Touchdown (Bob James album)

Touchdown
Studio album by Bob James
Released July 20, 1978
Recorded 1978
Genre Jazz fusion, Smooth Jazz
Length 33:42
Label Tappan Zee Records
Producer Bob James
Bob James chronology
Heads
(1977)Heads1977		 Touchdown
(1978)		 One on One With Earl Klugh
(1979)One on One With Earl Klugh1979

Touchdown is the sixth album by Bob James.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[2]

It was a commercial breakout album for him that contained the song "Angela", the popular theme song to the 1970s television sitcom Taxi. The song was named after a guest character in the third episode of the first season ("Blind Date"), but after hearing the song, the producers made this the show's main theme, replacing their previous choice, which became this album's title track.[3] The song "Angela" is heard at the beginning of each episode as the opening credits are seen. The song plays while a yellow New York taxi drives over the Queensboro Bridge. Many taxi garages are located on the Queens side of the bridge so they'll have easy access to Midtown Manhattan.

The album's title is a reference to this being James' sixth solo album (a touchdown being worth six points in American football), a pattern also followed by his previous album Heads (featuring a five cent coin on its cover) and next album Lucky Seven.

Track listing

All songs written by Bob James

  1. "Angela (Theme from Taxi)" – 5:48
  2. "Touchdown" – 5:44
  3. "I Want to Thank You (Very Much)" – 7:07
  4. "Sun Runner" – 6:17
  5. "Caribbean Nights" – 8:46

Personnel

  • Bob James — Yamaha Grand Electric Piano, Fender Rhodes, Synthesizer (Oberheim Polyphonic), Acoustic Piano, Arranger, Conductor
  • Hiram Bullock — Guitar, Electric Guitar, Vocals
  • Eric Gale — Guitar, Electric Guitar
  • Earl Klugh, Richie Resnicoff — Acoustic Guitar
  • Idris Muhammad, Steve Gadd — Drums
  • Mongo Santamaria, Ralph MacDonald — Percussion
  • Gary King — Bass
  • Ron Carter — Piccolo Bass, Acoustic Bass
  • Hubert Laws — Flute
  • David Sanborn — Alto Saxophone
  • Harvey Estrin — Flute, Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone
  • Jerry Dodgion — Alto Saxophone, Flute
  • Phil Bodner — Alto Saxophone, Flute, Oboe
  • Howard Johnson — Clarinet (Contrabass), Baritone Saxophone
  • George Marge — Tenor Saxophone, English Horn, Flute, Oboe, Recorder
  • Jon Faddis, Mike Lawrence, Randy Brecker, Ron Tooley — Trumpet
  • Alan Raph, Dave Bargeron, Wayne Andre — Trombone
  • David Nadien — Concertmaster
  • Charles McCracken, Jonathan Abramowitz, Richard Locker, Seymour Barab — Cello
  • Emanuel Vardi, Jean Dane, Sue Pray, Theodore Israel — Viola
  • Diana Halprin, Harold Kohon, Harry Cykman, Harry Lookofsky, Herbert Sorkin, John Pintavalle, Lewis Eley, Louis Gabowitz, Matthew Raimondi, Max Ellen, Richard Sortomme — Violin

Charts

Chart (1978) Peak
position
Billboard Pop Albums[4] 37
Billboard Top Jazz Albums[4] 1

References

  1. ↑ Henderson, Alex. Bob James: Touchdown > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  2. ↑ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 111. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  3. ↑ Taxi on IMDb (Trivia section)
  4. 1 2 "Bob James US albums chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
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