WOODY HERMAN
HEAVY EXPOSURE
I had forgotten all about this recording, on purpose I am sure. It was recorded at Chess Recording Studio in Chicago and released on Cadet. Chess was the premier studio for blues musicians. I was there once just to look around. A great place. But Woody weren’t no blues band, he was a big band jazz orchestra. I dont know anyone who didn't roll on the floor when they first heard it.
Five members of the band were former friends and classmates of mine. After the job we got together with a few of them and they told some really great stories about the band, none of which dare be repeated here
-Here is what Jason Ankeny of All Music had ti say about the recording-
The Richard Evans-produced Heavy Exposure is a bold if ultimately unsuccessful attempt to fuse Woody Herman's signature big-band approach with more contemporary soul-jazz and bossa nova sensibilities, embracing pop hits like "Aquarius," "My Cherie Amour" and "Sex Machine" alongside more conventional jazz fare like Herbie Mann's "Memphis Underground," the record simply casts too wide a net, and never settles into a coherent groove. That being said, there are some choice cuts here, most notably the funky "The Hut" and a blistering reading of the Isley Brothers' "It's Your Thing," and to Herman's credit the album's commercial overtures feel neither forced nor awkward.
Bill Chase (tp,arr) Bill Byrne, Harry Hall, Richard Murphy, Rigby Powell (tp) Bob Burgess, Pete Dalbis, Tom Malone (tb) Woody Herman (cl,as,ss,vcl) Sal Nistico, Steve Lederer, Frank Vicari (ts) Alan Gauvin (bar) John Hicks (p) Donny Hathaway (org) Phil Upchurch (g) Gene Perla (b) Ed Soph (d) Richard Powell, Marshall Thompson (perc) Richard Evans (arr)
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