Customer Reviews

Walking in Space

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Walkin' In Space is Jones' tour de force-a monster of an album that still has feet tapping and heads bobbing after thirty wonderful funk-inflected-jazz years. I have been building my jazz collection since the mid-90's and now have close to 200 jazz albums. My love for jazz began with THIS disc, er, record I should say.

Hearing this album is one of my earliest memories. My dad would play it on his turntable and I remember singing along with some of the tunes. This album is infectious. When I learned that it was released on CD I immediately picked it up; throwing my cassette version in the trash as I walked out the door to the cd shop. What a perfect mix of 'mainstream' (read: hard-bop) jazz and electrified funk/soul ala the wonderful guitar playing of Eric Gale and bassist Ray Brown. Dig that bass line in the title track and the segue between it and "Dead End"!!

An immortal record that exudes the feel of the late 60's with every quarter note. Quincy's ability to organize space on this recording, to put in a little bit of this *here* at just the right point and a little of that *over there* is amazing. A great showcase for some famous jazzmen of the older school and some new up-and-coming talents. Brooding and ecstatic. Pure Joy.

ESSENTIAL.

Seems that the older I get, the more likely I am to buy music I listened to in the 60s and 70s. Q's Walking in Space was one of the first jazz records I listened to, on 8-track tape. It was then, and always has been one of my very favorite jazz recordings. Highly recommended!

Although most know Quincy Jones as a pop music producer of limited merit (michael jackson, et. al), he began his career working with such seminal figures as Ray Charles and Count Basie. I first heard the cut 'killer joe' from this recording as a theme song by a local jazz d.j. who also used to play the title track 'walking in space' quite a bit. Well, this recording features a who's who of jazz soloists like Freddie Hubbard and Hubert Laws (reminicent of the better CTI albums of the late 70s early 80s) along with stalwarts like the under-rated late guitarist Eric Gale, who gets extensive solo space here. But most unusual (and definitely happening!) is the guest appearance by none other than Rahsaan Roland Kirk (!) playing saxophones on the title track. If you like cool arrangements, major swinging grooves (courtesy of bassist Ray Brown, who absolutely burns throughout, and impeccible drummer Grady Tate), great solos, atmospheric female backing vocals (title track), a great version of a true jazz standard (the aforementioned 'killer joe'), this CD is right for you. I used to have this on vinyl and found the CD version by chance here. Forget about 'the dude' and Q's affiliation with michael- this is the real deal. ENJOY!

I had this record on vinyl years ago, and I bought the CD, principally to get the title song which can only be had by getting the CD. The song "Walking in Space" is a 12-minute tour de force, where the all-star orchestra delivers a succession of swinging solos which shake loose the glossy trappings of Quincy Jones's arrangement. The knockout punch is delivered by Rahsaan Roland Kirk who weighs in with a heroic, careening, manic blow that almost knocks the band off the stand. The rest of the album doesn't wear so well in the test of time. "Killer Joe" still resonates, but the rest of the songs feel languid and dated. The worst is "Oh Happy Day", which at the time, was a top-10 hit by the Edwin Hawkins singers. Removing the gospel lyrics may have seemed the right secular thing to do at the time, but in retrospect the song seems robbed of its spirit and comes off as the worst of bad muzak posing as jazz.

Quincy Jones had been composing soundtracks for years when this album came out in 1969. These were jazz scores, and created a symphonic big band blues that was fat and lucious.

He takes the same ideas and applies them, here, to the title track, and other standards such as "Dead End" and "Killer Joe."

The arrangements here are big and spacious, with plenty of top calabre soloing by some of the best jazz pros available at the time. Jones litterally transforms his chosen materal from rock and soundtrack pieces to amazing jazz vehicles. This is pretty conventinal big band jazz, but Jones' selection and arrangements are so big, yet so fluid, the music is rich and grand. He has always been a master at tone color and texture, and this is exploited to the hilt on Walking In Space.

The audio here has a eccho, as if you are listening to a big band in a theatre or dancehall. During a solo, the other horns are always mixed back, so you actually get the depth of a big soundstage. This lends itself perfectly to the nuance Quincy so beatifully creates.

On a good stereo, you can litterally hear the instruments reverberating off your walls. (Audiophiles dream of albums like this, and if you are into tubes and have a big listening space, you have to buy this for the sound quality alone.) Great musicians don't do anything by chance on records, and on Walking In Space, the master has executed his plan perfectly.

Where to begin? Let me try with my dear track, Johnny Mandel's theme from 'That Cold Day in The Park', here under the title 'I Never Told You', here with such beautiful lines by Toots Thielemens.

There's also Benny Golson's 'Killer Joe', really a killer with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and Hubert Laws on flute.

Such definitive arrangements, a treasure forever.

The best of the early 70's deluge of renditions of the music from HAIR, gorgeous arranging underpins this showcase for so much fine playing. While the music from Hair was a trendy keg to tap for artists who had their best work behind them by the early 70's, Jones the arranger's honest and uncluttered treatment of the idiosyncratic, unformulaic songs covered here makes this a supremely delicious recording.
Jones masterly ear for harmonic hues and the relentlessly spirited swinging performances of the band kick this record into my "classic" pantheon of jazz records. It's that good, People.

Killer Joe's definative recording finds its perfect tempo, the chorus building on mahogany rich chord voicings. The title track is a heady 14 minute jazz-trip (a 1970 thing, man) with playful, melodic, hard-swinging solos (after a few listens you'll be humming along with them) from flute master Hubert Laws and sax giant Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
The rhythm section bounces gleefully all over this record and the vividly crystal analog recording captures the exquisite horn textures and crackling rim shots with thrilling results. Somewhere in the space between granite-solid mainstream jazz and inventive late 60's pop this stands as a really good rekerd.
This record is over 13 years of age. Thank You.

Quincy Jones showed the music world he was about more than Jazz alone with this one. After playing in the bands of Count Basie, Dizzie Gillespie and others, and writing for Basie, Sinatra, movie scores and anything else you could name, he pulled off a musical fusion with "Walking In Space" which was unheard of before. (With the number of musicians and level of talent here, we probably won't see it again, either...). "Dead End" and "Walking In Space" are respects to the musical "Hair" (don't forget, this was done in '69), then there's Benny Golson's infectious swinger, "Killer Joe," Arthur Adams' "Love and Peace," Johnny Mandel's movie theme, "I Never Told You" and the kicker is Edwin Hawkins' handclapping gospel hit, "Oh, Happy Day!"

Like its successor, "Smackwater Jack," this album is a veritable "Who's Who?" of contemporary jazz and studio musicians. Quincy got such luminaries as Freddie Hubbard, Snooky Young, Hubert Laws, J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding, Jimmy Cleveland, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Hubert Laws, Jerome Richardson, Grady Tate, Bob James, Ray Brown, Chuck Rainey, Eric Gale and Valerie Simpson (later, 1/2 of Ashford & Simpson). The original issue on A&M was produced by Creed Taylor, who had established a reputation for producing BIG sessions with ALL the right people ( and apparently, megabucks budgets to match...). The album was an instant SMASH, won the Grammy for "Best Jazz Instrumental" (If I recall correctly, they even had to invent a new category for this record at the Grammy's) and still is GREAT FUN for listening today. The digital remaster for compact disc was done well, too, making for a fine addition to your library. Get this and "Smackwater Jack" to own the essential "Quintessential" recordings of the 70's from Quincy Jones. Having THIS man's best is a little cut above most of the others...ENJOY!

After working as a record executive and writing film scores, 1969's "Walking In Space" marked Quincy Jones' return to recording. From the opening notes of "Dead End" to the end of "Oh Happy Day", there isn't a note or a move wasted. Supported by a stellar crew of musicians including Ray Brown, Freddie Hubbard, Roland Kirk, Toots Thielemans, Eric Gale, and Hubert Laws to name a few, the musicianship is second to none. Especially noteworthy is the ultracool "Killer Joe"(Ray Brown walks downtown on this one! ) Another excellent remastering job by Kevin "the man with more aliases than america's most wanted"! Reeves and great liner notes by jazz critic Zan Stewart, this classic album has finally received the treatment it rightfully deserves.

This was the first jazz album I ever bought. For the last 40 years I have been trying to find a jazz album to surpass "Walking In Space". Guess what? It doesn't exist! This album is as fresh today as it was in 1969. Thank you, Quincy, for introducing me to jazz. This album (not "Kind Of Blue") is the best jazz album ever made. Go ahead, jazz purists...hate me!