[1] Justice's Groove (S.Clarke) - 4:07
[2] Fantasy Love (Clarke/Hewett) - 4:37
[3] Zabadoobeedé? [Yabadoobeeda!] (Lecco/Sabal) - 4:35
[4] East River Dance (S.Clarke) - 7:48
[5] I'm Home Africa (Brown/Clarke) - 5:59
[6] Theme from Boyz N the Hood (S.Clarke) - 6:59
[7] Christmas in Rio (S.Clarke) - 6:42
[8] What If I Forgot the Champagne (S.Clarke) - 5:13
[9] Never Lose Your Heart/There Lies the Passion (S.Clarke) - 5:59
[10] Illegal (S.Clarke) - 3:21
[11] Lords of the Low Frequencies (S.Clarke) - 6:08
[12] Funk Is Its Own Reward (S.Clarke) - 4:45
STANLEY CLARKE - Bass, Arranger, Programming, Backing Vocals, Sequencing
GERALD ALBRIGHT - Alto & Soprano Saxophone
GEORGE DUKE - Piano, Keyboards
CHARLES FAMBROUGH - Bass, Acoustic Bass
GEORGE HOWARD - Bass, Soprano Saxophone
KENNY KIRKLAND - Piano
HUBERT LAWS - Flute
JEAN-LUC PONTY - Violin
BILL SUMMERS - Percussion
MICHAEL THOMPSON - Guitar, Electric Guitar
JAMES EARL - Electric Bass
DENNIS CHAMBERS - Drums
TODD COCHRAN - Keyboards
RAMON BANDA - Percussion
GERRY BROWN - Drums
DOC POWELL - Guitar
STEVE HUNT - Keyboards
DARRYL JACKSON - Percussion
MUNYUNGO JACKSON - Percussion
ALPHONSO JOHNSON - Electric Bass
DERON JOHNSON - Keyboards
ABE LABORIEL - Electric Bass
ARMAND SABAL-LECCO - Guitar, Electric Bass, Piccolo, Programming, Background Vocals
JOHN "J.R." ROBINSON - Drums
PONCHO SANCHEZ - Conga
CARLOS VEGA - Drums
DOUG WEBB - Soprano Saxophone
PANCHO SANCHEZ - Conga
STEVE HUNT - Keyboards
GEORGE DELBARRIO - Conductor, String Arrangements
HOWARD HEWETT - Vocals, Background Vocals
LAURA ROBINSON - Background Vocals
ANJANI THOMAS - Background Vocals
ALEXIS ENGLAND - Background Vocals
DAN HUMANN - Engineer, Mixing
DAVID COLEMAN - Art Direction
ALLEN SIDES - Engineer
STEVE SYKES - Engineer, Mixing
CAROLINE GREYSHOCK - Photography
BRIAN GARDNER - Mastering
Albums came less frequently from Stanley Clarke in the 1990s as film
scores took up more and more of his time. Not only that, the ideas and
functions of film music play a large role in East River Drive, where
selections come as often as not in the form of cue-like vamps, as well
as two actual themes from Clarke's scores for the films Poetic Justice
and Boyz N the Hood. Oddly enough, Clarke's music benefits from his
film immersion, for his compositional ideas are sharper and more
sophisticated here, and he applies them to a range of electric music
idioms. "Zabadoobeebe," "Illegal," and "I'm Home Africa" bear mild
African influences, the elegant "Christmas In Rio" has a slight whiff
of Brazil, and "Lords of the Low Frequencies" is an extraordinary
slap-happy duel between Lord Clarke and fellow virtuoso Armand
Sabal-Lecco. As before, Clarke gets help from some of his famous
friends -- among them are Gerald Albright, George Howard, Hubert Laws,
Jean-Luc Ponty, Poncho Sanchez and the inevitable George Duke -- and he
most ably splits the string arranging tasks with George del Barrio.
This is a mature statement from a most accomplished musician, who was
still young at 42.