Night Life (Billy Butler album)

Last updated
Night Life
Night Life (Billy Butler album).jpg
Studio album by Billy Butler
Released 1971
Recorded December 21, 1970
Studio Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Genre Jazz
Length35:43
Label Prestige
PR 7854
Producer Bob Porter
Billy Butler chronology
Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
(1970)
Night Life
(1971)
Billy Butler Plays Via Galactica
(1973)

Night Life is the fourth album by guitarist Billy Butler which was recorded in late 1970 and released on the Prestige label the following year. [1] The album was released on CD combined with Butler's debut album This Is Billy Butler! as Billy Butler: Legends of Acid Jazz in 1998 but, confusingly, was not part the CD release also titled Night Life which compiled Butler's other two albums for Prestige Guitar Soul! and Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow .

Billy Butler (guitarist) American musician

William Butler Jr. was an American soul jazz guitarist.

Prestige Records American jazz record label

Prestige Records is a jazz record company and label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock in New York City. The company recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under subsidiaries. In 1971, the company was sold to Fantasy, which was later absorbed by Concord.

<i>This Is Billy Butler!</i> album by Billy Butler

This Is Billy Butler! is the debut album by guitarist Billy Butler which was recorded in 1968 and released by Prestige Records.

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [2]

Allmusic awarded the compilation album 4½ stars stating "Butler was a versatile musician who, on ballads in particular displayed a very interesting sound, sometimes sliding between notes as if he were playing a steel guitar". [2]

Track listing

  1. "Night Life" (Walt Breeland, Paul Buskirk, Willie Nelson) - 5:58
  2. "Wave" (Antonio Carlos Jobim) - 5:53
  3. "Watch What Happens" (Jacques Demy, Norman Gimbel, Michel Legrand) - 5:06
  4. "Peacock Alley" (Billy Butler, Bill Doggett) - 4:10
  5. "Prelude to a Kiss" (Duke Ellington, Irving Gordon, Irving Mills) - 5:08
  6. "In a Mellow Tone" (Ellington, Milt Gabler) - 9:43

Personnel

Guitar fretted string instrument

The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that usually has six strings. It is typically played with both hands by strumming or plucking the strings with either a guitar pick or the finger(s)/fingernails of one hand, while simultaneously fretting with the fingers of the other hand. The sound of the vibrating strings is projected either acoustically, by means of the hollow chamber of the guitar, or through an electrical amplifier and a speaker.

Tenor saxophone type of saxophone

The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while the Alto is pitched in the key of E), and written as a transposing instrument in the treble clef, sounding an octave and a major second lower than the written pitch. Modern tenor saxophones which have a high F key have a range from A2 to E5 (concert) and are therefore pitched one octave below the soprano saxophone. People who play the tenor saxophone are known as "tenor saxophonists", "tenor sax players", or "saxophonists".

Houston Person American saxophonist

Houston Person is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer. Although he has performed in the hard bop and swing genres, he is most experienced in and best known for his work in soul jazz. He received the Eubie Blake Jazz Award in 1982.

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References

  1. Prestige Records discography accessed March 8, 2013
  2. 1 2 Yanow, S. Allmusic listing accessed March 8, 2013