🎷 AotW: Kudu Grover Washington, Jr.: Soul Box (Kudu Records KU-12 / KU-13 / KUX-1213)

Grover Washington, Jr.: Soul Box

Kudu Records KUX-1213
(2-LP set comprised of Soul Box, Vol. 1 and Soul Box, Vol. 2)
Released 1973

Soul Box, Vol. 1
Kudu Records KU-12
Released 1973

Soul Box, Vol. 2
Kudu Records KU-13
Released 1973

• A1: Aubrey 3:40
• A2: Masterpiece 13:20
• B1: Trouble Man 15:55
• C1: You Are The Sunshine Of My Life 6:00
• C2: Don't Explain 11:20
• D1: Easy Living/Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do /10:00
• D2: Taurian Matador 8:09

Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Grover Washington, Jr.
Arco Bass – Richard Davis, Ron Carter
Arranged By, Conductor – Bob James
Bass – Ron Carter
Bass Trombone – Alan Raph, Paul Faulise, Tony Studd
Bassoon – Donald McCourt
Cello – Charles McCracken, George Ricci, Seymour Barab
Design – Bob Ciano
Drums – Idris Muhammad (tracks: A1 to D1)
Flute, Clarinet, Clarinet [Contra Bass], Bass Saxophone – Wally Kane
Flute, Piccolo Flute – Hubert Laws
Flute, Piccolo Flute, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Oboe, English Horn – Romeo Penque
Flute, Piccolo Flute, Oboe – George Marge
Flute, Piccolo Flute, Recorder – Harvey Estrin
French Horn – Brooks Tillotson, Jim Buffington, Peter Gordon
Guitar – Eric Gale (tracks: A2 to D2)
Mastered By – Rudy Van Gelder
Organ – Richard Tee
Painting – David A. Leffel
Percussion – Airto, Dave Friedman*, Phil Kraus, Ralph MacDonald
Piano, Electric Piano – Bob James
Producer – Creed Taylor
Trombone – Santo Russo, Wayne Andre
Trumpet – Bernie Glow, John Frosk, Jon Faddis, Randall Brecker
Viola – Alfred Brown, Emanuel Vardi, Theodore Israel
Violin – Charles Libove, David Nadien, Elliot Rosoff, Emanuel Green, Gene Orloff, Harold Kohon, Harry Cykman, Harry Lookofsky, Joe Malin, Max Ellen, Paul Gershman
Vocals – Barbara Massey, Bernard Thacker, Eileen Gilbert, Maeretha Stewart, Randolph Peyton, Bill Eaton

Recorded at Van Gelder Studios, March, 1973


Amazon product ASIN B001D6OKEM

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Grover Washington, Jr. - Soul Box

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Grover Washington, Jr. - Soul Box Vol. 1

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Grover Washington, Jr. - Soul Box Vol. 2

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[Rudy]

As a two-LP set (or a full CD's worth), I've found this is a great album...if you skip one or two tracks. Grover's playing is at a peak here and he gets to stretch on a few ten-minute-plus tracks. Fine alto work.

One track I skip is "Aubrey." Think of Bob James' "Angela" (the theme from Taxi), but turn up the sappiness level. The Stevie Wonder cover of "Sunshine" is a bit MOR-ish as well, but at least Grover redeems it with some nice expansion of the original melody later in the tune (it would have fit better on a CTI album). Both really don't fit the rest of this album's two volumes. The remaining tracks, though, are a treat. Norman Whitfield's "Masterpiece" and Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man" featured on Vol. 1, where Billie Holiday's "Don't Explain" and "Taurian Matador" (Billy Cobham) highlighted Vol. 2. Bob James arranged and conducted the album but honestly, his influence from the two MOR-ish tracks (which could easily have fit on a Bob James album) doesn't permeate into the remaining tracks here.

One odd thing about Grover's albums is that all of them have remained under Motown's wing. Motown distributed CTI (and Kudu) for a while when the company was having financial difficulties in the mid 70s, yet the entire catalog except for Grover's albums reverted to Columbia. I don't know if Grover's friendship with Marvin Gaye had anything to do with it or not (Gaye, at the time, was married to Barry Gordy Jr.'s daughter Anna). The video samples here have strange cover images, but they are the official Universal uploads for both volumes one and two of this album.

Volume 2 of this set was the first Kudu album I ever owned and back then, unfortunately it didn't do much for me. Had I known then what I know now, and had I gotten Volume 1 along with it...