Over the past couple of years there have been re-releases of some of Steve Khan’s recordings from the 70s - 90s. Each of the re-releases contains 3 albums, many of which have been out of print for years and have been highly sought after. The second and third of these CDs have Anthony Jackson on bass along side Steve Jordan, Dave Weckl and Dennis Chambers on drums. These recordings, along with the live album Suitcase, present Anthony at his finest and are essential to those of us who are AJphiles. CD1: Tightrope / The Blue Man / Arrows This band was recorded in the mid-70s and was an offshoot of the Brecker Brothers Band, but with Steve Gadd on drums and more guitar focused. Will Lee is on bass, features Randy, Michael & Sanborn. Fun stuff. CD2: Eyewitness / Modern Times / Casa Loco This ensemble is often referred to as Eyewitness, and the recordings are from the early 80s. This band was very progressive in its time and the music is still interesting and exciting today. Steve Jordan on drums with AJ on bass and Manolo Badrena (Weather Report) on percussion. CD3: Public Access / Headline / Crossings These recordings are from the late 80s to mid-90s. Public Access has Dave Weckl on drums, the three songs from the Headline album have Dennis Chambers, as does Crossings which also features Michael Brecker on some songs. Anthony plays on all of the songs. (There were some songs on the original recording of Headline that have Ron Carter and Al Foster, but it is my understanding that these songs are not on the re-release cd.) These recordings take the Eyewitness concept one step further. If you follow AJ you should definitely get the second & third re-releases, as well as Suitcase, (live Khan/Chambers/AJ). They have endured the test of time and are still enjoyable to listen to. They are available on Amazon, for instance. I should mention that Steve Khan has an excellent website, it is worth checking out and one webpage - Khan’s Korner 2 provides Lead Sheets, Analysis & Samples of about 100 songs from his entire body of work. You should check this out, and not just the AJ recordings. Here is the link: Khan's Korner 2 - Lead Sheets - Steve Khan
All great stuff... CD 2 is a must-have CD 1...The Blue Man is a must-have CD 3...Crossings is a must-have Suitcase is a must-have The reissue of Headline cut out Carter/Foster?!?! C'mon!
Like y'all I am huge a fan of Steve and Anthony and those records in particular and agree that omitting the Ron Carter/Al Foster tracks in the third set is not cool, luckily I have the original CDs. I have the originals on Lp, and CD. For the longest time I only had a CD of Modern times courtesy of @JimK (kudos again) until this reissue. I love the liner notes and the photos of a long gone day. Dammit where are those CDs When Eyewitness Lp came out I my 'day' job was working at Sound Warehouse on Burnet Road in Austin, we got one copy on Monday that I cracked open, listened to and bought it. I added it to my One Stop new release order and got 10 more copies, all they had left. Wednesday night I played it on my radio show of new release records and Thursday we sold out. Ahh the good old daze 3 part time jobs, gigging 4 nights a week oh yeah
Did a quick count- Public Access has 9 tracks Headline has 9 tracks Crossings has 10 tracks = 28 tracks The 2-disc reissue (per Amazon) has 20 tracks?
Apparently Headline had 9 tracks - 6 with Carter/Foster and 3 with Jackson/Chambers. Also, Dedicated to You is not present from Public Access, which has 9 tracks in total. Crossings has 10 tracks, all of which are supposedly included. So, 8 from Public Access, plus 3 from Headline, plus 10 from Crossings. It sounds like there is a one track discrepancy. The track listing on Amazon does not include Butane Elvin from Public Access, but the album review by John Kelman from All About Jazz includes it in the track listing.
What's Anthony up to nowadays? I understand he suffered a stroke (?) which forced him out of Hiromi's band some years back. Has he recovered?
I believe the intent of the Public Access / Headline / Crossings CD is to follow the Eyewitness / Modern Times / Casa Loco Reissue with the later instantiations of the Eyewitness concept. With this in mind there is only one missing song, Dedicated To You. (I checked the record label’s website, which indicates that Butane Elvin is in fact included. So the amazon track listing is incorrect.) The other tracks not appearing on this re-release are the Ron Carter / Al Foster tracks. This band appeared on the Let’s Call This CD, which preceded Headline. The Headline CD marks a transition from the acoustic Let’s Call This ensemble back to the Eyewitness concept. To me there is only one missing Eyewitness concept song, which was omitted because not everything would fit on the 2 CD re-release, apparently.
Have worn out Crossings... Love the bass line/intro to Descarga Khanalonious! Also the insane DEEP extended range tone AJ produces throughout the record.
What's your source of the news he had a stroke? I remember he was on tour with Hiromi and a statement was released that he had to leave for "medical reasons" but the word "stroke" was never used anywhere that I could find. Hope he's okay.
Agreed. Saw him with Hiromi shortly before his extended hiatus. Many of us are anxiously awaiting his triumphant return. At least in the studio!
