After beginning his career as a jazz pianist (discovered by Quincy Jones in 1962), Robert McElhiney James was hired by Creed Taylor in 1973 to be an arranger for CTI, contributing to several funky fusion LPs put out by the label. Taylor first gave James the chance to release his own album the following year, and One is an ambitious mix of themes from classical music (Pachelbel, Ravel and Mussorgsky), slick playing and incredible grooves, not least in the future classic Nautlius that closes the album.
Released in 1975, Two is the album that opens with the hip-hop sampling staple Take Me To The Mardi Gras, in James' eternally joyous arrangement of the Paul Simon song. This album is smoother in some places, like the Patti Austin-sung I Feel A Song In My Heart, but still finds time for knotty fusion in The Golden Apple. Bizet's Farandole gets the funked-up classical treatment. On to 1976, and Three opens with a smoking take on One Mint Julep, and includes James' classic tune Westchester Lady. His CTI era then drew to a close with BJ4 from 1977, the one with the funky earworm Tappan Zee among other delights.
Disc 1 link
Disc 2 link
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