Tom Scott & the L.A. Express
Tom Scott- sax
Robben Ford- guitar
Larry Nash- piano
Max Bennett- bass
John Guerin- drums
Paul's Mall
Boston, Mass. U.S.A.
5/5/75
performance quality: B+ a nice performance of songs from "Tom Cat" studio album
recording quality: B+ to A (a little hiss in parts)
source: 1st generation FM broadcast tape
setlist: (unknown, concert not listed on etree at all)
runtime: 73:51
comments:
This sounds to me like a full set from Tom Scott and his L.A. Express, not sure if it's the
1st or 2nd show, I think my copy of this came from a reel master (since there is no flip cut
that I could find in my copy). This group didn't make alot of albums on their own, but this
was I believe the year before they joined up for a tour in Joni Mitchell's group (which did
release a nice live disc, "Joni Mitchell with Tom Scott & the L.A. Express live"). I wonder if
Joni made the choice to do that after listening to this tour. This is nice smooth jazz, but
not "cheese-jazz". Robben Ford may be the best known member of this group (after Tom Scott)
and would go on to play with Miles Davis many years after this, you may hear why in this set.
He was already a very good player. This concert is the tour of the only studio TSLA Express
release I've ever heard, "Tom Cat", which I'm told is a jazz classic of the 70's. It is to
me, I used to listen to this (another edited version of this broadcast) alot, and they do a
nice version of my favorite song from this album," Mondo". I think they play the whole thing
(it's only a single disc on vinyl, not sure if it ever came out on CD but I suspect so, a
very nice album it is. I haven't had a working turntable in years, so I hope I can find the
Tom Cat release on CD. Tom was a very active studio player on countless people's albums/CD's
in the 70's and 80's. I don't know how many of his tours were just his own group, this is the
only one I've heard, and I think most jazz appreciaters will find something to like in this set
(if not all of it). I think there's a title song in this set, there's some other song that goes
into Mondo which I tracked together because it's not a clear transition to the next song, more
like an overlap in the performance. I don't know any of the other song titles. Tom mentions one
or two of them but it's not very easy to hear (even with an FM broadcast), as is very common at
jazz shows, even very good ones like this. The reception seems good on this, not sure why it has
hiss in parts and other parts sound clean, it all comes from the same source. There is no opening
introduction announcement as there is for all of WBCN's countless live broadcasts, probably edited
out or missed in the source tape, it begins with applause, and the length suggests to me that this
is probably the full show (I think the entire set is music from Tom Cat so they had to do some
stretching out)
Do not sell this recording.
Trade (Scott-)freely and losslessly.