MP3 Sam Crain - Jammin´ with Sam

Ex-Ray Charles trumpeter David Hoffman and some others are featured in this collection of vintage 80's jazz fusion: Fender Rhodes, synth, & 'fuzztone' guitar sounds, as well as trumpet, trombone, sax.

16 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Jazz Fusion, JAZZ: Bebop



Details:
Jammin' with Sam

"Jammin' with Sam" is in the jazz fusion/funk/smooth jazz sorta vein and is also a sort of 'yesteryear & today' kinda thing as far as its general motif. Featured are a few cuts from '84 and '86, both studio(i.e. w/other folks)and home recorded(i.e. just me), and an assortment of newer things. One of the 'other folks' featured is trumpet player/composer David Hoffman, who was a longtime member of the Ray Charles Orchestra, and a longtime friend of mine. Dave also has CDs of his own, which can be found at http://www.davidhoffmanjazz.com/ .

I'm happy to announce that this CD has sold in Spain and Hong Kong as well as here in the US.


Personnel:
Sam Crain-guitars, bass, keyboards on all selections
except "A Ballad"

David Hoffman-trumpet, flugelhorn,piano, synthesizer,
trombone(2,3,12). All instruments on "A
Ballad"
Ken White-alto saxophone(12)
Frank Vanes-piano(2)
Jeff Davis-bass(2)
Art Carey-drums(2)
Mark Janas-drums(12)
Jaigh Lowder-recording engineer(2)

Selections:
Intro Grande was written & recorded back in '84 or so. Definitely bombastic,movie-type intro.

llA ratS- The name is of course, 'all star'back-
wards, and was conceived by our bass
player, Jeff Davis. Had to do with a
trend of a few musicians always calling their bands 'all star': the small town tendency toward being a bit smug and self-congratulatory..

A Ballad- all parts arranged and played by
David Hoffman(piano & 2 flugel tracks). Sometimes Dave adopts my tunes and turns them into something like this. Beautiful.


Fun(k)for Fido- a homegrown funk tune. Kind of a misterioso vibe to it.

Winter Still- a down n' dirty sorta groove. I
wrote this in the dead of Winter, with no relief in sight..

Too Much Maya- funky and soulful.

oh wow- another slower groove. you'll hear it.

Tower of Dour was written back sometime'84-'86, while on the road, on behalf of
our keyboardist Ed Greig, whose stage persona was"Mr Excitement" and was one evening introduced as 'our own tower of dour'(he's 6'3").

Juliette- also written while on the road, for a
girl who answered to that name.

Disco Biscuits-this is an oldie('84 or perhaps
even earlier)but a goodie.

Bodacious Cha Cha's- you'll hear it..

Bubba-City-- this is a David Hoffman
arrangement, and dates back to '84 I think.
The 2 gtr solos are mine, and the trumpet,
synth & trombone solos are Dave's. The
title I got from a friend of my brother's and his then-girlfriend, who'd refer to an out-to-lunch
person or situation as 'bubba-city'...

The Earl of Øl is a newer one, a peppy
latin/funk sort of affair, an energetic little riff basically, with a couple nice guitar solos. You can listen to it in entirety on my website(the Music page).
Oh yeah- Øl, pronounced 'url', is what Nordic folks(Swedes and Danes and Norwegians)call beer. The Earl of beer, as it were.

"Girl in the Red Leather Pants" dates back to
'86 and is a sort of homage to a girl I knew-or at
least an homage to how she looked in those pants. I recorded it back then too, a sorta driving rock thing with 'hot' guitar solos. This is a mellower version, a more sedate girl, who probably wouldn't be able to get into the original red leather pants...

"Ubangi Mi Bangi" is a jaunty, funky thing. The melody is my tune 'Kimber Lee'(see CD 'Spring into Swing'), which is itself based on "Donna Lee" and 'There will never be another
you".

"Linda's got a Mellow Door" is also jaunty and funky. The title is from a story told by our bandleader while on the road('84-86), as to why he didn't or doesn't smoke pot:
"I was at this party(where apparently much pot had been smoked)and this guy was leaving, and as he was leaving he smacked his head a pretty good one on the doorway, being very tall. So I asked him, 'hey are you okay'?'It's cool, man', he said. Linda's got a mellow door.' "

So there you have it. More than you probably wanted to know about all these tunes. Hope you enjoy the CD.
Sam Crain