A Portrait of Bob James

Bob James is what you might call a quick study. The Missouri native first touched the piano keys at four and began formal studies with a sister at St. Peter Catholic Church’s Mercy Academy in Marshall, who discovered the budding pianist’s perfect pitch. He scored his first pro gig at eight, playing for a tap dance class at Mercy, and was performing solo at a piano lounge by 16.

While still a student at University of Michigan in 1962, James was discovered by Quincy Jones, who along with Henry Mancini, was judging a college jazz festival in which the pianist’s band was competing. Far from the groove-heavy contemporary jazz James would pursue later in his career, the avant-garde leaning aesthetic they utilized stood in contrast to the staid approach of their competition and they won, with Jones signing the then-23-year-old to a contract with Mercury Records and prompting James’s move to Boston for studies at the Berklee College of Music. His debut, Bold Conceptions, was produced by Jones and was released the following year.

James’s sophomore session, 1965’s Explosions for the ESP-Disk label, is a pioneering recording combining post-bop with the avant-garde electronic music movement that defined the 20th century classical composition of the era.

Upon moving to New York, James found work as accompanist to vocalist Sarah Vaughan and was hired by CTI label head Creed Taylor as an in-house producer, arranger, and session musician. James’s soulful, funky style on the Fender Rhodes electric piano was a perfect match for CTI, whose approach to the jazz fusion of the time worked classically inspired strings and R&B influences into a signature mix, and he appears on seminal albums for the label including Stanley Turrentine’s Cherry, Hubert Laws's In the Beginning, Paul Desmond’s Skylark, and Gabor Szabo’s Rambler.

Starting with 1974’s One, which hit #2 on the Billboard jazz charts, James recorded a series of numbered albums as a leader for CTI – One (1974), Two (1975), Three (1976), and Four (1977) – that have been sampled incessantly by hip-hop artists and producers. Elements from One’s closing composition “Nautilus” appears on tracks by Run-DMC, A Tribe Called Quest, Eric B. & Rakim, Wu-Tang Clan, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Ice T, Tupac Shakur, and dozens of others.

With James’s move to his own Tappan Zee/Warner Brothers label, the numerical references continued on 1977’s Heads (sporting the image of a Buffalo nickel on the cover – signifying “five”), and 1978’s Touchdown (a reference to “six” - the points received for a touchdown in football). Touchdown featured James’s biggest hit in the leadoff track “Angela,” memorably used as the theme to the era-defining comedy series Taxi. Most of the albums from this period included musicians from a revolving list of master studio instrumentalists dating back to James’s CTI days including guitarist Eric Gale, bassist Gary King, drummer Steve Gadd, and percussionist Ralph MacDonald.

Since this remarkably fertile period in the late 70s and 80s, James has gone from strength to strength, issuing over 30 albums in myriad formats including the GRAMMY-winning One on One in 1979 with guitarist Earl Klugh and the landmark 1986 collaboration Double Vision with the late David Sanborn – an album celebrated at SFJAZZ with a reunion of James, Sanborn, and bassist/producer Marcus Miller in January of 2022 during the 2021-22 Season.

Beyond his solo releases, he’s recorded a dozen dates with the all-star contemporary jazz quartet Fourplay – an all-star band made up of contemporary jazz heavyweights Larry Carlton, Chuck Loeb, Nathan East, and Harvey Mason who performed at SFJAZZ during the 34th San Francisco Jazz Festival in June of 2016.

James’s latest release, 2023’s Jazz Hands, is an eclectic collection of styles and approaches that reflects his omnivorous tastes and features a guest appearance by superstar rapper and vocalist CeeLo Green. All About Jazz calls Jazz Hands “an adventurous and engaging album that stands tall with his best.”

Bob James and his quartet perform 3/29-30. Tickets and more information are available here.