James Taylor Quartet: People Get Ready

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Noel McKoy (v)
Andrew McKinney (b)
Natalie Williams (v)
Pat Illingworth (d)
Mark Cox (g)
James Taylor (ky)

Label:

Audio Network

May/2020

Media Format:

CD, LP

Catalogue Number:

ANWJTQ2

RecordDate:

October 2019

All credit to Taylor for his ongoing musical odyssey. He and the Quartet will long be associated with those funk filmic covers plus his Hammond-centred soul-jazz years. But Taylor’s also yearned for a grander, even spiritual scale which culminated in his Rochester Mass church music. Then in 2018 came the epic Electric Black which included an extended horn section and full orchestra.

People Get Ready is again big in scope, with Taylor very much in the role of orchestrator. So deliriously lush strings dominate the opening ‘A Giant Leap’, and they also big up Williams’ flawless vox on ‘Whose Gonna Break the News?’. The centrepiece though, all flute-full and dancefloor-driven, is the title track with those strings still to the fore. There’s a Gamble and Huff vibe throughout notably on the politics meets funk pop of ‘Living On the Frontline’, with Williams again outstanding. But it’s the glitter ball groove and rippling strings of ‘Boogie on Through the Night’ that will fill the dance floors.

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