Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Single of the Day - "Esther Phillips: Magic's in the Air"

Single of the Day (45rpm, pic sleeve)
Esther Phillips: "Magic's In The Air/Boy, I Really Tied One On" (CTI) 1976
Produced by Creed Taylor, arranged by David Matthews
The Vincent Montana, Jr. dance hit, on Side A, includes a fiery horn section (Randy Brecker, Jon Faddis, Sam Burtis, Micheal Brecker, Ronnie Cuber) over the basic track put together by Don Grolnick (piano & caliope), Barry Miles (synths), John Tropea (guitar), Jeff Berlin (bass), Andy Newmark (drums) and Ralph MacDonald (percussion).
Janis Ian's "Boy...", on Side B, also features the same brass section plus Bobby Lyle (Hohner clavinet), Eric Gale (guitar), Allan Holdsworth (in an ultra-rare recording playing pedal steel guitar), Jeff Berlin (bass), Andy Newmark (drums) and Ralph MacDonald (percussion).
Both tracks are augmented by a string section on which veteran Bill Evans' bassist, Chuck Israels, plays arco bass.

No comments: