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| The jazz/R&B impresario shows off his golden ear and astonishing eclecticism. Sanford & Son Theme (The Streetbeater), Summer In The City, more. |
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| 1 Summer in the City |
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| 2 Eyes of Love |
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| 3 Tribute to A.F.: Daydreaming/First Time Ever I Saw Your Face |
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| 4 Love Theme from The Getaway |
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| 5 You've Got It Bad Girl |
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| 6 Superstition |
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| 7 Manteca |
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| 8 Sanford & Son Theme (The Streetbeater) |
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| 9 Chump Change |
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Album Review
Quincy Jones followed up "Smackwater Jack" and his supervision of Donny Hathaway's "Come Back Charleston Blue" soundtrack with this, a mixed bag that saw him inching a little closer toward the R&B-dominated approach that reached full stride on the following "Body Heat" and peaked commercially with "The Dude". That said, the album's most notorious cut is "The Streetbeater" -- better known as the "Sanford & Son" theme, a novelty for most but also one of the greasiest, grimiest instrumental fusions of jazz and funk ever laid down -- while its second most noteworthy component is a drastic recasting of "Summer In The City," as heard in the Pharcyde's "Passin' Me By," where the frantic, bug-eyed energy of the Lovin' Spoonful original is turned into a magnetically lazy drift driven by Eddie Louis' organ, Dave Grusin's electric piano, and Valerie Simpson's voice. (Simpson gives the song a "Summertime"-like treatment.) Between that, the title song (a faithfully mellow version, with Jones' limited but subdued vocal lead), a medley of Aretha Franklin's "Daydreaming" and Ewan MacColl's "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," and a light instrumental, roughly half the album is mood music, and it's offset with not just "The Streetbeater" but a large-scale take on "Manteca," a spooky-then-overstuffed "Superstition" (where the uncredited Billy Preston, Bill Withers, and Stevie Wonder are billed as "three beautiful brothers"), and the "Streetbeater" companion "Chump Change" (co-written with Bill Cosby). The best here can be had on comps, but the album is by no means disposable. [Given a straight reissue in early 2009 via Verve's Originals series.] ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
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• Biography
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Other albums by: Quincy Jones |
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