An earlier version of this was posted on the #ctproduced Instagram account. In this 1974 Tampa Tribune clip, we see the newly reformed Herb Alpert Tijuana Brass, including singer Lani Hall, who married Herb in December that year. To the right of Herb and Lani in the back row is Dave Frishberg. Frishberg wrote “Wheelers and Dealers”, a song sung […]
On This Day: Quincy Jones calls Creed Taylor
[This post was a day late due to the holidays.] In December 1995, Billboard magazine issue featured a tribute to Quincy Jones “Quincy Jones: A Half Century Of Music” featuring an expansive interview with Quincy by Mark Rowland. Including numerous full page advertisements, it runs 34-pages. Not only is Creed Taylor not mentioned, but in it’s listings and discography, everything […]
The Creed Taylor Christmas Album
Press play and read on. The Missing Specialty Recordings album? I’ve always respected the fact that there was never a CTI Christmas album… or “holiday special”. Given the 1978 bankruptcy, it would have been easy money to have send a few talented musicians over to Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in New Jersey and get them to record some holiday classics. […]
Happy Birthday, Hubert Laws
Hubert Laws (born November 10, 1939) is one of the most pervasive, and impressive artists to appear on Creed Taylor, CTI productions. While others, notably Bob James, Don Sebesky, and Dave Matthews through their arrangements had a bigger impact on the overall sound; and George Benson, Grover Washington, Jr, Esther Phillips, Bob James as a performer, became bigger stars and […]
Stonebone – Finally!
If you don’t have a copy, press play and read on, it’s a 1:52 sampler of the album tracks I’m delighted to have an exclusive long form review from CTI and Jazz Historian Doug Payne. I’m lucky to have been able to rip a copy of this album from a loaner a couple of years ago. It’s amazing. I’m heading […]
September is Creed Taylor month
The August 26th, 1968 issue of “Records, Promotion, Music” (RPM) Magazine, page-4 declared “September is Creed Taylor month in Canada”. The campaign was announced by Quality’s National Promotion Manager, Ed Lawson. The campaign and messaging must have worked to spread the music and work of Creed, because come September, a similar campaign was announced for October 1968 to be “Creed […]
Be “Hip” – Stonebone slips again
The #RSD2020 release of Stonebone has slipped again. Originally scheduled for April, then June 20th, Record Store Day is now split over three “drop” days. Releases scheduled for a single day will actually now be released on 3-days, Stonebone will be on the 3rd and last “drop” day, October 24th. The other drop days are August 29th and September 26th. […]
Happy Birthday George Benson
March 22, 2020 is George Benson’s 77th Birthday, Happy Birthday George! George is a GRAMMY Hall of Fame inductee, having been nominated 25 times and won 10 GRAMY awards. His first award was 1976, when he received 5x nominations and won 3x awards including Best R&B Instrumental Performance for the Theme From Good Kind Bad. The 1976 awards were the […]
On This Day: Jobim records!
Embed from Getty Images On this day, March 16th, 1970, Antonio Carlos Jobim started recording his last great albums for Creed Taylor. This essentially brought to an end a 7-year partnership that resulted in numerous awards including but not limited to the 1964 Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto’s version of The Girl From Ipanema, which won the GRAMMY for Record […]
Record Store Day- The Holy Grail?
According to the time clock on their website, Record Store Day (RSD) is now 95-days away. It was originally going to be April 20th here in the USA, but as the Corona virus takes hold, the date has been pushed back to Saturday June 20th. For those of us that have been waiting for 50-years to get a copy of […]