Two is the fourth solo album by jazz keyboardist Bob James.

Two
Studio album by
ReleasedMay 29, 1975
RecordedDecember 1974 & January 1975
StudioVan Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
GenreJazz fusion, smooth jazz
Length38:23
LabelCTI
ProducerCreed Taylor
Bob James chronology
One
(1974)
Two
(1975)
Three
(1976)

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic      [1]

The album is the second of a series of jazz-funk classics (along with One, Three and BJ4). Released in 1975, the album charted at number two on the Jazz Album Charts. The track "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" is one of the most widely used tracks in hip-hop breakbeat samples.

Track listing

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  1. "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" (Paul Simon) – 5:50
  2. "I Feel a Song (In My Heart)" (Tony Camillo, Mary Sawyer) – 5:26
  3. "The Golden Apple" (Bob James) – 7:20
  4. "Farandole" (Georges Bizet) – 8:24
  5. "You're as Right as Rain" (Thom Bell, Linda Creed) – 5:28
  6. "Dream Journey" (Bob James) – 5:55

Personnel

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Brass and Woodwinds

  • Hubert Laws – flute (4), electric flute (4)
  • Eddie Daniels – clarinet
  • James Buffington – French horn
  • Peter Gordon – French horn
  • Al Richmond – French horn
  • Wayne Andre – trombone
  • Eddie Bert – trombone
  • Tom Mitchell – trombone
  • Tony Studd – trombone
  • Randy Brecker – trumpet, flugelhorn
  • John Frosk – trumpet, flugelhorn
  • Victor Paz – trumpet, flugelhorn
  • Lew Soloff – trumpet, flugelhorn
  • Marvin Stamm – trumpet, flugelhorn

Strings

Production

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  • Creed Taylor – producer
  • Rudy Van Gelder – engineer
  • Bob Ciano – album design
  • Greg Laurents – cover photography

Samples

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  • Many artists sampled the drums and bell part of the intro to the track "Take Me to the Mardi Gras", an instrumental cover of the Paul Simon song. It has since become a widely recognized drum break, similar to another break from another instrumental, "Ashley's Roachclip".[2]
  • The melody of "You're as Right as Rain" was sampled by Norwegian electronic music duo Röyksopp for their 2001 single "Eple" (whose title means "apple" in Norwegian, in reference to Two's album cover).[3]

Charts

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Chart (1975) Peak
position
Billboard Pop Albums[4] 75
Billboard Top Soul Albums[4] 28
Billboard Top Jazz Albums[4] 2
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References

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  1. ^ Yanow, Scott. Bob James: Two > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  2. ^ Celebrate Mardis Gras With Bob James at The Urban Daily
  3. ^ "How Röyksopp's 'Melody A.M.' Brought Electronica Into the Mainstream". PopMatters. 2016-10-24. Retrieved 2019-07-03.
  4. ^ a b c "Bob James US albums chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-07-13.