ALOHA! PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT WHAT I'M DOING 👍🏾 I APPRECIATE YOU!Who is the most sampled artist in hip-hop history? James Brown? The Incredible Bongo Band? George Clinton? While these answers are very true and very accurate, some in music and hip-hop say that legendary jazz musician Robert McElhiney James, better known to the music world as Bob James, is arguably the most sampled artist in hip-hop. Since being discovered the by the G.O.A.T., Quincy Jones himself, in 1962 (and later signed to Mercury Records in 1963 by none other than Quincy Jones), Bob James has carved out a legacy and place in music history that few other artists can, and will ever occupy. Born and raised in Missouri, Bob James started playing piano at the age of 4 and by the age of 7, it was discovered he had 'perfect pitch:' a natural gift of being able to understand and play music by ear, or "just listening" to it and playing back the notes perfectly, not needing to read any musical notes on paper. James would eventually leave Missouri to attend the University of Michigan. And later, he'd move onto Boston, Mass and the Berklee School of Music, another connection to fellow alumni, Quincy Jones (who 'd also attended some years previously). In 1962, Quincy Jones and Henry Mancini were invited to be judges at a jazz competition in Detroit, and it turns out that Bob James and two of his fellow 'free jazz' musician friends had entered. They didn't expect to win, but in fact, they did win! And the rest is history as they say. In 1963, James was hired by Quincy Jones to do some session work in New York and also releasing a solo album later that year with Mecury Records. Since 1963, Bob James has done it all: straight jazz, acoustic trio jazz, classical, smooth and contemporary jazz. Collaborations with some of the greatest musicians ever: David Sanborn, Larry Carlton; Nathan East, Lee Ritenour, and Harvey Mason (as the group 'Fourplay'), Steve Gadd, Eric Gale....Grover Washington Jr., as a producer. Oh, and as a valued '1st call' session keyboardist for the legendary Quincy Jones. The list goes on. Bob James has won several Grammy's but his relationship with hip-hop is something of a story in and off itself. While it's common knowledge that many of James' songs have been sampled by hip-hop over the years, Bob James himself has not very often spoken about his feelings on the genre, or his "contribution" to the culture of hip-hop and it's music. That has all changed during the last few years, most notably beginning in 2019 when he went into an agreement with online subscription production software music production software company, Tracklib, giving music producers rights to sample 20 of his most coveted songs. But well before that, since the glory days of hip-hop began in the mid to late 1980's, hip-hop artists and producers have been mining the platinum and gold hits of the legendary Bob James. I first heard him in 1978; he wrote and performed the theme to one of my favorite TV shows at that time, a show called 'Taxi'. Each week I'd eagerly await the beginning of the show to begin with a slow but smooth, groovy and enchanting jazz jam that become one of his biggest hits, a song called "Angela." I'll never forget those days. Sit back and listen to one of my favorite artists of all time, as I share with you some of my favorite songs by him, and songs that hip-hop and I have come to love and cherish. Bob James is one of America's best legends OF ANY GENRE and Blaze Street Music takes pride in saluting his music in this episode of 'Music of A Lifetime.' Call my studio hotline: 808-343-1943, leave me a message!Please give me your thoughts, ideas, comments & questions: IG: @cjaaybeats; X: @djceejaay; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carl.r.johnsonjr1; You Tube: @djceejaay

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