Grover Washington Jr — In The Name Of Love – The Elektra Years (1979-1984

In The Name Of Love is the second Grover Washington Jr CD boxset from SoulMusic Records. It takes in five albums from the New York-based sax player Washington, who is seen as one of the key figures in the smooth jazz/ mellow fusion scene. The albums here date from between the years 1979 and 1984- with each of the five albums getting their own disc & featuring bonus tracks.

Soul Music Records is one of the Cherry Red family of labels- so as you’d expect we get a very classy presentation to the boxset. The CD’s each come presented in their own card slips, these feature the original LP front, back cover and vinyl labels on their fronts Also included is a glossy thirty-two-page inlay booklet- this features a short write-up about Washington’s career and in-depth write-ups about of each of the five albums featured. The whole thing is presented in a glossy flipside colour box. So a very nicely presented set.

After being involved in playing in a few jazz collectives in the early-to-mid 1960s Grover Washington Jn started releasing his own solo albums in the year 1972. His debut album was Inner City Blues- a six-track affair that was recorded in the famous jazz recording studio Van Gelder Studios- and it saw him offering a populous and accessible blend of smooth jazz and jazz fusion- throughout the 1970s and early 1980’s his popularity grew and grew with his albums charting between ten and six in the American top 200. With 1980’s Winelight (which is featured here) been his biggest selling record to that date, and this cemented him as a commercial jazz name- that sent his appeal above and beyond the normal jazz buying audience.

The set kicks off with Paradise- this was Washington’s eighth full-length album, and it appeared in the year 1979 on Elektra records, as do all of the five albums featured on this set.  It was an eight-track affair featuring Washington playing soprano, tenor, baritone saxophones, flute, and electric piano on one track. He was joined on all of the tracks by Tyrone Brown on acoustic & electric bass, Millard "Pete" Vinson drums & Syndrums, Leonard "Doc" Gibbs – assorted percussions, and John Blake Jr on Violin- with this last player giving the whole album quite a distinctive sound. Also added to the sonic pallet on a few tracks we get electric and acoustic pianos and acoustic and electric guitars. The album kicks off with the nearing eight-minute title track- this opens with a soothing drift of exotic bird-like synth tones, slow bounding bass, lightly wailing sax, and gentle simmering violin playing. Fairly soon we get a nice disco drum hit, before more even funk bass-line and percussion kick in. This is joined by jiving electric piano keys, swooning and sailing violin, and Washington’s vivid and rich sax playing. It’s a great opener. As we move on we come to the sultry tip tap drums and smooth Spanish jazz flavours of “The Answer In Your Eyes” with some nice lightly jiving guitar tones blended in with the other instruments. We have the tight grooving jazz-funk bass and guitar of “Tell Me About It Now” with great gliding sax work, and neat disco tom hits. With the album playing out spiralling percussion and swinging groove of “Feel It Comin’”. The CD is finished off with shorter single edits of the albums two singles, which just happen to be the albums last two tracks.

 

Next up we have Washington’s tenth album, 1980’s Winelight. The album was the big breakthrough record charting at #2 in the R&B charts, # 5 in general album charts, and #1 in the Jazz charts- and it’s a stone-cold smooth jazz classic. The album is a six-track affair- with Washington playing soprano, tenor, baritone saxophones. He’s joined Richard Tee on Fender Rhodes, Eric Gale – guitars, Marcus Miller – bass, Steve Gadd – drums Ralph MacDonald – congas, percussion, Syndrumsand Robert Greenidge – steel drums. With the addition of female backing vocals on a few tracks, and one track features singing from Bill Withers. We move from the strolling funk bass, glittering Rhodes keys, gentle strutting guitar, and of smooth sax tones of “Let It Flow( For Dr J)”. Onto warming Rhodes, tip-tapping drums, and lightly jiving soul jazz of “Just The Two Of Us” which features Mr Withers, the female backing singers, and a great steel drum/ funk breakdown. With the album playing out with the light blues-tinged guitar, sensual sax trails, and melting mellow Rhodes tones of “Make Me A Memory( Sad Sambi)”. Bonus track wise on this disc we find five single edits of album tracks.

Next, we have Winelight’s follow-up 1981’s Come Morning. This featured eight slightly shorter tracks- taking in two vocal tracks, and a Bob Marley instrumental cover. The line-up here is Grover Washington, Jr. – saxophones, Richard Tee – Fender Rhodes, Paul Griffin – synthesizers, Eric Gale – guitars, Marcus Miller – bass, Steve Gadd – drums, and Ralph MacDonald – congas, percussion- with the addition of female backing singers, and of course lead vocalist on two tracks. The album goes from the tapping bongo led percussion, moody climbing synth lines, and darting Rhodes of the title tracks. We have lightly darting sax meets jaunting-to-lightly grooving keys of “Reaching Out” There’s the Marley cover which is of “Jamming”- which is pleasant enough-if-a-little lift music in places, though I do like the addition of the soulful joint female back vocals. We have “Little Black Samba” which finds a clip-clop Latin beat and light funk groove- with the lead male soul vocals of Grady Tate coming into play, and some neat blends of steel drum and backing vocal tones. The album plays out with “I’m All Yours” which is all melting Rhodes tones, vibes, and lightly drifting sax tones. The CD is topped off with three bonus tracks, which are edited album tracks. On the whole Come Morning is a pleasant enough ride, with some nice subtle genre mixes along the way- it’s no Winelight, but a good album.

Next, we have 1982’s The Best Is Yet To Come, and this was Washington’s thirteenth album. This was an eight-track affair, and on its another, evenly varied selection of tracks. Line-up wise here we have a total of thirty-two players/ singers across the record- so I’m not going to list all of those, but we have the following key players on many of the tracks- Washington-alto & tenor, Richard Tee- Rhodes, James K Lloyd- keyboards, Cedric A. Napoleon- bass, Daryl Washington- percussion. We get three vocal tracks- the title track which features the rather warbling soul vocals of Patti Labelle, the quite stagey sing-song vocals of Bobby Mcferrin “Things Are Getting Better”, and rich ‘n’ soaringly soulful Cedric Napoleon on “I’ll Be With You”- all are ok/ serviceable, with some nice solos from Washington- though I’m not keen of the jazz vocalising on the middle of the three. Otherwise, we have the nice clapping ‘n’ snapping percussion and tight funk of “Can You Dig It”, there’s the up-front slap bass meets sassy sax playing of “Mixty Moments”, and the jiving Rhodes meets lightly wail horn of “Brazilian Memories”. Extra wise we have three more album track edits. With this album we get another good workmanlike release, I understand why we’ve got the three vocal tracks to increase appeal- but really I wouldn't have preferred if it had been a purely instrumental release.

Finally, on disc five we have Inside Moves- this was the follow-up to The Best Is Yet To Come, and appeared in the year 1984. It’s a seven-track affair, with two of the tracks featuring the vocals of Jon Lucien. Once again we have a fair few players across the album, though we have the key band of Washington, Jr. – alto, baritone, soprano and tenor saxophones, Richard Tee – Fender Rhodes, Marcus Miller – Roland Jupiter-8, Yamaha DX7, bass, Eric Gale – guitars, Buddy Williams – drums. The album moves from the tight galloping percussion, moody-to-darting keys, felt to jiving horns of the title track. We have the swirling wind keyboard opening of “Jet Stream” which develops into a lightly vibing funk-soul track with female backing vocals. And the albums finished off with the lightly simmer synth, glowing Rhodes, and light funk strutting bass lines of “Sassy Strew”. With the CD been topped off with four edited tracks. On the whole, I found Inside Moves the lesser of the five albums here- the melodies, and interplays feel a little generic- and the two vocal tracks are rather throwaway early 80’s lightly funked soul-pop.

In finishing it’s great to see Soul Music Records put this second boxset of Grover Washington Jr albums, and giving the albums such love and care. If you’re smooth jazz, soulful easy listening music, or laid back 70’s/ 80’s fusion this is something you’ll be needing to get hold of.