Ronnie Foster - Cheshire Cat (1975) [2013 BNLA Series 24-bit Remaster]

Wicked keyboards from Ronnie Foster – and a set that really steps forward from his previous two Blue Note albums! The record really has Ronnie moving into a more rounded soul space – singing along with his keyboards, in ways that may well be aimed at making Foster the next Stevie Wonder – although still with some of the hipper, quirkier touches that make his music so great! The lineup of players is very top shelf – almost more of a CTI/Kudu session, with George Benson and Joe Beck on guitar, Mtume on congas, and lots of heavy bass from William Allen and Gary King. Foster wrote all the cuts – save for a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Tuesday Heartbreak" – and titles include "Funky Motion", which was covered by Roy Ayers – plus "Cheshire Cat", "Fly Away", "Heartless", and "Like a Child".

Reuniting Ronnie Foster with guitarist George Benson, who also produced the previous On the Avenue, the keyboardist's final Blue Note date Cheshire Cat completes his immersion into the mainstream. Few records that fall into the soul-jazz genre balance both sides of the equation so carefully or so deftly. While Foster's original compositions boast the harmonic complexity and structural rigorousness of jazz, Benson's production is pure pop, with numbers including "Like a Child" sounding indistinguishable from the commercial soul fare making radio play lists during the mid-'70s. (A convincing cover of Stevie Wonder's "Tuesday Heartbreak" further blurs the genre lines.) Expanding upon ideas first explored via On the Avenue, Foster again steps behind the microphone to handle vocal chores on several tracks, proving a fine if unspectacular singer. He remains most persuasive as a composer and instrumentalist, however, articulating the infectiousness and gradations of his music with clarity and aplomb.


Tracks:

01. Like a Child (Foster) - 5:01
02. Tuesday Heartbreak (Wonder) - 4:51
03. Fly Away (Foster) - 6:18
04. Funky Motion (Foster) - 8:16
05. Cheshire Cat (Foster) - 8:10
06. Heartless (Foster) - 3:46

Personnel:

Ronnie Foster - organ, keyboards, vocals
Joe Beck - guitar
George Benson - guitar (#5), background vocals
William Allen - bass
Gary King - electric bass (#3,5,6)
Dennis Davis - drums
James Mtume - congas, percussion

Recorded at A & R Recording, Inc., New York on March 21-27, 1975.