Feel The Heat (Remastered) Bill Summers

• 1Just A Matter Of Time (Before The Beat Gets Your Mind)04:43
• 2Come Into My Life03:40
• 3People Know03:41
• 4No One04:05
• 5Brazilian Skies04:31
• 6Check It Out05:25
• 7Que Sabroso05:37
• 8Drum Suite06:32
• Total Runtime38:14

Info for Feel The Heat (Remastered)

Masterful funky soul jazz from the mid 70s – and one of the best solo albums recorded by Headhunter Bill Summers – a sunny batch of Bay Area funk that really grooves with the best of Fantasy Records from the time! The set was produced by Skip Scarborough, and has that great bubbling, stepping, soulful groove that was Scarborough's best contribution to jazz funk – a trademark groove that was every bit as important to the 70s as the work of Bob James or Larry Mizell! Summers' work on congas and percussion is excellent and the players are totally top shelf – the core group features drums by Alphonse Mouzon, bass by Paul Jackson, and keyboards by Scarborough – and vocalists on the set include Dianne Reeves, Mikki Morris, and Charles Meeks.

Summers’ debut album “Feel The Heat” was released in 1977. Obviously keen to make the record one that summed up his musical influences, he gathered around him some of the hottest musicians, including fellow Headhunter Paul Jackson, Mark Soskin on keyboards, drummer Alphonse Mouzon and a horn section comprising Roger Glenn, Julian Priester and Hadley Caliman. There was a future jazz star on vocals in the form of 20 year-old Diane Reeves and on the final track a small platoon of percussionists.

The structure of the album was carefully thought out, with each side having its own distinct flavour. The first side, comprising high quality adult soul music that would have sounded perfect on late night radio, opens with the Skip Scarborough and Diane Reeves-penned ‘Just A Matter Of Time (Before The Beat Gets Your Mind)’, a wonderful swaying soul number showcasing Reeves’ voice. The rest of the side follows in a similar vein with each cut featuring a different lead vocalist. Deborah Thomas sings the lead on Alphonse Mouzon’s ‘Come Into My Life’, Sigidi features on Summers’ ‘People Know’ and Charles Meeks takes the lead on ‘No One’.

The second side opens in a completely different vein with the up-tempo fusion workout ‘Brazilian Skies’ featuring Reeves’ wordless vocal, Mark Soskin’s vibrant piano solo and a percussion breakdown from Summers, a relentless track that became a firm favourite on the UK jazz dance scene in the 1980s. Roger Glenn wrote ‘Check It Out’ and gives the latin-flavoured cut a distinctive feel with his flute playing. ‘Que Sabroso’ is something else, a fairly authentic rhythm-propelled salsa track. The album ends with the African-influenced ‘Drum Suite’, a tribute to the history of the drum and a throwback to the sort of record Art Blakey had made in the late 50s. While the album wasn’t a big hit, it laid the path for Summers’ next work.

Bill Summers came to San Francisco from Detroit. By the early '70s, he had established himself as part of the competitive music scene and when Herbie Hancock was forming a group to play his new Jazz fusion sound, he chose Bill as his percussionist.

Charles Meeks, vocals
Deborah Thomas, vocals
Diane Reeves, vocals
Mikki Morris, vocals
Pete Escovedo, vocals
Sigidi, vocals
Bill Summers, congas, percussion
Paul Jackson, bass
Alphonse Mouzon, drums
Ray Obiedo, guitar
Fred Berry, horns
Hadley Caliman, horns
Jose Hernandez, horns
Julian Priester, horns
Myron Mu, horns
Roger Glenn, horns
Mark Soskin, keyboards
Skip Scarborough, keyboards

Mastered by Nick Robbins Produced by Skip Scarborough

Digitally remastered

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This album contains no booklet.