Some CTI record label insight

[Jazz+]

Copied from a discussion of the CTI jazz record label

 

Grover Washington, Jr. made his debut as a leader with "Inner City Blues." If you like that record, there's some interesting history. That record was originally desigated to be a Hank Crawford date. Studio time booked, no Hank Crawford in sight, they began recording the date without him.

 

Grover was simply one of five saxophone studio musicians at the date. Creed asked Grover to play alto, which was originally going to be pulled off the master and replaced by Hank Crawford. But that didn't happen. Crawford had been detained in Nashville on a traffic violation and never made the date for which he had been slated as leader.

 

So they released that album with Grover's "ghost" track and they had a big hit. That was the start of Grover's success as a leader. I have involvement with a couple of projects, into both of which fold the "Inner City Blues" record. I can't speak out of school, but I'll tell you an interesting, personal anecdote regarding the "Inner City Blues" story.

 

First off, CTI was founded by Creed Taylor. Creed Taylor had then recently signed Wes Montgomery to A&M records. Wes Montgomery died. So Creed signed Geoge Benson to fill the void, so to speak. And CTI records was launched. For background, the original nucleus of CTI was three musicians: Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Idris Muhammad.

 

Creed's formula should be evident. George Benson's first record for CTI was "Another Side of Abbey Road." Grover Washington, Jr.'s first record for CTI was "Inner City Blues." Take a hit record and immediately recast it into the soul jazz CTI mode. These records were done soon after the release of the originals.

 

Here's my personal anecdote. We're sitting in Steve Gadd's hotel room in New York City, near Lincoln Center, filming The History of Rock 'n' Roll Drumming for Hudson Music. (If that project is released, I'll note it on the forum.) Just as Idris Muhammad begins to explain how that record came about, the lights are hit, the cameras running, and up from the street below comes wafting the sound of sirens. It was truly surreal.

 

It exactly mimicked the opening of that album. I don't have a copy handy, but I believe Bob James might have arranged the strings that open that album -- maybe, maybe not. Either way, the Bob James story was spawned from his involvement orchestrating the strings from the original piano arrangements of Herbie Hancock (although I think by this time Herbie was gone and Hank Jones was on this particular date.)

 

At any rate, there is a lot of history on that particular album. I hope this perspective sheds light on the CTI label. A Rudy Van Gelder collaboration, that's one of my favorite records.

 

I'm not sure where "Another Side of Abbey Road" fits into the CTI chronology, but I mention it, in conjunction with "Inner City Blues," because they illuminate the CTI formula. And it was on George Benson's and Grover Washington, Jr.'s coattails that CTI gained, if not established, much of it's momentum and subsequent trajectory."

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"CTI Records (Creed Taylor Incorporated) is/was a jazz record label founded in 1967 by Creed Taylor. CTI was a subsidiary of A&M before becoming independent in 1970. Its first album was A Day in the Life by guitarist Wes Montgomery in 1967 Its roster included George Benson, Ron Carter, Eumir Deodato (Rhodes, keyboards), Astrud Gilberto, Freddie Hubbard, Bob James, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Hubert Laws, Stanley Turrentine, and Walter Wanderley (Latin organ), "

[Jazz+]

 

The CTI sound, a great Herbie Hancock solo at 2:14

 

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[Josh Paxton]

Thanks for that! Coincidentally I only recently discovered Hank Crawford's CTI records, and have grown rather fond of a couple of them. Lots of great material with the Stuff guys.

[Docbop]

I remember Grover Washington Inner City Blues was on Kudo records a side label of CTI. Hank Crawford and Esther Phillips were also on Kudo records too.

[arX]

A great little read, thanks. This has given me a hankering to go dig up my collection. Keep the tune sharing coming!

[Josh Paxton]

Tangentially related: for years I thought Maceo Parker had a wholly unique and distinctive sound on the alto. I thought his tone, articulation and phrasing, all perfect for the music he played, seemed to have been largely invented out of whole cloth. Only fairly recently did I learn that the reason I thought that was because I hadn't paid enough attention to Hank Crawford.

[Docbop]

Only fairly recently did I learn that the reason I thought that was because I hadn't paid enough attention to Hank Crawford.

 

Hank Crawford, David "Fathead" Newman, and many others got their start playing in Ray Charles band. Ray Charles had his own rhythmic feel these guys learned and made part of their sound.

[harmonizer]

I grew up in the same town where Don Sebesky lived and went to school with two of his sons, so it was big news locally when his album "Giant Box" was released: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Box

 

I can remember going to a jazz concert of a combo led by Don Sebesky and George Benson. The venue was a local high school auditorium. This was probably a couple years before George Benson made his commercial breakout (Breezin'?).