Sylvia St. James – Magic / Echoes & Images CD (Expansion)

Sylvia St. James began at Elektra on her debut album Magic with two further giants of jazz fusion, both also with affiliated with groups, Lenny White (Twennynine) and Larry Dunn (Earth Wind & Fire). Also contributing is a long term affiliate of Lenny White, and legend in his own right Don Blackman. Sylvia had previously worked with Lenny White on Twennynine’s 1980 album Twennynine featuring Lenny White, but for her second album Echoes & Images Andre Fisher was brought in as producer who had previously produced Brenda Russell and worked with Sylvia St. James between projects for Betty Wright and Sheree Brown utilising top Los Angeles players.

The album includes her take on Grace a Ronnie Laws song (she sang backgrounds for Ronnie on his and one look at the credits reveal the incredible calibre of the musicians involved. Sylvia would also grace projects for an array of other impressive artists including Hugh Masekela, Jeff Lorber ( Your Love Has Got Me ), Osamu Kitajima ( Yesterday And Karma ), Harry Connick Jr., Keith Richards and Bernie Taupin on his Tribe album with Elton John and Martin Page. Enjoy, for the first time on CD, Magic and Echoes & Images remastered from the original tapes. – Expansion