Grand Piano Canyon is the 22nd solo album by Bob James. It was released on June 28, 1990. The cover art is reproduced from an original painting by David Grath entitled "Grand Piano Canyon." The title for the seventh track, "Xraxse" is the planet inhabited by Blue People in a story written by James' daughter, Hilary, at age 6.[3]
Critical reception
Scott Yanow of AllMusic writes, "This CD is more jazz-oriented than most of Bob James' recordings and even takes chances in a few spots. The tunes, mostly by James, contain several strong melodies, including a tribute piece for Sarah Vaughan; among the sidemen are guitarist Lee Ritenour, Kirk Whalum on tenor and soprano, and (in a guest spot) tenor great Michael Brecker."[1]
Stanton Zeff of Audioholics gives the album a rating of 5 overall and says, "This CD had a little bit of everything: big-band ( "Bare Bones" ), smooth jazz ( "Restoration" ), fusion ( "…stop that!" ), and ballads ( "Just Listen" )." He also writes, "It's this last collaboration that led to the creation of one of the great jazz super-groups of the last decade: Fourplay, featuring Harvey Mason on drums and Nathan East on bass, Lee Ritenour on guitars, and Bob James on keyboards."[2]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Bob James, unless otherwise noted.
^ abZeff, Stanton (February 19, 2006). "Bob James - Grand Piano". audioholics.com. Audioholics. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
^ abGrand Piano Canyon (liner notes). Grand Piano Canyon. Warner Records. 1990. 9 26256-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
