Breakout (The James Taylor Quartet) (LP 2391 - 2395)

The James Taylor Quartet  The BBC Sessions (CD, Strange Fruit Records, 1987) ****  

The James Taylor Quartet  Mission Impossible (CD, CDMaximum, 1987) **** 

The James Taylor Quartet  The Library Sessions (CD, Bruton Music, 2000) ****  

The James Taylor Quartet  The Collection (CD, Spectrum/Universal Records, 2001) *****  

The James Taylor Quartet  Don't Mess With Mr. T (CD, Dome Records, 2007) ***  

Genre: Jazz, acid jazz, jazz funk

Places I remember: HMV and Fopp (London town); Mission Impossible from Real Groovy Records (label says - made only for Russia)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Theme From 'Starsky And Hutch' (The Collection)

Gear costume: Bossa Palante (BBC Sessions). I could have put a dozen other songs here - they're that good!!

Active compensatory factors: James Taylor plays the Hammond B3 organ and fronts the JTQ (even though they are often not a quartet). He has a background in pop as a member of garage rock band The Prisoners, but these albums are all jazz, acid jazz, or jazz funk.

I'm always amazed how versatile the Hammond B3 organ is. I love the sound it makes when played by people like Keith Emerson, Brian Auger, Jimmy Smith, Jon Lord and James Taylor. Not so much by others, like Roy Phillips (The Peddlers).

The BBC Sessions and Mission Impossible both kick off with his first single - Blow Up (a version of Herbie Hancock's theme from the movie). How cool is that! A cool theme from a cool movie about the cool swinging sixties London. That's cool!

From there on it's a thrill ride of tight arrangements and expert playing. That's the case on The Library Sessions as well. 

There's definitely a rockier sound on this set of tunes, with organ, guitar, bass, drums being augmented with horns, even sitar (from Mick Taylor no less) and harmonica appearing.

I don't often include compilations in this catalogue trawl but The Collection is a must because it has a multitude of tracks I don't have on those other two albums I've written about (he's very prolific and these four albums just scratch the surface).

The Collection kicks off with his remarkable version of the Theme from Starsky And Hutch. The version above is a funky mix one, whatever that means.

The rest of the album captures the band as they were in the eighties and nineties and while the only two constants in the quartet are James and his guitarist brother David, the sound is rich and vibrant throughout. Stacks of highlights on the album - it acts as a great primer. Definitely worthy of 5 stars.

The Don't Mess With Mr. T album contains a number of covers of lesser known Motown songs. Quite a lot have vocals which suits the material. It's a nice to have, but not essential, unlike The Collection.

Where do they all belong? A no brainer if I ever come across any more of his albums. Rare in NZ.