Heads (Bob James album)

Heads
Studio album by Bob James
Released	October 14, 1977
Recorded	May–September 1977
Studio	Mediasound, New York City A&R, New York City
Genre	Jazz fusion, smooth jazz
Length	37:57
Label	Tappan Zee
Producer	Bob James
Bob James chronology
BJ4 (1976) Heads (1977) Touchdown (1978)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[2]
The Village Voice	D+ [3]

Heads is the fifth album by the jazz musician Bob James, released in October 1977. It was his first album released on his newly formed Tappan Zee label, which was distributed by Columbia Records. All of his Tappan Zee albums (which includes his CTI back-catalog) are distributed by E1 Music. The album reached number one on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.

Track listing

1. "Heads" (Bob James) – 6:40
2. "We're All Alone" (Boz Scaggs) – 5:33
3. "I'm in You" (Peter Frampton) – 6:48
4. "Night Crawler" (Bob James) – 6:20
5. "You Are So Beautiful" (Billy Preston, Bruce Fisher) – 6:48
6. "One Loving Night" (Henry Purcell) – 5:48

Personnel

• Bob James – arrangements, acoustic piano (1, 2, 5, 6), Fender Rhodes (1–4), clavinet (1, 3), Oberheim Polyphonic synthesizer (1–4), synth bells (1), ARP Odyssey (3), harpsichord (6)
• Ed Walsh – synthesizer programming
• Richard Tee – rhythm keyboards (2)
• Steve Khan – guitars (1, 2, 4, 6)
• Eric Gale – guitars (1, 2, 5, 6) electric guitar (4), guitar solo (5)
• Jeff Layton – guitars (3)
• Jeff Mironov – guitars (3)
• Alphonso Johnson – bass guitar (1, 2)
• Will Lee – bass guitar (3)
• Gary King – bass guitar (4–6)
• Steve Gadd – drums (1, 2)
• Allan Schwartzberg – drums (3)
• Andy Newmark – drums (4–6)
• Ralph MacDonald – percussion
• Mike Mainieri – vibraphone (2)

Brass and woodwinds

• Michael Brecker – soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
• Phil Bodner – alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute, oboe
• Eddie Daniels – tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute
• George Marge – baritone saxophone, flute, English horn, oboe, sopranino recorder (6)
• Gerry Niewood – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, alto flute
• David Sanborn – alto saxophone, alto sax solo (3, 4, 6)
• Grover Washington Jr. – tenor sax solo (6)
• Wayne Andre – trombone
• Tom Mitchell Jr. – trombone
• Dave Taylor – trombone
• Randy Brecker – flugelhorn, trumpet
• Jon Faddis – flugelhorn, trumpet
• John Frosk – flugelhorn, trumpet
• Lew Soloff – flugelhorn, trumpet
• Marvin Stamm – flugelhorn, trumpet
• James Buffington – French horn
• Peter Gordon – French horn
• Brooks Tillotson – French horn

Strings

• Jonathan Abramowitz – cello
• Charles McCracken – cello
• Alan Shulman – cello
• Gloria Agostini – harp
• Lamar Alsop – viola
• Al Brown – viola
• Emanuel Vardi – viola
• Harry Cykman – violin
• Max Ellen – violin
• Barry Finclair – violin
• Paul Gershman – violin
• Diana Halprin – violin
• Harold Kohon – violin
• Marvin Morgenstern – violin
• David Nadien – violin, concertmaster
• John Pintavalle – violin
• Max Pollikoff – violin
• Matthew Raimondi – violin

Vocals on "You Are So Beautiful"

• Patti Austin
• Vivian Cherry
• Lani Groves
• Gwen Guthrie

Production

• Bob James – producer
• Joe Jorgensen – associate producer, engineer, mixing
• Jay Borden – assistant engineer
• Michael Braver – assistant engineer
• Doug Epstein – assistant engineer
• John Berg – art direction, design
• Paula Scher – art direction, design
• Buddy Endress – photography

Charts

Chart (1978)	Peak position
Billboard Top LPs [4]	47
Billboard Top Jazz LPs [4]	1

References

1. Henderson, Alex. Bob James: Heads > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
2. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 111. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
3. Christgau, Robert (January 30, 1978). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice . New York. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
4. "Bob James US albums chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-09-15.

External links

• Bob James-Heads at Discogs