“Early CTI: The A&M Years” is the result of a project that, unfortunately, never came to be. In 2018, I was part of a team that was planning to produce a box set containing all – or most – of the thirty-some discs that Creed Taylor produced at A&M Records between 1967 and 1970. This would have included such iconic albums by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond, George Benson and Quincy Jones as well as lesser-known works by Nat Adderley, Soul Flutes and J.J. Johnson with Kai Winding. In most cases, those forgotten gems had never even been issued on CD. That remains true as of this writing. While we were never able to make this Herculean effort a reality, I did put a good deal of time, research and effort in to crafting an extensive set of notes to accompany the set. As it is now pretty clear that such a project as “Early CTI” is unlikely to ever happen, I am pleased to share the work I put in to the box here. – Douglas Payne

CREED TAYLOR:
THE EVOLUTION OF A REVOLUTION

The story of CTI is the story of the man whose initials represent the label’s first two letters, Creed Taylor. Creed Taylor is one of the most significant producers in the history of jazz. Perhaps only a handful of others in his field are as well-known – or, perhaps, as notoriously successful – as Creed Taylor. more…

CTI:
THE BEGINNING

According to Creed Taylor, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss – the A and M of A&M Records – approached the producer as early as 1965, at that year’s Grammy Awards dinner ceremony. Alpert and Moss wanted Taylor to produce records for their recently launched label, home to Alpert’s hugely successful Tijuana Brass. Calls went back and forth for many months. more…

RUDY VAN GELDER:
THE ENGINEER

Rudy Van Gelder (1924-2016) is the sound of CTI – and Blue Note, Prestige, Debut, Savoy, Impulse, Verve and so many other labels that have issued jazz for more than a half century. Van Gelder, considered by many to be one of the finest recording engineers in the world, recorded a vast majority of the jazz records issued since the early 1950s. more…

DON SEBESKY:
THE ARRANGER

It is fair to say that Don Sebesky’s work for CTI from 1967 to 1975 not only shaped the sound of the label but the very sound of jazz at the time. Sebesky (1937-2023) is, perhaps, one of the most provocative, yet sensitive and stimulating arrangers who worked in the post-big band age, combining the hues and timbres of jazz with classical orchestration and formulating readily accessible frameworks for a wide variety of soloists. more…

A&M/CTI:
THE RECORDS

Creed Taylor’s production output for the new label was notably slower than his output at Verve, where he was putting out five or six albums a month. There is a sense that Taylor’s time was now consumed with more demanding roles, including contracting, recording, packaging and promotion – roles others performed at Verve. more…

FIRST CALL:
SIDEMEN

Producer Creed Taylor always valued and favored the star power backing his headliners. Throughout his near half-century career, Taylor was always adept at (and intuitively able at) attracting A-lister jazz talent and some of its greatest soloists to provide unshowy, seemingly thankless backing in otherwise support roles. But these weren’t musical egos. These are some of the music’s greatest purveyors, collaborators and representatives of great musical integrity. Here, then, are some of the most notable contributors to what became the “sound” of those A&M/CTI records:

Ron Carter || Eumir Deodato || Herbie Hancock || Freddie Hubbard
Bob James || Hubert Laws || Idris Muhammad || Grady Tate

PETE TURNER:
COVER PHOTOS

Very early in his career, Creed Taylor recognized that consumers were more likely to judge a record by its cover than its content, particularly if a listener was unfamiliar with the artist or his or her music. In the mid-fifties, only classical records benefitted by luxurious full-color covers. They were like magazines, in that they suggested the degree of craftsmanship, sophistication and quality found within. more…

SAM ANTUPIT:
COVER DESIGN

It was Pete Turner who suggested Sam Antupit (1932-2003) to Creed Taylor, Turner having worked with the designer at Esquire magazine. Even though Antupit had no experience designing album covers, he “hit it off with Creed,” who recognized the rare gifts of utilitarian simplicity and austere sophistication this designer possessed. more…

CREED TAYLOR:
MOVING ON

In February 1970, Billboard announced that Creed Taylor had launched his own CTI Records label – effectively concluding a “special production deal” with A&M Records. The article proclaimed that Taylor was set to introduce three new records: seventeen-year-old Kathy McCord’s eponymous folk record, Hubert Laws’ Crying Song and Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay – all recorded around the time Taylor was still recording albums for A&M. more…

Douglas Payne

The author wishes to thank and extend his heartfelt gratitude to Arnaldo DeSouteiro, Marc Myers and John McCombe for their inspiration, contributions, suggestions and ideas to this text. A great thanks to RVG researcher Dan Skea, who made so much of my original discography possible in the first place. My thanks especially to Diane Toma, who, as always, made it possible for me to do any of this. And, of course, thank you to the late, great Creed Taylor – for the music and for so much more that means so much to all of us.