In 1980, guitarist and composer
Eric Gale came off the commercial success of 1979's
Part of You (produced by
Ralph MacDonald) and didn't do the obvious thing. Rather than make another record that swung for the smooth jazz fences, he made a darker, deeper, funkier, and bluesier album with legendary New Orleans producer
Allen Toussaint. The sessions included the cream of the Crescent City's jazz-funk crop as well as mates
Charlie Earland,
Grover Washington, Jr., and
Idris Muhammad, three of soul-jazz's greatest lights -- with special guest
Arthur Blythe on the
Charlie Parker nugget "Au Privave" as a curve ball.
Toussaint wrote four of the album's seven tracks, and they range from the murky blue soul-jazz of "You Got My Life in Your Hands" to the sweet, boudoir-perfect urban-styled title track.
Gale is a consummate soloist, full of lilting and biting grooves, with stunning phrasing that maximizes the rhythmic effect of his high strings (such as on "War Paint"), and he never plays an extra note. The beautiful ballad "With You I'm Born Again" has
Washington playing some of his most haunting soprano, and the wildly funked-up "Au Privave," a holdover from the bop generation that keeps its original flavor despite the three-instrument front line of
Earland's B-3,
Blythe's alto, and
Gale's chunky bottom strings (which are accented in his comping through the changes), is nothing short of astonishing. This is one of the great versions of the tune, especially in this modern context, and offers solid proof of
Gale's bebop roots. This is an even better side available in the U.S., but only as an expensive Japanese import.