Brand New Thing

Here is an overlooked gem from a most unlikely source, recorded in a most unlikely genre — commercial '70s jazz/funk — just as the disco era was gathering steam. Tom Scott controlled the production, with Severinsen overdubbing all of the brass choruses and occasionally passing his horns through a phase shifter and wah-wah pedal. The coterie of overworked sessionmen from L.A. and N.Y.C. — Richard Tee, Eric Gale, Lee Ritenour, Anthony Jackson, Ralph MacDonald, etc. — work this session as you would expect, with the danceable beat always in mind. Yet they pulled off a great, thoroughly musical record because the tunes are often uncommonly good, particularly the two non-Scott numbers, Tee's joyous "Virginia Sunday" and MacDonald's truly haunting "There Is a Girl." Although Doc's work on trumpet and flügelhorn is mostly subdued, at times he bursts out of his shell and delivers a sizzling reminder that he could burn with the best. When interviewed many years later, Doc thought this was one of his best albums. Many would be inclined to agree, for the 50-year-old Tonight Show big-band leader somehow managed to chase the trends and create memorable music, a rare thing in 1977. Unfortunately the public, jazz and otherwise, ignored it. ~ Richard S. Ginell, Rovi