Past to Present, East to West

Exhibit One: You’re watching TV. You’re riding across the 59th Street Bridge into Manhattan, looking out through the back window of a car. You see the bridge going by and a taxicab following you. Then you see the title of the show: Taxi. Then you see some credits. Not much there until you hear the music. So New York, so in the pocket and so poignant. And all Bob.

Exhibit Two: You’re cozying up to your baby and you flip on any smooth jazz station. Out comes “Nightcrawler” or “Nautilus” or a dozen others to help you through the night. There’s Bob.

Remember the irresistible EP vamp on Grover Washington, Jr.’s, “Mister Magic”? Or the swirling, chorused Rhodes on Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years”? Arranged and played by Bob James. You’d think a guy with these kind of credits would be basking on a beach somewhere. But actually, he’s touring like crazy, he’s got a handful of brilliant Chinese musicians in tow, and he’s on a mission.

Bob Discovers Electricity

A Missouri boy who studied composition at the University of Michigan, Bob was fast-tracked by Quincy Jones at the Notre Dame Jazz Festival in 1963. His first solo jazz piano album, Bold Conceptions on Mercury Records came out that year and it looked like Bob was poised to join the other young lions of jazz piano in Gotham.

Then, in 1970, Bob met Creed Taylor and musical lightning struck. Creed, a respected jazz producer, had formed his own label, CTI which was to emerge as a fountainhead of soul jazz and American/Brazilian collaborations with artists like Wes Montgomery, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Quincy Jones. With Creed’s blessing, Bob wrote and arranged for CTI artists like Grover Washington, Jr., Hank Crawford, and enough others so that he quickly built his rep as a go-to-guy for keyboards and a fresh, original sound.

CTI’s uber-engineer was the former Blue Note luminary, Rudy Van Gelder, whose legendary studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, birthed dozens of jazz classics including John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. When the CTI crowd began creating there, it was also home to a remarkable new technological breakthrough. Here’s Bob: “It was pretty coincidental that the Fender Rhodes became such a big part of my life. Rudy had one in his studio and we just all began using it. Richard Tee was another guy who I knew very well and we both played a lot of studio dates. We had our favorites in New York — certain numbered instruments — and we’d all try to get them for our sessions.”

Now the Rhodes is considered a retro keyboard. But back in the day, piano players were very conscious about making the shift to the new instrument. “I had a love/hate relationship with the Rhodes,” says Bob. “I always preferred conventional pianos. They had so much more power, more subtleties, so many more gradations of tone, volume, action. You just didn’t get it on the Rhodes. But there was a magical quality that the Rhodes had.”

The Magic Touch

Fender sold a gazillion Rhodes pianos in the ’70s, but very few players became as closely associated with the new sound as Bob. In fact, he has a unique voice on the bell-like instrument: It’s a gentle, highly-nuanced sensibility that speaks forte when played piano. Bob explains: “Lots of jazz guys don’t change their technique. They play with the same degree of velocity that they use to play a real piano. And to my ear, that doesn’t work.

“I’m going to risk sounding sacrilegious here, but I have the same reaction to Bill Evans on Rhodes. He was one of the great geniuses of jazz piano, but when he played the Rhodes it was irritating to me. He didn’t sound like he was comfortable. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was forced on him. He didn’t have a love affair with it . . . but I did! I could express myself in a very particular way with the Rhodes, but I had to be gentle. As soon as I played hard I didn’t like the sound. But it’s possible to have a lot of dynamic range, even playing gently.”

All jazz artists have their bag of tricks for creating their unique musical voices. And one of Bob’s is his remarkable control of dynamics. Very apparent on his acoustic jazz piano recordings is his highly intentional use of all the colors of volume. Even in gentle passages, Bob paints with a wider dynamic palette than most other players. Bob’s keyboard-work can seem deceptively simple at first, but when you try to re-create it you find yourself fumble-fingered. Even on complex passages, Bob’s phrasing and dynamics (they go hand in hand) include so much variation that your ear stays interested longer. Harmonies become fresher and melodies are more vividly illuminated. But he doesn’t rub your nose in it.

Ironically, the hard-wired sensitivity that gave him super-powers on the newly introduced Rhodes back in the ’70s works against him with today’s fabulous virtual pianos. “I don’t like ’em,” he says. “I’ve tried them all. The sounds are great. But I feel like I’m losing 20 to 30 per-cent of the subtleties of my technique — all the gradations of touch that put personality in a phrase. I feel watered down. On playback the instrument sounds wonderful but my playing sounds anonymous. And I wanted to fall in love with it. It would be a dream on the road.”

The Power Of One

In the high-powered studio scene of the ’70s New York, Bob became musical soul-mates with rhythm players who were at the top of their game: Eric Gale, Harvey Mason, and Nathan East. They all played on so many sessions together that Bob developed a unique insight into what made the Rhodes work in a groove and jazz setting. “I’ve always had a single note kind of style,” he says. “Not that much left hand — partially because it’s easier, of course, but also because I was always aware when I was playing with a guitarist that you have too many people taking up space. Same with a bass player. In the ’70s, we switched from a walking acoustic bass to an electric bass that was playing a counter-melody. I didn’t want to get in the way so I played more and more sparsely with my left hand. I also developed sort of a trademark by doubling my single-note Rhodes part with acoustic piano. There was no MIDI then, so I’d either overdub the piano or play single note solos with my left hand on acoustic and right hand on Rhodes.”

At the same time, he became aware of the power of the mixing board. Even when played gently, a single line Rhodes solo could suddenly have as much expressive import as a sax, guitar, or an entire brass section.

The Power Of Many

But man does not live by keyboard alone. And much of the Bob James sound grew out of his arranging. Part of the secret was working with players who shared his instincts. Bob was constantly rubbing shoulders with musicians like Steve Gadd, Idris Muhammad, Randy Brecker, Earl Klugh, and many of the stars on the CTI roster. Like so many young musicians, he studied arranging and composition in school, but really learned it on the job.

“I really tried hard to force myself away from the piano and think!” says Bob. “After doing lots and lots of arranging, I got to know the instruments very well and could hear them in my head. And I found if I wrote away from the piano the arranging was more effective because the sounds were more characteristic of the instruments. I wasn’t just stuck with the piano voicings.”

Being part of the right place at the right time brought Bob in on sessions that were to become classics. He arranged and played Rhodes on Grover Washington, Jr.’s, platinum hit Mister Magic which didn’t start out as a groove thing. Ralph MacDonald, the ubiquitous percussionist, had written and demoed the song as a ballad with a vocal. Bob didn’t dig the feel, but loved the title, so he came up with the irresistible EP vamp and guitarist Eric Gale started playing the signature guitar riff. It was producer Creed Taylor’s wisdom to let the tape roll until the band was done. Bob remembers: “Creed Taylor was a believer in letting the songs go long. That one went almost nine minutes. And people loved it. ” Further proof that if you groove it, they will come.

Digital Bob

When you listen to the Bob James oeuvre — 37-plus solo albums and more — you’re aware that even though he’s got traditional arranger chops, he’s no stranger to synths. His work is awash in layered textures, sampled sonorities, and all the hallmarks of the digital age. But he doesn’t fall back on the same-old, same-old. Even though he might return to the same synth, each project spawns a search for new sounds.

On strings and pads: “I use Atmosphere and the Yamaha Motif. But lots of hybrids. Lots of gradual layering. I’m a hunt-and-pecker when it comes to bringing up sounds, so there’s no formula. It doesn’t even have to sound like strings if the texture works in the context of the piece. It’s a new challenge on every tune.”

On EP’s: “I pull from different sources. I’ve used the Korg Triton and Trinity, TR Rack, and the Yamaha Motif. Some Roland gear, too, though I use their stuff more for orchestral colors.” Bob hadn’t heard the new, re-invented Rhodes Piano that premiered at NAMM in January, but I sense that it could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

On guitars: “I haven’t found any guitar sounds that evoke a real player, which is good. You don’t want to get too close. Then the players feel like they have to copy my sound and that’s the last thing you want from a Larry Carlton or an Earl Klugh. I’d rather that the part sound amateurish. That way they know I’m not in love with the part and they’ll be inspired to come up with something much better.”

On drums: “It’s a great benefit to be able to hear a groove in your own studio to write to and then bring it to real players. I’ve been lucky to work with guys like Harvey Mason and Billy Kilson who know how to use a looped drum part as inspiration and transform it into something awesome.” Bob finds it a powerful shortcut to be able to bring a MIDI demo into the studio as a jumping-off point for live players and points to his latest Fourplay album as a happy example.

Bob Plays With The Angels

So where do you go next when you’ve done four decades of brilliant solo, duet trio, quartet and beyond albums with some of the best players of your generation?

Well, Bob James went to Shanghai. In 2003, while exploring musical possibilities with an International Festival committee in China, Bob was introduced to five impossibly talented and skillful music students at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Not only were they masters of their traditional Chinese instruments, but they were also uniquely willing to embrace the sensibilities of jazz with Bob. He was deeply moved by the experience.

Almost unbidden came a profound commitment to creating a body of recorded work with these exceptional players that would chronicle this highly unusual blending of the cultures. The result is Angels of Shanghai (Tappan Zee Records) — visit www.bob james.com for the whole story. From day one it was challenging and provocative: “The er-hu was the first instrument to catch my ear. It has two strings, is somewhat similar to a violin and something about the way this musician played it was so soulful and mysterious and romantic. On one song I’d find myself crying when I’d hear her play.”

Bob booked a studio for a week and sat down with the five players and a translator to try to create a meeting of the musical minds. He played them riffs on the piano and had them respond. They played together, then separately, and he was shocked and delighted to discover that these talented classical players were highly intuitive improvisers. “These musicians had a kind of swing — not a jazz-based swing,” he says. “It’s a very strong rhythmic confidence. And because their music has more rubato in it, they can flow in and out of tempos much more easily than we can. That’s what I learned the most from them. It’s a wonderfully powerful learning experience.”

Bob took the week’s worth of Pro Tools files back to his home studio in Michigan and began to cut and paste much in the style of a hip-hop producer. The song “Dream With Me” emerged in this way, creating the illusion of a work sourced in the timbres of Chinese instruments. But one recording session clearly wasn’t going to be enough to satisfy a pre-occupation with this process that was becoming, by Bob’s own admission, a wonderful obsession. He wrote and arranged furiously and was able to record a CD’s worth of material both in the Pro Tools pastiche fashion and traditional thru-composed live tracking. “We’d work in these different ways, swapping riffs and sharing ideas. I’d sit at the piano with Pro Tools running and I wouldn’t know how to communicate. I didn’t know — did they read our notation? There’s a whole different system of Chinese notation. But they always surprised me.”

Bob’s voice becomes reverent when he talks about this experience. He describes himself as a man on a mission: “I’ve never felt this way about a project before. I feel a loyalty to these young musicians. Americans tend to not understand other cultures. And now more than ever we need to be open to them.” His commitment to the project was so strong that he brought his young Asian collaborators to the U.S. and is touring with a band comprised of them and an international jazz quartet including guitarist Jack Lee from Korea, drummer Louis Pragasam from Kuala Lumpur, and long-time pal Al Turner on bass. Bob reports that the inspiration is a rich, two-way street. “I started out as a jazz musician and I struggle to describe where this project has taken me. I find myself in the middle of something completely different and wonderful and I have no name to describe it.”

Well, not so completely different that the players couldn’t perform an arrangement of Bob’s “Angela/Theme to Taxi” which, as it turns out, was written with a pentatonic scale that is an old friend to both Chinese and western players. And familiarity, in this case, breeds a kind of freedom: “As we tour, it’s more and more exciting to see how the music can now exist without the loops and backing tracks. It’s so much better and freer.”

How Can I Play Like Bob?

Of course you can look at our lessons, which will take you down the right road, but you might start by thinking like Bob James. The players he admires are the ones who strive to make every moment of their playing special and unique. “When I hear Joe Sample, for example, I know what he goes through to find that ideal voicing on every chord and it’s uniquely him,” says Bob. “I love it! The same goes for an artist like Hiromi. She has her own voice. It’s 21st-century jazz.”

And you should certainly take a close listen to his most recent acoustic trio album Take It From The Top in which he pays tribute to the piano legends who influenced him by playing songs associated with his heroes. On the American folk song “Billy Boy” Bob points out, “The credit for the arrangement goes to Red Garland. I studied and performed it in college and only later learned that Red was probably inspired by an earlier version by Ahmad Jamal.” On Count Basie: “He drove the band by doing these little things on piano. He didn’t have to do that much. Just pop, pop, pop, at the end of a phrase.”

And you must take to heart Bob’s advice to composers everywhere: “When you’re through, put a double bar on it and perform it! Get it out! And trust yourself. Dig deep. What you have inside is more special than trying to find the correct way. Especially in jazz.”

Oh, and one more thing: “Practice. You’re going to have these skills your whole life. It’s easier to get them when you’re young.”

And he couldn’t have mentioned this in 1971?