Two is the second solo album by jazz keyboardist Bob James.
Reception
The album is the second of a series of jazz-funk classics (along with One, Three and BJ4). Released in 1975, the album charted at number two on the Jazz Album Charts. The track "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" is one of the most widely used tracks in hip-hop breakbeat samples.
Track listing "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" (Paul Simon) – 5:50 "I Feel a Song (In My Heart)" (Tony Camillo, Mary Sawyer) – 5:26 "The Golden Apple" (Bob James) – 7:20 "Farandole" (Georges Bizet) – 8:24 "You're as Right as Rain" (Thom Bell, Linda Creed) – 5:28 "Dream Journey" (Bob James) – 5:55
Personnel Bob James – electric piano, clavinet, ARP Odyssey, Yamaha YC-30 combo organ, arrangements and conductor Eric Gale – guitars (1, 2, 4), bass (1, 2, 4–6) Richard Resnicoff – guitars (3, 5) Gary King – bass (3) Andrew Smith – drums (1, 2, 4–6) Steve Gadd – drums (3) Arthur Jenkins – percussion Ralph MacDonald – percussion Patti Austin – vocals, lead vocal (2) Frank Floyd – vocals Lani Groves – vocals Zachary Sanders – vocals
Brass and woodwinds Hubert Laws – flute (4), electric flute (4) Eddie Daniels – clarinet James Buffington, Peter Gordon and Al Richmond – French horn Wayne Andre, Eddie Bert, Tom Mitchell and Tony Studd – trombone Randy Brecker, Victor Paz, Lew Soloff and Marvin Stamm – trumpet, flugelhorn
Strings Seymour Barab, Alla Goldberg, Warren Lash, Jesse Levy, George Ricci, Alan Shulman and Anthony Sophos – cello Harry Cykman, Max Ellen, Paul Gershman, Harry Glickman, Emanuel Green, Harold Kohon, Charles Libove, Harry Lookofsky, Joe Malin, David Nadien, Gene Orloff and Matthew Raimondi – violin
Production Creed Taylor – producer Rudy Van Gelder – engineer Bob Ciano – album design Greg Laurents – cover photography
Samples Many artists sampled the drums and bell part of the intro to the track "Take Me to the Mardi Gras", an instrumental cover of the Paul Simon song. It has since become a widely recognized drum break, similar to another break from another instrumental, "Ashley's Roachclip".Celebrate Mardis Gras With Bob James at The Urban Daily The melody of "You're as Right as Rain" was sampled by Norwegian electronic music duo Röyksopp for their 2001 single "Eple" (whose title means "apple" in Norwegian, in reference to Twos album cover).
Charts Chart (1975) Peakposition Billboard Pop Albums75 Billboard Top Soul Albums28 Billboard Top Jazz Albums2
External links Bob James - Two at Discogs
References