🎷 AotW: CTI Kai Winding & J.J. Johnson - Stonebone (reserved for SP-3027)

All the CTI releases
The record business usually revolves around how many albums a label is owed.
That's a good theory also. There could have been some trading going on there, in order to keep peace (legally) with A&M.

The Tamba 4 comes a bit earlier in the numbering (3021 vs. 3025, 3026, 3027), though, which makes me wonder if something else kept it shelved. I like it quite a bit, although I kind of wonder if it was shelved for other reasons beyond labels negotiating an exit. (Could A&M have felt it wasn't commercial enough? Did Luiz Eça feel it strayed too far from the Tamba Trio/4 concept? Did Creed Taylor feel it was weak? We'll never know.) Yet if A&M was holding onto it for a later release before learning of Creed Taylor's departure plans, it too could have been held up for that reason.

Tide came later in the numbering (3031) and the sessions were split between the A&M album and CTi's Stone Flower. (The brevity and relative quality of Tide to Stone Flower makes it seem like contract fulfillment to me; the title song, even, is like a parody of "Wave" and I can't think of any other recording of that tune. And, much as I hate to say it, much of the A&M album has forgettable melodies, something I'd rarely say about Jobim's work.)

Benson's I Got A Woman did come out in the 80s with the CTi imprint if I'm not mistaken, as the title track was on one of the samplers of that reissue series.

But yeah, overall, I feel as though all of these later albums were tied up in some sort of negotiation or maneuvering as Creed Taylor exited A&M.

And, if you look at the releases on the new CTi, it's a lot of long cuts and four tracks per LP, so I don't think commercialism was the concern. In fact, until Deodato broke big, A&M/CTi was a much more commercial-leaning label than the standalone CTi.
Stonebone actually follows that format--a sign of things to come, perhaps? Stanley Turrentine's Sugar, which I have been playing as of late, only has three tracks. Salt Song only has five. The couple of Freddie Hubbard albums I have are similarly short, although First LIght has two longer and three shorter tracks.
 
That's a good theory also. There could have been some trading going on there, in order to keep peace (legally) with A&M.

The Tamba 4 comes a bit earlier in the numbering (3021 vs. 3025, 3026, 3027), though, which makes me wonder if something else kept it shelved.


I think you're right, Rudy.

Albums weren't released one at a time---they came out in batches. 3022 is MOONDREAMS, 3023 is WALKING IN SPACE and 3024 was FROM THE HOT AFTERNOON. Going through back issues of Billboard online, it looks like Quincy came out in September and Paul in December (Walter couldn't even get a mention in Billboard!). It looks like Tamba 4 would have been Summer '69 if it had come out. A bit too early to be maneuvering for the releases in summer of '70. The other three, maybe.
 
Well, I will need to pick this one up! Fortunately we have a Target here in Waco! (I don't trust ordering and having it delivered).

-Mr. Bill
 
It occurred just now that neither 'ISRAEL' of 'BETWIXT AND BETWEEN' have ever been reissued on CD. I envision a 2-disc box set 'J&K: the A&M Years' with the 3 albums and any bonus material that may exists.


JB
 
Most of the CT 100x albums were recorded in the summer/fall of '69 and not released until '70. There is a good bloomberg podcast on Flow, and Don Felder has quite a few things to say about his relationship with Creed at that time and his situation. See CT 503 I have quite a bit more for when I get to the album.

For what its worth there were a lot of lawsuits floating around after 1974 with CTI/Creed Taylor. Seawind sued to get the rights to their masters; there was the "bad" Beson breakup, there were issues over Grover Washington, and then the whole bankruptcy thing. I'm still chasing some loose ends to find out what happened to Creeds house as a result of the bankruptcy. CTI was part owned by his wife, who I believe was the legal owner of the house. It all gets very complicated. I have the incorporation certificates for a bunch of the companies, and the independent CTI was actually set up well before most people think it was. Sometime later this year, after I've published blog entries on the major music things Creed worked on. I plan to add a whole section on the business, the companies, the staff etc.

For now I'm trying to finish a short series on the first 14-singles made by CTI... a lot of which were only ever promo versions. Next one CT 104 Hack Bartholomew should be up tonight or tomorrow.
 
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