Song:Ai No Corrida
Album:Ultimate Collection
Quincy Jones was already well known as a composer and producer when he moved from Mercury to A & M in 1970. He started out recording jazz for A & M and he was still composing film scores. But by the mid-70s he got more into working with R & B artists. This was no doubt influenced by his main artist discovery at that time The Brothers Johnson. The 1974 album Body Heat was very successful. The 1981 album The Dude was Jones' most successful album from this period. He was leaving A & M for Warner Bros and his own label QWest and Jones owed A & M one final album. He sure went out with a bang. On this album Jones used two singers, James Ingram and Patti Austin. The singles Just Once and One Hundred Ways were big hits and they made Ingram a star. But the other big hit single from The Dude was Ai No Corrida which was an R & B and dance hit. Ai No Corrida was written by former Ian Dury and the Blockheads keyboard player Chas Jankel and veteran songwriter Kenny Young. Jankel recorded it on his 1980 debut album for A & M. No doubt someone from the label brought it to Jones. He turned it into a dance jam. The singers on the record are credited as Dune and the lead singer is credited as Charles May. Dune is not a real group. My guess is that Patti Austin was supposed to sing lead and she convinced Jones the song would work better as a group vocal. She arranged the vocals. May was a local gospel guy in Los Angeles who sang backup vocals on several Jones albums. So Dune is likely Austin, May, veteran soul singer Jim Gilstrap and veteran LA session singer Tom Bahler. The record also features a sax solo by Ernie Watts. Other musicians on the record include Herbie Hancock, David "Hawk" Wolinski, Greg Phillinganes, Ian Underwood, Louis Johnson and Paulinho Da Costa. Jones and Jerry Hey of Seawind won a Grammy for the arrangement. You'll notice in the video clip that Austin and Ingram sing Ai No Corrida. This budget comp has all of Jones' hits. As I said, Jones left A & M for Warners and though he was very busy as a producer, he would not record under his own name until 1989. Here's Quincy Jones featuring James Ingram and Patti Austin on vocals and Louis Johnson on bass performing Ai No Corrida in Japan 1981. There is a video for Ai No Corrida but I like this live clip a lot better.
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