A magnificent, major remixed, remastered, rereleased version of a 1980 album that was actually recorded in 1977 by the late Irish guitar icon Louis Stewart. At the time of the recording Stewart and Taylor were part of the house band at Ronnie's where the headline act was the Cedar Walton Trio. Jones and Higgins were part of the trio and readily accepted Louis' invitation to record with him.
To say that the rest is history maybe a cliché but, how else can I describe such an exquisite album? The blurbist at Livia describes it as Stewart's finest studio album and I agree with that although it could be said that this was despite Louis' involvement rather than because of it. I'll explain:
It seems as though Louis was dissatisfied with some of his original solos and overdubbed them with alternate lines. Why he did this isn't clear as, I'm told, they didn't actually work very well. For this release the sound boffins at Livia worked around the clock 24/7 (bit of poetic liberty there by me) to get the various formats on the stocks for the May 29 launch.
Apart from Louis whose greatness, in the nine years since his passing, seems to have increased with every new or rediscovered album, John Taylor too delivers the goods with impressive solos. Stewart and Taylor complement each other without any chordal clashes.
Jones and Higgins didn't need to prove their credentials but they did anyway making it sound like a regular unit which for 57 minutes and 50 seconds it was.
The 19% in the YouGov poll who said that they didn't like jazz should have been given this album to listen to before answering the question. Had they done so that percentage would have been somewhat different. Lance
Release date: May 29 on CD, LP and download.
I Thought About You; Litha; Smiling Billy; Unit 7; November Girl; Straight no Chaser; All Blues*; November Girl (alt. take)*
* Not on LP.
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