Layers (Les McCann album) explained

Layers
Type:	Album
Artist:	Les McCann
Cover:	Layers (Les McCann album).jpg
Released:	1973
Recorded:	November 1972 Regent Sound Studios, New York
Genre:	Jazz-funk^[1]
Length:	44:02
Label:	Atlantic SD 1646, 32 Groove
Producer:	Joel Dorn
Chronology:	Les McCann
Prev Title:	Live at Montreux
Prev Year:	1972
Next Title:	Another Beginning
Next Year:	1974

Layers is an album by pianist Les McCann recorded in 1972 and released on the Atlantic label.^{[2] [3]}

Reception

AllMusic gives the album 4½ stars, stating "This groundbreaking jazz synthesizer record is really unlike any other Les McCann ever made. Aside from a three-man percussion section and electric bassist Jimmy Rowser, Layers is entirely electronic, one of the first jazz albums with such an emphasis. ...this music is truly forward-looking and ahead of its time".

The song "Sometimes I Cry" has been sampled in several other songs, most notably in Slick Rick's "Behind Bars" and its drum beat in Massive Attack's "Teardrop" and "Bullet Boy".^[4]

Track listing

All compositions by Les McCann

1. "Sometimes I Cry" - 5:22
2. "Let's Gather" - 1:13
3. "Anticipation" - 0:52
4. "The Dunbar High School Marching Band" - 6:07
5. "Soaring (At Dawn) Part I"- 5:54
6. "The Harlem Buck Dance Strut" - 5:55
7. "Interlude" - 0:33
8. "Before I Rest" - 3:43
9. "Let's Play ('til Mom Calls)" - 4:26
10. "It Never Stopped in My Home Town" - 1:54
11. "Soaring (At Sunset) Part II" - 8:03

Personnel

• Les McCann - piano, electric piano, synthesizer, clavinet, drums, timpani
• Jimmy Rowser - bass, electric bass, bells, percussion
• Donald Dean - drums, bells, percussion
• Buck Clarke - congas, drums, bongos, blocks, bells, percussion
• Ralph MacDonald - congas, bells, percussion

Notes and References

1. Web site: BeatCaffeine's 100 Best Jazz-Funk Songs . https://web.archive.org/web/20180825081205/https://beatcaffeine.com/100-best-jazz-funk-songs/ . Gorton . TJ . BeatCaffeine . July 30, 2018 . August 25, 2018 . September 19, 2021.
2. http://www.jazzdisco.org/atlantic-records/catalog-1600-series/#sd-1646 Atlantic Records Catalog: 1600 series
3. Freed., R. Les McCann Discography accessed March 8, 2016
4. Web site: Samples of Sometimes I Cry by les McCann on WhoSampled . .