{"id":3658,"date":"2022-01-11T08:59:17","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T14:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=3658"},"modified":"2023-05-04T09:21:38","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T14:21:38","slug":"challenge-bob-james-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/challenge-bob-james-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Up for the Challenge: A Conversation with Bob James (Part One)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Across his almost six-decade career, Bob James’ music has meant many things to different people. To those who have an interest in Creed Taylor’s iconic CTI Records, the memorable label that incentivized artists to merge jazz with ideas from other genres, James is a familiar name. Between his own significant releases and his contributions to albums by artists including Grover Washington Jr., Stanley Turrentine, and Hubert Laws, he was core member of what James refers to as the CTI repertory. To those who love “smooth jazz”, James is one of the founders. In a list of the ten greatest albums of the style, his name appears on nearly half.<\/a> To hip hop heads, James is royalty; one of the most sampled artists of all time, certainly the most sampled from the jazz lineage. In the pop sphere, some may know him for his work with Paul Simon, Neil Diamond, or Kenny Loggins. He’s reimagined classical pieces several times. And, underneath it all, a somewhat quiet undercurrent of avant-garde experimentalism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some listeners may prefer one insular category over another, it becomes clear James sees a connection between them all. The unifying factor: his desire to collaborate with others to be challenged and pushed artistically. In addition to his skills on the keys, James has a unique ability to create memorable melodies and arrangements not tethered to one stylistic box or another. This is perhaps best seen on his latest, Feel Like Making LIVE! <\/em> (evosound\/Evolution Music, 2022). The album finds him leading a trio through a tour of all of the different sides of his career. The group of three is a format James has used throughout the years, and it’s clear he is comfortable with it. In turn, the album provides new colors to well-known compositions, whether the richness of the bass line on “Angela” or the lyricism of “Maputo.” And while the album indeed reflects back – even to the time he backed Sarah Vaughan – it also looks forward. It even highlighting the first composition in which James effectively samples himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the album’s scope, we cover a wide range of topics in our two-part conversation with Bob James. In this first portion, we discuss his discovery by Quincy Jones, CTI generally, “Mister Magic”, and his forthcoming project with DJ Jazzy Jeff.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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