Free Ride is an album by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie that was composed, arranged and conducted by Lalo Schifrin, recorded in 1977 and released on the Pablo label.
The album represents the first collaboration between the two since The New Continent in 1962.
Although Lalo Schifrin is justifiably praised for his soundtrack work, many jazz purists turn up their noses at his jazz dates, such as his '60s work with Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery.
The things that make Schifrin an anathema to the diehards -- the huge orchestras, the pop and soul riffs, the general air of over the top theatricality -- are all over 1977's Free Ride, his reunion date with Dizzy Gillespie.
(Schifrin had been Gillespie's arranger in the late '50s.) In fact, Free Ride is so painfully dated that it's transformed into cockeyed cool, just the sort of record ironic hipsters should listen to while they're reading the novelizations of '70s cop shows that they bought for a bundle off of eBay.
Gillespie plays with his usual wit and panache, but most of the time, he sounds like a sideman on his own album; the real focus of Schifrin's arrangements is the funky wah-wah guitars and ARP synthesizer solos that take center stage on tracks like "Fire Dance" (which sounds exactly like it should be the theme for a Charlie's Angels spinoff) and the mellow disco of the closing "Last Stroke of Midnight."
Occasionally, Gillespie gets to break out on his own album, with the lovely solo on "Love Poem for Donna" his particular standout.
For what it is, Free Ride is really quite good (guests include Lee Ritenour and future star Ray Parker, Jr.), but it's very much a record of and for its time. [Free Ride Review by Stewart Mason]
Track listing
- "Unicorn" - 6:48
- "Fire Dance" - 4:25
- "Incantation" - 6:40
- "Wrong Number" - 4:36
- "Free Ride" - 5:22
- "Ozone Madness" - 6:34
- "Love Poem for Donna" - 4:33
- "The Last Stroke of Midnight" - 4:29
All compositions by Lalo Schifrin
Companies, etc.
- Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Pablo Records
- Made By – Pablo Records, Inc.
- Made By – MacNeill Press Ltd.
- Printed By – MacNeill Press Ltd.
- Manufactured By – Polydor Ltd.
- Lacquer Cut At – Phonodisc Ltd.
- Distributed By – Polydor Ltd.
- Recorded At – Wally Heider Recording Studio, Los Angeles
- Published By – Copyright Control
Credits
- Bass – Wilton L. Felder
- Composed By, Arranged By, Conductor, Producer, Synthesizer [ARP 2600, Yamaha Polysynthesizer, Arp Omni Polyphonic Synthesizer], Organ [Yamaha Electric Organ E-3], Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Lalo Schifrin
- Cover, Layout – Norman Granz, Sheldon Marks
- Drums – Eddie Greene
- Electric Guitar – Lee Ritenour, Wa Wa Watson, Ray Parker Jr.
- Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Piano – Sonny Burke
- Engineer – Peter Granet
- Engineer [Assistant] – Ralph Osborn
- Engineer [Recording Consultant] – Grover Hesley
- Engineer [Synthesizer] – Clark E. Spangler
- Flute – Jerome Richardson
- Percussion – Paulinho Da Costa
- Photography By – Phil Stern
- Saxophone – Ernie Watts
- Saxophone, Flute – James Horn
- Trombone – Lew McCreary
- Trumpet – Jack H. Laubach, Oscar Brashear
- Trumpet, Soloist – Dizzy Gillespie
Notes
Released: 1977
Recorded: January 31 and February 1 & 2, 1977 Studio Wally Heider Recording Studios, Hollywood, California
Genre: Jazz Funk, Fusion
Length: 43:27
Producer: Lalo Schifrin
Label - Pablo
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