a few years earlier so, if you like that one you may very well like this every bit as much. I don't know from where the other reviewer gets the idea that this is an acoustic set, though, as most tracks feature electric guitar, electric bass and electric keyboards. Only a couple are all acoustic.

I received this album just today and loved it from the word go. How I'll feel about it in a few years time remains to be seen, but for now it's right up there with my favourite Bob James albums.