BOB JAMES — Lucky Seven (review)

Album · 1979 · Pop/Art Song/Folk

4/5 · 2025-02-25
FunkFreak75

Recorded In 1979 at Soundmixers, New York City / Power Station / A&R Studios / Mediasound, this is an album that I'd never heard before setting it up for my listens for this review. I'm sorry I hadn't (I'd burned out a bit on BJ by the time this one came out).

A1. "Rush Hour" (6:39) some nice performances gathered together over a bit of a monotonous foundation--one that rarely steps out of that slightly-cheesy, slightly discofied motif. (8.75/10) A2. "Blue Lick" (5:31) opening with some ominous-sounding bass and keyboard lines, I found myself thinking of Herbie Hancock's Thrust album, it evolves into a series of similar chord structures, never really settling into a defined motif, until the two minute mark Bob's Fender Rhodes upper-octave melody making lassoes everybody into a lighter-than-expected slightly-syncopated funk-lite tune--one that continues to defy stylistic and melodic familiarity. (8.75/10)

A3. "Look-Alike" (5:30) a fairly typical BJ song: lazily upbeat and innocuous like a purposeless walk down a city street on a sunny summer afternoon. The dreaded sound of Dave Sanborn's saxophone makes a brief early appearance and then in the lead position at 0:55 for less than 20 seconds but then gets paired up with trumpets and flute for a couple of interesting bridges before the strings-rich and bass-popping main motif returns for some BJ Fender Rhodes. The song goes a little too smooth at the end of the third minute--opening the door for a return of the dreaded Sanborn sax. There are elements of this cute, quirky song that I really like and others (you get the trend) that I don't. (I've never been much of a sax fan--and the sound that the likes of Dave Sanborn, Najee, and Kenny G used in the late 70s and early 80s is a big reason for this.) (8.875/10)

B1. "Big Stone City" (5:42) sounds like the intro to a Philly-Motown/Spinners Soul hit; disco lite with a little funk works into some aggressive Hiram Bullock electric guitar as Neil Jason's funky slap bass works hard to deliver the funk (he's okay). Accents and punctuation marks from the Horn Section bridge two motifs while Bob and Michael Brecker's sax take turns with rather brief solos. Bob's piano takes the longest solo starting at the four-minute mark before horn play interrupts, but then he's back sounding like an old classic jazz player (with the best sound rendering of a piano that I've ever heard from Bob and his engineering crew.) Nice, professional, but nothing really special here in terms of melody or innovation (other than that great piano sound). (8.75/10)

B2. "Friends" (4:41) acoustic guitars and fretless bass support the singing voice of Neil Jason taking on a soul-TOTO like piece. Neil Jason manages to funk up his bass rather nicely. Smooth AMBROSIA and HALL & OATES also come to mind while listening to this song (riffs and melodies actually lifted straight from all of the afore-mentioned artists). It's nice, well-rendered, but I resent a little the blatant "borrowing" of melodic and stylistic elements like this. (8.75/10)

B3. "Fly Away" (6:44) a jazzy chord progression and "saw bells" crash opens this familiar song. I'm sure that I've heard this song on the radio or elsewhere (many times). Well constructed and sounding fairly original as well as full of memorable melodic hooks I have to give this one high marks. One of Bob's top ten in terms of ear candy memorability. (9.5/10)

Total Time: 35:04

As much as I am constantly saddened by the Smooth Jazz trend that sucked jazz artists away from the funky and adventurous music of 1975-76's peak years of Jazz-Rock Fusion (with, I'm sure, considerable pressure from their record labels), I must here acknowledge the continuous trend of maturity and sophistication I've seen in Bob James' work since his debut album. And he does get some great, really high-quality performances out of his studio musicians.

B/four stars; an excellent contribution to the better side of the Smooth Jazz lexicon.