Pure romance
Olukayode Balogun | Leeds, England | 08/26/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In the 70s and 80s, guitarist Eric Gale seemed omnipresent. At the time, it was like everybody wanted a piece of him. The complete list is too long to lay out here but people like saxophonists Grover Washington, Jr & Hank Crawford, keyboardist Bob James, vocalists extraordinaire Patti Austin & Joe Cocker, the legendary Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon and even über producer Quincy Jones, all had Gale come in and lay down some of his signature licks on their albums. In all, he played as a sideman on over 500 albums. Taking his own solo career into account alongside the work he did with his group Stuff, it's a wonder how the man ever got any sleep.
Of his first six solo albums, 1975's Forecast, 1977's Ginseng Woman and Multiplication, (both now available, luckily, on a single CD, Ginseng Woman/Multiplication), 1980's Touch Of Silk and 1982's Blue Horizon, are personal favourites and are never too far away from my CD player.
This one, however, from 1979 is my overall favourite. I'm not sure why. With its much smoother edges, this is certainly (to my ears) the most romantic-sounding of the bunch. Previous recordings had been either produced by Creed Taylor and arranged and conducted by Bob James, or produced by James himself. As much as I love those recordings, there is a strident urgency to them. This one was recorded by percussionist Ralph MacDonald with arrangements by William Eaton, Eric Gale and Bernadette Randle. To me, on the whole, it sounds much more laid back.
I've always found Eric Gale's style intriguingly deceptive in that while his melodies and improvisations sounds very simple and unchallenging, they are really anything but. This is a man who knows exactly what he's doing and is probably one of the greatest guitarists of my time. All I know is that he's one of my all-time favourites and is always great to listen to. I believe that anyone who's into people like George Benson, Lee Ritenour or even Earl Klugh, would like Eric Gale.
He actually gets to play some bass on this album (on all the songs except for "Let-Me-Slip-It-To-You" and "Trio") and the album features people like Steve Gadd and Idris Muhammed (on drums), Richard Tee and Dave Grusin (on piano) and of course, Grover Washington, Jr on tenor saxophone.
Most of Gale's CDs are hard to come by these days and are pretty expensive as a result. This one has only been available on Japanese import for some time now and though it costs a bit more than usual, as far as I'm concerned, it's worth every penny. I say get one now before it's out of print completely and out of reach. Highly recommended."
Track Listings (6) - Disc #1