Bob Shad was one of the greatest music producers of the 20th century, having worked with all the music giants you can think of, from Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie to Sarah Vaughan, Lightnin’ Hopkins, The Platters and Janis Joplin to name just a few. “Bobby Shad was a legend in our family” says his grandson Judd Apatow who, together with his sister Mia, still looks after Shad’s back catalogue, Mainstream Records.
Like his peers, jazz producers Creed Taylor and Bob Thiele, Shad went independent in the 60s and by the early 70s, he was producing a string of superb albums mixing Spiritual Jazz with Funk and Soul. These albums are now being rediscovered by new generation of Soul and Jazz lovers hooked on the music of Kamasi Washington and Shabaka Hutchings.
Recorded between 1971 and 73, the Fender-Rhodes-drenched tracks on INNER PEACE showcase Shad’s unique Deep Jazz sound. They feature such revered musicians as Harold Land, Roy Haynes and Frank Foster, together with a younger generation of talented musicians led by Buddy Terry, Dave Hubbard and LaMont Johnson.
Here they are accompanied by the cream of 70s jazz session musicians including Bernard Purdie, Buster Williams, Eddie Henderson, Mtume, Stanley Clarke, and Cecil Bridgewater.
The Mainstream catalogue has been sampled by a long list of revered DJs and Hip Hop producers over the years. Roy Haynes’ ‘Senyah’ was sampled by De La Soul on ‘Pony Ride’ and Shelly Manne’s short outro,’Infinity’ forms the unmissable backbone of Jeru The Damaja’s all-time Hip Hop classic, ‘Come Clean’. A fitting tribute to the supreme sound of producer Bob Shad.
