Label: Intuition
Katalog Nr. INT 30071
Release: 17. April 2025
EAN: 750447300712
Format: 180g-Vinyl
Vertrieb: edel Kultur
LC: 08399

A 01 Well in that case 5:10
A 02 Lust for Life 4:18
A 03 Senegal Calling 4:53
A 04 Red Neon, Go Or Give 2:51
A 05 Charanga 5:04

B 01 Get It 3:12
B 02 N.Y.C. 5:22
B 03 Stick Jam 4:58
B 04 Absolutely Maybe 3:53
B 05 Festival 5:11
B 06 Paradiso 3:04

STEPS AHEAD, one of the most distinctive and influential instrumental groups of the 80s, gave the stagnating fusion movement a much-needed boost with their own brand of lively, intelligent jazz. With N.Y.C., their then debut on INTUITION Records, the group returned with an exciting new line-up and a dynamic new sound.

Co-founder Mike Mainieri had enlisted some seasoned veterans for this album: Drummer Steve Smith, also known for his involvement with mega rock band Journey and also leader of his own band Vital Information. He is the only remnant from the previous incarnation of STEPS AHEAD. He was joined by bassist Tony Levin, who is considered one of the best-known bassists thanks to his work with King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, John Lennon, Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan. Finally, there is the young Norwegian saxophonist Bendik, who stood in for Michael Brecker at the time. Also represented on N.Y.C. were guitarists Ray Gomez and Steve Khan as well as keyboardist Rique Pantoja.

Mainieri on his then newly designed STEPS AHEAD: „I liked working with people who also produced their own albums….conceptualists. They understood the process. Steve Smith was an easy choice because he had been there before, and he also had experience producing his own albums. Steve Khan was and is an all-round guy, a utility guitarist who plays intelligently and is also a conceptualist.

„Tony Levin and I had played together many, many years ago. He played with me when he first came to New York in a crazy 17-piece band called White Elephant; later we had a great quartet called L’Image, with Steve Gadd on drums and Warren Bernhardt on keyboards. The group broke up when Gadd left to form Stuff, and he went off on his own and got more involved in the world of rock music. But after King Crimson broke up, he felt the need to play properly again. Some of the rock stuff he’d been doing just wasn’t challenging enough for him.“

Mainieri reserves special praise for the then new discovery Bendik: „When Brecker left the band, I knew it would be difficult to replace him. He had such a strong voice on his instrument. I thought about a lot of people who were all excellent players, but I was also looking for someone who was more of a conceptualist, a composer, because I always felt that the strength of the band was in the compositions rather than the virtuosity of the individual players. A friend of mine sent me a cassette of Bendik. I listened to it and was really excited about the concept of how he had put this tape together. It was mainly material where he played all the instruments himself, wrote the lyrics and sang.

There was actually very little saxophone on it, but enough to intrigue me. So we got together. And one of the things I was worried about was, „Well, can he play through the changes? How deep is his musicality?“ But once I had the opportunity to actually hear him play, I was very impressed. So in putting the band together, I had really tried with him, and it had paid off.“

Bendik contributed four compositions to N.Y.C. – the funky, effervescent „Lust For Life“, the dark, jazzy „Absolutely Maybe“, the haunting „Paradiso“ with Levin’s fine fretless bass work and the atmospheric ballad „Red Neon Go Or Give“.

Perhaps the most impressive piece on the album was and is the title track „N.Y.C.“, a MIDI suite that captured the energy, chaos and multicultural essence of New York City at the time.  „It was a musical reflection of the city. Originally the piece was inspired by Gil Evans‘ voices on „Sketches Of Spain“, and it just evolved as I looked around on the Synclavier. I kept adding new colours, more sounds of the city. There’s even an oriental part. No real blowings, just scattered sounds and textures“.

„Get It“, reflected Mainieri’s interest in the rap music of the time. Sampled voices were layered into the big beat mix, providing a street-ready backdrop for Mike’s nimble vibraphone playing. „I originally had Bobby McFerrin in mind,“ he says. „He was a fan of STEPS AHEAD and had sung with us at the Montreux Jazz Festival, so I originally conceived it with him in mind and sang all the parts myself. But the melody later developed into what you hear on the album.“

Mainieri has had a remarkable career as a musician, producer and composer. He has played on more than 500 albums with artists as diverse as Buddy Rich, Linda Ronstadt, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Laura Nyro and West Montgomery. He has also arranged hits for Don McLean and Dire Straits and produced albums for Carly Simon, Dave Liebman, Art Farmer and Kazumi Watanabe. At the young age of 14, he went on tour with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra for the first time. He toured with the late Buddy Rich until 1966 and then settled in the lucrative New York studio scene of the late 60s to early 70s.

In the mid-70s, Mainieri was signed to Arista and released critically acclaimed albums such as Love Play, Free Smile and Wanderlust. In 1979, he founded STEPS AHEAD with Michael Brecker, bassist Eddie Gomez, drummer Steve Gadd and pianist Don Grolnick. They released three albums in Japan before the line-up for the 1983 US debut ‘Steps Ahead’ (Electra/Musician) was changed (Peter Erskine replaced Steve Gadd, Eliane Elias replaced Don Grolnick). The line-up for the 1984 follow-up album ‘Modern Times’ consisted of Mainieri, Gomez, Brecker and long-time Mainieri collaborator Warren Bernhardt on keyboards. For the album ‘Magnetic’, the core group of Mainieri, Brecker and Erskine was joined by guitarists Chuck Loeb and Hiram Bullock, keyboardists Grolnick and Bernhardt and bassist Victor Bailey.

The band influenced many young musicians in the 80s and caused a sensation with worldwide tours.

Now the classic album N.Y.C. is being released as a remastered version in the INTUITION Master Series on 180g vinyl.