Quincy Jones
Walking in Space
Freddie Hubbard, Trumpet
John Frosk, Trumpet
Marvin Stamm, Trumpet
Snooky Young, Trumpet
Lloyd Michels, Trumpet
Dick Williams, Trumpet
Jimmy Cleveland, Trombone
Tony Studd, Trombone
Kai Winding, Trombone
J.J. Johnson, Trombone
Alan Raph, Bass, Trombone
Tony Studd, Trombone
Norman Pride, Trombone
George Jeffers, Bass Trombone
Joel Kaye, Woodwinds
Roland Kirk, Woodwinds
Hubert Laws, Woodwinds
Jerome Richardson, Woodwinds
Toots Thielemans, Harmonica, Guitar
Bob James, Electric Piano
Eric Gale, Guitar
Ray Brown, Electric Bass
Grady Tate, Drums
Bernard Purdie, Drums
Hilda Harris, Vocal
Marilyn Jackson, Vocal
Valerie Simpson, Vocal
Maeretha Stewart, Vocal
Awarded GRAMMY BEST LARGE JAZZ ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE 1969
Arranged and Conducted
by Quincy Jones
Arranged by Bob James replacing Quincy Jones on track
5
Produced by 
Recorded at Van Gelder Studios
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Rudy Van Gelder, Engineer
Recorded June 18, 19, 1969
Catalog Number: 314 543 499-2
Format: CD
Release Date: 2000
Label: Verve/A&M/CTI
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Excerpt from the Liner
Notes by Morgan Ames, 1969
Viewing the ridiculously vast musical output of film score composer and
big band arranger Quincy Jones, one might conclude that there are many
Quincy Joneses. The fact is that Quincy Jones the film scorer is the same
man who: played trumpet as a kid, started as an arranger with two charts
for an Oscar Pettiford album [ed. note: produced by Creed Taylor], studied
at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, took a job with Barclay Disques
in Paris in order to study classical composition with the venerable Nadia
Boulanger, interrupted his love affair with New York several times to
take up with Europe, touring with Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, and
finally his own band, piling up awards all over Europe. This very same
Quincy later spent several years as a vice-president of a large record
company.
Through all these lifetimes,
Quincy Jones wrote. He wrote albums, TV shows, you name it, and more albums.
It's hard to think of a singer who, at one time or another, hasn't had
Quincy Jones's arrangements to fall back on.
After his executive fling came films. It started slow. “The Pawnbroker
was my first shot– discounting a Swedish film that was too weird to get
released here – and the second was Mirage.” After that, films started
flooding in and the deluge has never stopped. Quincy's scores are full
of blues. Hollywood no longer panics.
Indeed, Hollywood is responsible for the conspicuous absence of Quincy Jones
on records as a big-band arranger-conductor. Creed Taylor, longtime friend
and associate of Quincy, has helped alter that situation. This is Quincy's
first album – other than film scores – in three years. He went to New York
to do it. He loved doing it; they all did. It's Quincy's style.
Side one is a long, happy trip in tribute to Hair. Originally conceived
in two segments, the sections were later happily married through a long
and predictably perfect segue by the bass player of them all, Ray Brown.
Miles Davis Masterpiece by Ashley Kahn Quincy is happiest when everyone
in his band has a lot of blowing room. To take the Hair trip, begin modestly
on “Dead End,” with bassist Brown and guitarist Eric Gale, add a touch of
trumpet and flute, leading into full brass and reeds, then melt back into
Brown's bass segue. Pan to “Walking in Space,” with Freddie Hubbard dominating
the all-heavyweight brass section. He is joined by a sinuous vocal line
from Valerie Simpson, and later Marilyn Jackson, Maeretha Stewart, and Hilda
Harris, all singing, “My body...” Solos include Hubbard's trumpet, Hubert
Law's flute, Jimmy Cleveland's trombone, Bob James's electric piano, Roland
Kirk's tenor sax, and Eric Gale's amplified guitar. Ray Brown makes one
of those super-musical, super rhythmic statements of his. Drummer Grady
Tate answers by making a melody out of percussion. Laws adds a little something
on the way out the door, which is closed by Ray Brown.
Fewer things are more valuable in a bandleader than an instinct for right
tempos. While Neal Hefti wrote “Li'l Darlin',” it was Count Basie's tempo
that brought it home. Quincy Jones is a master tempo setter. “I am?” says
Quincy. “Well, if I am, I learned it from Basie.”
Side two is a perfection of proper tempos. Take the opener, Benny Golson's
infectious “Killer Joe.” Slow-swing, sensuous, perfect for the girls' voices.
Solos are by Freddie Hubbard and Hubert Laws. Arthur Adams's fine “Love
and Peace” is set for sweetness, with Bob James on electric piano followed
by a brass section as smooth as the velvet on a high-class church pew. Underneath
are Ray Brown and Grady Tate, plus the sensational amplified bass of Chuck
Rainey.
The album's most dramatic track is “I Never Told You,” the them from the
film The Cold Day in the Park, by Johnny Mandel. The gaunt, lovely melody
is put in the harmonica-hands of Toots Thielemans, as the band captures
the song's fragile, moaning mood.
Over and out with Edwin Hawkins's surprise hit, “Oh, Happy Day.” I love
to see a grown band laugh.
This was a happy album to make. New music and old friends. Quincy Jones,
with his dues paid up, making it – but still happiest making good music
with the baddest cats in town. It shows.
– Morgan Ames
Grammy Winner/Sure Winner
Quincy Jones showed the music world he was about more than Jazz alone with
this one. After playing in the bands of Count Basie, Dizzie Gillespie and
others, and writing for Basie, Sinatra, movie scores and anything else you
could name, he pulled off a musical fusion with Walking In Space which was
unheard of before. (With the number of musicians and level of talent here,
we probably won't see it again, either…). “Dead End” and “Walking In Space”
are respects to the musical Hair (don't forget, this was done in '69), then
there's Benny Golson's infectious swinger, “Killer Joe,” Arthur Adams' “Love
and Peace,” Johnny Mandel's movie theme, “I Never Told You” and the kicker
is Edwin Hawkins' handclapping gospel hit, “Oh, Happy Day!”
Like its successor, Smackwater Jack, this album is a veritable “Who's Who?”
of contemporary jazz and studio musicians. Quincy got such luminaries as
Freddie Hubbard, Snooky Young, Hubert Laws, J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding, Jimmy
Cleveland, Rathsaan Roland Kirk, Hubert Laws, Jerome Richardson, Grady Tate,
Bob James, Ray Brown, Chuck Rainey, Eric Gale and Valerie Simpson (later
1/2 of Ashford & Simpson). The original issue on A&M was produced by Creed
Taylor, who had established a reputation for producing BIG sessions with
ALL the right people (and apparently, megabucks budgets to match…) The album
was an instant SMASH, won the Grammy for “Best Jazz Instrumental” (if I
recall correctly, they even had to invent a new category for this record
at the Grammys) and still is GREAT FUN for listening today. The digital
remaster for compact disc was done well, too, making for a fine addition
to your library. Get this and Smackwater Jack to own the essential “Quintessential”
recordings of the 70s from Quincy Jones. Having THIS man's best is a little
cut above most of the others… ENJOY!
– Charlie Law
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Creed with Quincy Jones
Photos by Chuck Stewart
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