Road Trip

It was the Summer of 1992, I was restless, confused, ready for a change.........so, it was time for a Road Trip. I packed my car, grabbed a load of cd's and my portable cd player & tape-player adapter (I was an early adopter) and hit the road. Spent 2 or 3 days in Bethesda, then on to Raleigh, where I spent a week, then to Charlotte for 2 days, on to Charleston for a lunch meeting, then to Savannah for 2 weeks. After Savannah, I went back to Raleigh for a week, and then back home. There are many stories I could share from these 5 weeks on the road, alone, with no witness'; but for now, I'll stick to the Soundtrack Of My Life. It was the first pass through Raleigh, I was considering moving there, stayed at the Hampton Inn and checked things out; I found this great cd store on Six Forks Road in a small strip plaza near the corner of Sawmill Road, can't recall it's name. In any event, this being 1992, this place was pretty revolutionary, it had listening posts! I had never been to a record store, before this one, where you check out the tunes before you committed your $15 - wow! So, at the Jazz listening post, there are these 2 cd's by artists I had never heard of, Boney James and Incognito, I take a short listen and am totally blown away!
Boney James-Trust, his first release, on Spindletop Records, in my opinion is without a doubt, his finest recorded moment - period. This first album is so pure, so full of passion and emotion; incredibly strong for a debut, and more importantly, no pandering for radio play. Trust is exactly what Contemporary Jazz should be, unlike a lot of what gets passed off as 'smooth jazz', 16 years later. James's sound, the way he elongates and slurs his notes, reminded me so much of Grover, and I love the bass and keyboard work. 'It's A Beautiful Thing' and 'Roadrunner' still make me want crank up the volume, stop, and think back to Raleigh, and the pool later that afternoon...........
I had no idea what I was getting into when I picked up Inside Life, which was Incognito's first release in the U.S.; I'm not even sure when I first heard the term 'Acid Jazz' used to describe this blend of Soul based Jazz & Funk that was coming out of the UK, but I liked it. Horns, heavy percussion, strong thumping bass and moog like synthesizer work, married to strong melodic compositions; I didn't know who this Bluey was, but I liked him! Inside Life is pre Maysa and probably one of the more instrumental of the Incognito releases. Out of an album of incredible tunes, 'Metropolis', 'Gypsy' and 'Journey Into Sunlight' are killer.
About that pool........It was late afternoon back at the hotel, I'm kicked back, sitting at a table near the pool,listening to my recent finds,doing paperwork of some sort; only me, the music and a very attractive Blonde in a one piece black & white bathing suit with a black bow holding her hair back, swimming. We got talking and then........well, just listen to Incognito's 'Love Is The Colour', you'll figure it out - The Soundtrack To My Life. Listen to 'It's A Beautiful Thing' and 'Roadrunner' from Boney James and 'Journey Into Sunlight', 'Gypsy' and 'Metropolis' from Incognito.
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