Sealed LP: Norman Connors: Saturday Night Special

$

38

Norman Connors

Saturday Night Special

FACTORY SEALED LP

Format: Sealed Album

Country: U.S.A.

Record Company & Release Number: Buddah: BDS 5643

Original release date: 1976

Bar Code: NONE

Condition of the cover: Mint

Condition of this sealed album: Sealed - Assumed Mint

My inventory number: 209523B

Shipping Weight: 1 pounds, 2 ounces

Notes:

This Sealed Album came from a record store in Allentown, Pennsylvania called "Phantasmagoria" which went out of business in 1978. I purchased most of their unsold inventory several years later when I owned "Music Madness" - a new & used record store in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania.

Since this Sealed Album was part of Phantasmagoria's inventory when they closed in 1978, it cannot be any newer than a 1978 pressing. Being a Sealed Album, I cannot tell specifically what pressing it is prior to 1978. In some cases, hype stickers might help to determine if it is a first pressing, but I cannot be any more specific.

Phantasmagoria used round colored stickers to indicate the price of their inventory. They had a sign on the wall with the color sticker combinations for the customers to use so they knew the price of what they were purchasing. Some of the Sealed Albums still have these stickers on them, and in some rare cases, the stickers are written on. Some of the Sealed Albums have prices on them. This is the price you would have paid for this Sealed Album in 1978 if you had bought it at Phantasmagoria. If this Sealed Album has a price on it, please don't confuse the price with the current value for this Sealed Album.

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• Saturday Night Special
• Dindi
• Maiden Voyage
• Valentine Love
• Akia
• Skin Diver
• Kwasi

• Earl McIntyre: Trombone
• Larry McRae: Bass
• Don Murray: Engineer, Remihttps://ing
• Lee Ritenour: Guitar
• Nathan Rubin: Violin
• Tim Sadler: Assistant Engineer
• Jerry Schoenbaum: Producer
• Maretha Stewart: Vocals (Background)
• Ian Underwood: String Arrangements, Mini Moog
• Tommy Vicari: RemieBayAPI - Phantaz LPsing
• Buster Williams: Bass (Acoustic)
• Neal Teeman: Assistant Engineer
• Ronald Albert Johnson: Engineer
• Art Webb: Flute
• Joe Sidora: Engineer
• Don Allas: Percussion, Conga
• Michael J. Henderson: Bass, Vocals (Background), Bass (Electric), Vocals
• Shunzo Ono: Trumpet
• Noel Pointer: Violin
• Bill Summers: Percussion
• Jean Carn: Vocals, Vocals (Background)
• Hubert Eaves III: Organ, Clavinet, Piano (Electric), Harpsichord, Piano
• Kenneth Nash: Conga, Hand Percussion, African Drums, Quick, Bells, Shaker
• Sharon Redd: Vocals (Background)
• Carter Jefferson
• Reggie Lucas: Guitar (Electric)
• Tasha Thomas: Vocals (Background)
• Terry Adams: Cello
• Myra Bucky: Violin
• Fred Catero: Engineer, RemiFACTORY SEALED LPing
• Neil Clarke: Percussion, Conga
• David Coffin: Engineer
• Norman Connors: Arranger, Drums, Assistant Producer, Main Performer, Tympani (Timpani), Vocals
• Skip Drinkwater: Producer, RemiSealed LPing
• Nancy Ellis: Viola
• Mary Helen Ewing: Viola
• Michael Frondelli: Assistant Engineer
• Bernie Grundman: Mastering Engineer
• Ken Hopkins: Engineer
• George Horn: Mastering Engineer
• Anthony Jackson: Bass
• Bernie Krause: Programming, Moog Synthesizer
• Keith Loving: Guitar
• Phyllis Hyman: Vocals
• Gary Bartz: SaSealed - assumed mint (Alto), Sax (Soprano)
• John Blake: Violin
• Carlos Garnett: Sax (Tenor)
• Herbie Hancock: Piano
• Tom Scott: Melodica
• Onaje Allan Gumbs: Organ, Assistant Producer, Arp Strings, String Arrangements, Piano, Piano (Electric), Moog Synthesizer, Arranger
• Eddie Henderson: Trumpet, Flugelhorn
• Dave Heffernan: Illustrations
• Norman Granz: Main Performer

Album Review for "Saturday Night Special"

Connors' strong Saturday Night Special is most notable for "Valentine Love," a Top Ten black singles hit. The romantic ballad, a duet between Michael Henderson and Jean Carn, arrived in time for February 14 and also peaked on the Top 100 of the pop chart. One can't help but feel that the whole LP is truly Carn's show, as she contributes her rich voice to a number of stylistically varied numbers. Whether belting out in front of industrial-strength funk fusion ("Saturday Night Special"; watch out for Reggie Lucas' needling guitar solo here), sliding through breezy jazz (a rendition of Jobim's "Dindi"), or slipping into some ethereal colorings (a take on Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage"), Carn proves herself to be an ehttps://tremely versatile vocalist, equally adept with each approach. "Skin Diver," penned by Harry "We Live in Brooklyn, Baby" Whitaker and Dwight Carson, is the best of the lot -- a slowly simmering number that features Carn at her soaring best. Hancock contributes piano to "Kwasi," a painfully brief fusion cut that begins with a two-minute Connors drum solo and ends after another two minutes, just when it begins to really cook. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide

Norman Connors biography by Alex Henderson

Like Roy Ayers, George Benson, and Patrice Rushen, Norman Connors is best known for his major R&B hits but started out as a jazz improviser. The drummer/composer was born and raised in Philadelphia, where he lived in the same neighborhood as Bill Cosby and became interested in jazz when he was only a child. As a kid in elementary school, Connors was exposed to jazz extensively thanks to such schoolmates as drummer Lex Humphries and the younger brother of bassist and Jazz Messenger-to-be Spanky De Brest. Connors was in junior high when he began sneaking into jazz clubs and sat in for Elvin Jones at a John Coltrane gig. At 13, he first got to meet his idol, Miles Davis, and started expressing his admiration for the famous trumpeter by dressing like him. Connors went on to study music at Philly's Temple University and the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Gigs with Jackie McLean, Jack McDuff, and Sam Rivers followed, and he was first recorded as a sideman when Archie Shepp employed him on his 1967 Impulse! session Magic of Ju-Ju.

After touring with Pharoah Sanders and playing on several of his albums, Connors signed with Buddah's Cobblestone label in 1972 and recorded his first album as a leader, Dance of Magic and its follow-up, Dark of Light. A few more jazz-oriented Cobblestone and Buddah dates followed, and it was in 1975 that Connors made R&B his main priority with Saturday Night Special (which included the number ten soul hit "Valentine Love"). The rest of the 1970s found Connors featuring R&B singers prominently (including Michael Henderson, Jean Carn, and the late Phyllis Hyman) and scoring such R&B hits as "We Both Need Each Other," "Once I've Been There," and the lovely "You Are My Starship." Connors, who signed with Arista in 1977, wasn't as popular or as visible in the 1980s, although he would make a comeback in the 1990s by signing with Motown's MoJazz label and focusing on both urban contemporary and crossover. The 21st century found him moving along similar lines, releasing Eternity on Starship Records in 2000 and Star Power in 2009 on Shanachie Records.

This sealed album is being sold as a collector's item and cannot be returned due to manufacturer's defects. It may be almost impossible to replace many of the sealed albums I am selling. If I am aware of any defects, I will list it in the notes and pictures above.

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All album reviews, credits and artist biographies are from AllMusic Guide. If you haven't been to their web site, you should check it out. It's one of the most comprehensive music references on the internet. In some cases, credits may include reissue (CD) information. Obviously any credits referenced to CDs might not apply to this release.

SHIPPING

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