I Wanna Play for You

by Stanley Clarke

Overview

Stanley Clarke stretches his muscles and comes up with a mostly impressive, polystylistic, star-studded double album (now on one CD) that gravitates ever closer to the R&B mainstream. Clarke's writing remains strong and his tastes remain unpredictable, veering into rock, electronic music, acoustic jazz, even reggae in tandem with British rocker Jeff Beck. Clarke's excursion into disco, "Just a Feeling," is surprisingly and infectiously successful, thanks to a good bridge and George Duke's galvanizingly funky work on the Yamaha electric grand piano (his finest moment with Clarke by far). The brief "Blues for Mingus," a wry salute from one master bassist to another (Mingus died about six months before this album's release), is a cool acoustic breather for piano trio, and the eloquent Stan Getz can be detected, though nearly buried under the garish vocals and rock-style mix, on "The Streets of Philadelphia." Yet even the talented Clarke in full creative flower couldn't quite fill a double set with new material, so he has a tendency to reprise some of his old memorable riffs a lot, and there are several energetic snapshots of his live band in action. In its zeal to get this two-LP set onto one disc, Epic deleted three of the original 15 tracks -- including at least one gem, the sizzling hard rocker "All About" -- and scrambled the order of the remaining tunes. Which is dumb, because the missing tracks only take up a bit less than 12 minutes of playing time, not enough to overload a 65-minute disc. Hunt for the double-LP version if you can still play vinyl. ~ Richard S. Ginell

Product Details

Release Date:	05/10/1994
Label:	Epic
UPC:	0074646429525

Tracks

1. I Wanna Play for You
2. Just a Feeling
3. The Streets of Philadelphia
4. Together Again
5. Blues for Mingus
6. Strange Weather
7. Quiet Afternoon
8. Rock & Roll Jelly
9. Jamaican Boy
10. My Greatest Hits
11. School Days
12. Hot Fun/Closing

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Stanley Clarke   Primary Artist,Bass,Organ,Guitar,Vocals,Talk Box,Keyboards,Synthesizer,Piccolo Bass,Bass (Acoustic),Bass (Electric),Guitar (Electric),Oberheim Synthesizer
Dee Dee Bridgewater   Guest Artist,Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Jeff Beck   Guest Artist,Guitar,Guitar (Electric)
Steve Gadd   Guest Artist,Drums
Harvey Mason, Sr.   Guest Artist,Drums
Freddie Hubbard   Guest Artist,Flugelhorn
Tom Scott   Guest Artist,Saxophone,Sax (Alto),Lyricon
Lee Ritenour   Guest Artist,Guitar,Guitar (Electric)
George Duke   Guest Artist,Piano,Keyboards,Synthesizer,Piano (Grand),Piano (Electric)
Al Williams   Sax (Soprano),Sax (Baritone)
Peter Robinson   Keyboards,Synthesizer,Arp String Ensemble
Gerry Brown   Drums
Al Harrison   Trumpet
Darryl Brown   Drums,Cymbals
James Tinsley   Trumpet,Piccolo Trumpet
David DeLeon   Bass,Guitar (Bass),Bass (Electric)
Cathy Carson   Vocals
Phil Jost   Organ,Keyboards
Gwen Owens   Vocals
Juanita Curiel   Vocals
Todd Cochran   Organ,Piano,Arp 2600,Keyboards,Synthesizer,Arp String Ensemble,Oberheim Synthesizer
Mike Garson   Synthesizer,Fender Rhodes,Arp String Ensemble,Oberheim Synthesizer,Piano,Keyboards
Airto Moreira   Percussion
Stan Getz   Saxophone,Sax (Tenor)
Alfred Williams   Saxophone
Bob Malach   Trumpet,Sax (Tenor)
Perry Robinson   Synthesizer
Ronnie Foster   Piano
Ray Gomez   Guitar,Guitar (Electric)

Technical Credits

Bob Seidemann   Photography
Tony Lane   Design
Airto Moreira   Executive Producer
Stanley Clarke   Composer,Producer
Ed Thacker   Engineer
David Leonard   Mixing,Engineer
Brian Gardner   Mastering
Mike Garson   Composer
Bill Collins   Design