Customer Reviews

I Hear a Symphony

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Alto saxophonist Hank Crawford has put out quite a number of enjoyable albums but this is definitely one of my all time favourites. It's not an easy album to get hold of these days and has been given 'rare' status by many music magazines. This particular CD is a Japanese import and I got it on here at a good price. I remember paying a second-hand record store £16 for it on vinyl many, many years ago, at a time when £16 was a lot of money.

Produced by Creed Taylor and arranged by Dave Matthews, it features people like Eric Gale on guitar, Gary King (Bob James's side man in the early years) on bass, the legendary Ralph McDonald & Idris Muhammad on percussion and Steve Gadd on drums. Patti Austin also puts in an appearance with a vocal solo on the title track. Patti is one of my favourite female vocalists ever, so I'm winning all round here.

It's classic 70s jazz. As the title of the CD might suggest, with a full orchestra the music is very symphonic, very busy, but it works. I love the entire album but I do love the second half a bit more than the first. "Love Won't Let Me Wait" is one of my favourite jazz performances of all time. I find Eric Gale's opening chords simply heart melting.

A bit of trivia to end the review: Many years later, A Tribe Called Quest credited the Average White Band's "Love Your Life" as the basis for their hit "Check The Rhime" from their now classic album The Low End Theory. Listen to Hank Crawford's incredibly funky "Baby! This Love I Have" and see if you agree with me that this sounds much more the likely source.

As a Kid I use to listen to AM pop station 77-WABC radio in NYC. I graduated to WBLS with Frankie "Hollywood" Crocker at about the same time I graduated to Junior High School from elementary. I would listen to WBLS light at night while lying in bed. One night I discovered that right next to WBLS was a jazz station called WRVR. I would listen for the change of pace and for its relaxing qualities. Then one night I heard the the opening rift to a stoned cold jam called "Sugar Free". That song made me tune in more often just so I could here "Sugar Free" again. Well, I heard Sugar Free again and in the process became a Jazz fan. Eventually I found out that a Hank Crawford had recorded that song along with "Love Won't Let Me Wait". I went out a few weeks later, when I had enough dough, and bought the album "I Hear a Symphony". Through the years, my Disco faze, Zeppelin daze and Salsa clubing, I also found time for Crawford and the other Jazz records that 'till this day I still listen to. It was partly because of "Sugar Free" that I developed a taste for Jazz. I still have the original album which I'm listening to as I type. It's in pretty good shape too almost pristine. Amazing what teen boys will protect and cherish if it's significant and meaningful enough to them.Great album!