Tom Browne - Browne Sugar (1979)

Note: the CD I listened to was the original 1985 CD reissue with no bar code and a smooth-edged case.

A solid debut from Browne, who was still a year away from his breakout hit, Funkin' for Jamaica (N.Y.). There's some star power here, including Marcus Miller, Michael Brecker, Patti Austin, and Bernard Wright, produced by the GRP team of Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen. It's fitting that Brecker is on here because the album sounds like a Brecker Brothers album as if produced by Bob James. In other words, it's funkish, but safe. Regardless, the whole thing is enjoyable and Browne sure plays the crap out of that horn. As a recovering trumpet player myself, I could only dream of that kind of breath support, power, and harmonic accuracy. Also, I could only dream of an ad campaign that proudly proclaimed, "Suddenly, Mark is Trumpet" (see below).

Reviews/ratings:

• CashBox: "undiluted excellence"
• Billboard: "first class disk"
• Stereo Review: "You have never heard such blandness."
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #147
• Billboard Jazz: #6
• Billboard R&B: #50
• CashBox: #160
• CashBox Jazz: #11

Tracks: Highlights include

1. the jazz-funk of the lead track, Throw Down, featuring Brecker (also featured on the WorldWide FM station in GTA 5).
3. a contribution from bassist Marcus Miller, Herbal Scent, which includes a tasty electric piano solo from Bernard Wright
5. a tasteful, mid-tempo cover of the ballad The Closer I Get To You, with Browne on flugelhorn
6. a Crusaders-like take on Marvin Gaye's What's Going On
8. the mellow closer, Antoinette Like, written by and featuring Wright.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Magic (1981)