Creed Taylor Produced

Here is the mix for volume 2 of the CTI Albums produced by Creed Taylor for A&M Records. As with volume 1, one track from each of the albums is included. The tracks are included in the mix in label number order starting with “Betwixt & Between – J & K (SP 3016)” and ending with “Tide” by Anton Carlos Jobim (SP 3031)”.

Here again it is an (almost) all vinyl mix, apart from track 9, which is an alternate take from the original master tapes that uses the same tune as track 4. In this case, it is Paul Desmond, but without the orchestration that was added for the final release. Desmond is just so melodic on “Catavento”; it deserved to be heard alone.

A Tale Of Twos’

The mix, as it turns out, is a tale of twos, even though there is only one track from each album. “Catavento” has two different versions; “Don’t Cha Hear Me Callin’ To Ya” is also featured twice, once by George Benson and the second by J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding (J & K) here; J & K also have a second track, “Stormy,” which opens the set. Walter Wanderley has two tracks; Nat Adderley also has two, his own hypnotic “Biafra” and Quincy Jones’s track “Hummin’.” Eric Gale’s guitar solos can be heard on both Quincy Jones tracks—which is interesting only in so much as Quincy Jones didn’t select Benson for either of his albums.

Two of the albums were recorded in 1969 but were only released in the last 10 years as Record Store Day Specials: the Tamba 4 – California Soul album in 2019 and the J & K “Stonebone” album in 2020.

George Benson In The Mix

Although George Benson has four tracks in the Volume-2 mix and recorded four A&M/CTI albums; one track was included on the first mix. Here, I’ve used the Benson version of “The End” as an additional track to play out. Interestingly, George Benson is only featured as a sideman on J & K’s “Stonebone.” Benson’s “Tell It Like It Is” album (SP 3020) has an unusual group of sidemen, perhaps as the arranger and conductor is Marty Sheller, for whom this is his only album working with Creed.

As Doug Payne notes in his magnum opus for A&M/CTI albums:

It does indeed sound like a very different Benson album, perhaps both because of the lineup and the use of Sheller for arrangements. I’d tried to include one of the Benson vocal tracks, but they just didn’t fit.

And Now For Something

I’ll readily admit that when it comes to Walter Wanderley, I have a blind spot. Whenever I hear Wanderley on the organ, I see naked white man, seated at an organ in the middle of a field. He turns to face the camera and says “”and now for something completely different”. Yes, I grew-up in the UK and Monty Python ruled the waves and “The Naked Organist” was a recurring character portrayed by Terry Jones in the third series ^[1]https://montypython.fandom.com/wiki/The_Nude_Organist_(character) .

Wanderley deserves better than that; his tracks here have tempo and rhythm and glide easily in and out of the mix.

As noted earlier, two tracks here are from Record Store albums only released in the last 10 years; Doug Payne has the details ^[2]https://dougpayne.com/early-cti-the-am-years-1967-70/. Interestingly, a third album, Benson’s “I Got A Woman And Some Blues (scheduled as SP 3025),” did not get released until 1984 after his success with “Breezin’,” “Night Flight,” etc.

There is no doubt that by mid-1969, Creed Taylor was tracking the post Beatles music era, the rise of electric rock and the post Woodstock age in the USA. 1970 would show that in a big way with the CTI 1000 series before the seminal return to jazz with Freddie Hubbard’s “Red Clay”.

That said, the 29 albums featured in the CTI A&M collection, represented in these mixes – hang together well and represent a seed change in Taylor’s direction. Today there is no way a producer could give direction; attend studio recording sessions, review the tapes and edits – pick singles and be involved in editing down longer tracks and do this for 29-albums in such a short period, little over 2-years.

Mix 2 Playlist

00:00 Bill Evans, Phil Ramone – Studio Talk - ctproduced mix intro
00:23 J & K – Stormy - Betwixt & Between (SP 3016)
02:42 Nat Adderley – Biafra - Calling Out Loud (SP 3017)
09:35 Walter Wanderley Set – Ponteio - When It Was Done (SP 3018)
12:00 Milton Nascimento – Catavento - Courage (SP 3019)
14:20 George Benson – Don't Cha Hear Me Callin' To Ya - Tell It Like It Is (SP 3020)
17:21 Tamba 4 – Sambinha - California Soul (scheduled as SP 3021)
19:15 Walter Wanderley – Soulful Strut - Moondreams (SP 3022)
22:42 Quincy Jones – Dead End - Walking In Space (SP 3023)
26:15 Paul Desmond – Catavento - From The Hot Afternoon (SP 3024)
28:46 George Benson – Durham's Turn - I Got A Woman And Some Blues (scheduled as SP 3025)
32:38 J & K – Don't Cha Hear Me Callin' To Ya - Stonebone (scheduled as SP 3027)
42:31 George Benson – Come Together - The Other Side Of Abbey Road (SP 3028)
48:44 Quincy Jones – Hummin - Gula Matari (SP 3030)
56:38 Antonio Carlos Jobim – Tide - Tide (SP 3031)
01:01:00 Interlude – The Hot Line For '59 - ABC-Paramount
01:01:05 George Benson – The End - The Other Side Of Abbey Road (SP 3028)

The Interlude near “The End” is taken from an AM-PAR ABC Paramount internal sales meeting double album ^[3]https://ctproduced.com/the-abc-of-specialty-recording/#The_Hot_Line_for_59. The album was given out to staff and distributors attending the 1959 meeting. The first record features edits from tracks and a spoof couple, Harry and Laverne – At the time, Harry Levine was the AM-PAR Executive Vice President of albums and A&R and had been involved in hiring Creed Taylor from Bethlehem. A Coincidence, surely-not!

Here is the first CTI A&M mix if you missed it. I have a number of other mixes planned as well as a whole new project that will launch shortly to document obscure public service records.