Don't Mess With Mr T : James Taylor Quartet Plays Motown
Don't Mess With Mr T : James Taylor Quartet Plays Motown
(CD) Dome Records, 2007-09-10
Tracklisting :
01. Money (That's What I Want)
02. Got To Give It Up
03. Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours
04. Function At the Junction
05. After the Dance
06. Jimmy Mack
07. Machine Gun
08. Come See About Me
09. Cleo's Mood
10. You Beat Me To the Punch
11. You're All I Need To Get By
12. Don't Mess With Mr. T
Links :
jtq.co.uk
myspace.com/jamestaylorquartet
domerecords.co.uk/detail.asp?SKU=DOMECD86
Press Release :
James Taylor's trademark howling Hammond sound is featured to fine effect on his new Dome album, Don't Mess With Mr T: James Taylor Quartet Plays Motown, a storming set of Motown covers featuring guest lead vocalists Omar, Hil St Soul, and Donna Gardier
The 12-tune collection kicks off with an explosive version of Barrett Strong's Money (That's What I Want). The rest of the album certainly builds from its opener, with the funky vibe continuing through Marvin Gaye's Got To Give It U,; Stevie Wonder's Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours), Shorty Long's Function At The Junction, Jimmy Mack, Machine Gun, Ashford and Simpson's You're All I Need To Get By, Jr Walker's Cleo's Mood , and Don't Mess With Mr T, a Marvin Gaye tune written for the blaxploitation movie, Trouble Man.
Album highlights include After The Dance, the second hit from Marvin's 1976 album I Want You, on which Omar, the father of nu-classic British soul, lends his immense vocal talents; Come See About Me, featuring Donna Gardier, one of the UK's most soulful voices; and Smokey Robinson's You Beat Me To The Punch, with the magnificent Hil St Soul, a regular on the US Billboard R&B charts, providing inspiring vocals.
The regular JTQ line-up of James Taylor: Hammond organ; Nigel Price: guitar; Andy McKinney: bass; and Adam Betts: drums is augmented on this album by Jamie Anderson: sax; Nick Smart: trumpet; Dave Williamson: trombone; and Oreste-Noda Fernandez: percussion.
The band play three nights at London's Jazz Café August 24-26 and have a string of more than a dozen UK shows in September and October to promote the album.