Water Sign is the third album by keyboardist Jeff Lorber as leader of his band "The Jeff Lorber Fusion". Released in 1979, this was Lorber's first album on Arista Records.
| Water Sign | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1979 | |||
| Recorded | 1979 | |||
| Studio | Devonshire Sound Studios (North Hollywood, CA); Ripcord Studios (Vancouver, WA) | |||
| Genre | Jazz fusion Smooth jazz Funk | |||
| Label | Arista | |||
| Producer | Jeff Lorber Marlon McClain | |||
| The Jeff Lorber Fusion chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [2] |
The backing track for the song "Rain Dance" has been sampled most notably for the 1997 Lil' Kim song "Crush on You", but also for the 1996 Tha Dogg Pound holiday song "I Wish," the 1997 SWV song "Love Like This", the 2013 Ariana Grande song "Right There" and the 2018 Mariah Carey song "A No No", from Caution. Lorber re-recorded the song, this time with vocals by Irene Bauza, as the song "Rain Dance/Wanna Fly" on his 2010 album Now Is the Time.
The song Toad's Place was written during a sound check at the nightclub Toad's Place and performed that night.[3] It has been featured on The Weather Channel's Local On The 8s segments.
Track listing
editAll tracks are written by Jeff Lorber
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Toad's Place" | 5:35 |
| 2. | "Country" | 5:41 |
| 3. | "Tune 88" | 4:28 |
| 4. | "Sparkle" | 4:26 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Water Sign" | 5:21 |
| 2. | "Rain Dance" | 4:40 |
| 3. | "Right Here" | 5:23 |
| 4. | "Lights Out" | 6:41 |
Personnel
editThe Jeff Lorber Fusion
- Jeff Lorber – Fender Rhodes, Yamaha electric grand piano, ARP 2600, Minimoog, Oberheim 4 Voice, Prophet-5
- Danny Wilson – electric bass
- Dennis Bradford – drums
Guest Musicians
- Jay Koder – jazz guitar, acoustic guitar, guitar solo (7)
- Doug Lewis – "funky" guitar
- Bruce Smith – percussion
- Dennis Springer – soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
- Joe Farrell – flute
- Freddie Hubbard – flugelhorn
Production
edit- Jeff Lorber – producer
- Marlon McClain – associate producer
- Dave Dixon – engineer, mixing
- Jerry Hudgins – engineer, mixing
- John Golden – mastering at Kendun Recorders (Burbank, CA).
- Jeffrey Ross – production coordinator, management
- Trevor Brown – photography
Charts
edit| Chart (1979) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Top LPs & Tapes[4] | 119 |
| Billboard Top Jazz Albums[4] | 4 |
References
edit- ^ Henderson, Alex. Water Sign at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-09-07.
- ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 128. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
- ^ Verel, Patrick, "For a Hopping Club, The Beat Goes Onward", New York Times, November 19, 2006
- ^ a b "Jeff Lorber US albums chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-09-07.