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The James Taylor Quartet

Live at The Jazz Café

Real Self Records RS4321

The James Taylor Quartet have been dispensing their particular mix of organ-centred jazz, funk and R&B since 1985, and this album catches them in their natural setting, London's Jazz Café, a venue at which, according to Taylor himself, they have played over 150 gigs in seventeen years.

What Taylor terms 'the sheer unadulterated intoxicating pleasure and joy of getting together with friends, jumping on stage and performing some of our favourite tunes' (their signature piece 'The Theme from Starsky and Hutch' and Herbie Hancock's 'Blow Up', plus later originals such as 'Picking Up Where We Left Off' and 'Easy Time' etc.) is apparent throughout a seething set that features saxophonist Rob Townsend, trumpeter Nick Smart and percussionist Noda Oreste augmenting the JTQ, and with soulful vocalist Yvonne Yanney contributing to two numbers (Carole King's 'I Feel the Earth Move' and a Yanney/Taylor composition, 'Tore My Heart Out'), this will not only bring back memories of what sounds to have been a great night out for those present, but also demonstrate to a wider public just how vibrant and rambunctious organ jazz can be, given a suitable setting.