The superb archival collection Once Upon a Time: The Lost 1965 New York Studio Sessions finds acclaimed pianist Bob James leading two separate trio dates during the early years of his career. Recorded by Resonance Records' founder and co-president George Klabin while a freshman at Columbia University, the recordings capture James during a period in which he was working as a sideman with singer Sarah Vaughan and before he had established himself as a titan of crossover jazz, funk, and pop. These sessions came two years after his debut, 1962's Bold Conceptions, and were recorded the same year he released his sophomore studio album, 1965's Explosions. Perhaps not surprisingly then, Once Upon a Time is an almost perfect balance between the hard-swinging sophistication of his debut and the more avant-garde experimentalism of his follow-up.
The first session here, recorded in January of 1965, finds James backed by a fellow Vaughan bandmate, bassist Larry Rockwell, as well as drummer Robert Pozar, whom James had known since his days at the University of Michigan. Following the dusky, minor-tinged "Serenata," James quickly moves to more outr? material, digging into edgy architectural harmonies on the Thelonious Monk-sounding "Once Upon a Time." Most interesting are the free-leaning "Lateef Minor 7th" and "Variations," both of which find the pianist straddling the line between lyrical pop melodicism and avant-garde soundscapes. "Lateef" starts with a jaunty melody that seems to prefigure James' work in the '70s composing songs like his theme to the TV show Taxi and crossover covers like "Feel Like Making Love." However, the track soon begins to fray at the edges as James leads his trio into an improvised cacophony of skittering cymbal crashes, dissonant piano chords, and nervy bowed bass, before returning to the song's main theme at the end. Equally boundary-pushing is "Variations," a spare, classical ballad punctuated by eerie spinning metal plate noises, percussive bass knocks, and James' own crystalline piano accents.
The second session, recorded in October of 1965, is more straight-ahead with James backed by Detroit-born bassist Bill Wood and drummer Omar Clay (also a member of Vaughan's band). Together, they play in an adroit, hard bop style, digging into several standards, including a nuanced version of Miles Davis' "Solar" and a speedy reading of Sonny Rollins' "Airegin." We also get a gorgeous rendition of the classic Victor Herbert ballad "Indian Summer." While James would go on to achieve his biggest successes in the crossover jazz field, Once Upon a Time further underlines just how willing he was to both play by and significantly bend the rules of jazz early in his career.