Gerald Albright - Sax for Stax
SKU
starcd 7246
"Gerald Albright: among the most respected, multi-dimensional and sought after saxophonists to straddle the fence of jazz and R&B. Stax Records: the legendary Memphis-based recording company that defined southern soul from the late `50s to the mid `70s. Turn the former loose on the latter and what do you get: Sax for Stax, a soul stirring stew of down home rhythm and blues chased with a mason jar of jazz. Consisting of eight passionately rendered covers of Stax classics (three with vocal guests Will Downing, Ledisi and Philip Bailey), plus three originals written with Memphis in mind, Sax for Stax (in stores June 24) marks the sax master's eleventh solo project and second for Peak Records, which along with Stax, is a division of the Concord Music Group.
Los Angeles native Albright (currently residing in Colorado) was approached by Peak Records Senior Vice President Mark Wexler with the idea of doing an album that tied into Concord's re-launching of the Stax label and Stax's 50th anniversary. Albright, who grew up listening to that music, loved the concept and immediately began selecting material, zoning in on classics from Johnnie Taylor (the feel-good blues tunes ""Cheaper to Keep Her"" and ""Who's Making Love"") to Eddie Floyd (""Knock on Wood""). ""I went through two box sets with over 20 CDs to pick songs that felt good and would work well melodically for the saxophone,"" Gerald states. ""Then my co-producer Rex Rideout and I split the list down the middle."" Preliminary recording began in October 2007 with the bulk completed in January and February of 2008.
Sax for Stax opens with the scintillating ""Theme from 'The Men',"" a piece that Isaac Hayes was commissioned to compose for the ABC-TV adventure series about three ""rugged individualists"" after he won an Oscar and a Grammy for his far more famous ""Theme from 'Shaft.'"" ""Rex raised an eyebrow when I brought that one to the table,"" Gerald says of Hayes' relatively obscure 1972 single, ""but I thought it would be a great intro to the entire album. It would have been more obvious to do 'Shaft,' but I wanted to give people something they may have never heard. Isaac always wrote great instrumental arrangements so I took the challenge of making this one more like me."" To do that, Gerald took a big band approach with his horn arrangement, ""stacking"" all of the alto, tenor and baritone sax lines, as well as flutes, himself! In addition, he played bass guitar on four of the musical selections on the CD. He also hired a top shelf band for this song and most of the album that consisted of drummer Teddy Campbell, bassist Melvin Davis, guitarist Errol Cooney, percussionist Lenny Castro, keyboardist Tracy Carter and string specialist Mark Cargill - a gentleman that Gerald played with for years in the late great O.C. Smith's City of Angels church band. ""Like I do with saxes, Mark overdubs himself playing violin, viola and cello, which gives the music that real bow-on-string sound instead of synthesizers.""
1 Theme from ""The Men"" Album Version Gerald Albright 05:08
2 Knock On Wood Album Version Gerald Albright 04:04
3 Never Can Say Goodbye Album Version Gerald Albright 04:17
4 Memphis Passion Album Version Gerald Albright 04:53
5 Respect Yourself Album Version Gerald Albright 05:05
6 I Stand Accused Album Version Gerald Albright 05:11
7 Cheaper To Keep Her Album Version Gerald Albright 04:23
8 Walkin' Down Beale Street Album Version Gerald Albright 04:31
9 What You See Is What You Get Album Version Gerald Albright 04:51
10 Who's Making Love Album Version Gerald Albright 04:16
11 W.C. Handy Hop Album Version Gerald Albright 04:34 "
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