Bob James - All Around the Town (2008)

Over four days in December of 1979, pianist Bob James assembled three different bands to play (and record) at three legendary venues in New York City to showcase his own diversity as a composer, arranger, and bandleader. The Bottom Line, Town Hall, and Carnegie Hall all offered different aspects of James' approach to jazz and popular music. The Bottom Line band is a smooth and funky sextet that includes saxophonists Wilbert Longmire and Mark Colby, James, drummer Idris Muhammad, bassist Gary King, and guitarist Hiram Bullock. The Town Hall gigs featured a larger band that included three pianists: James, Joanne Brackeen, and Richard Tee, as well as drummers Billy Hart and Steve Gadd and bassist Eddie Gomez. Finally, the Carnegie Hall show featured a yet larger orchestra that included Tom Scott, Earl Klugh, and Bullock on guitars, Muhammad, King, Tom Browne, Jim Pugh, and Dave Taylor, and more.