Alex Henderson

Norman Connors
Romantic Journey

When Buddah Records released Norman Connors’ Romantic Journey in 1977, the Philadelphia-born drummer knew that his previous album, 1976’s You Are My Starship, would be a tough act to follow. You Are My Starship went down in history as Connors’ best-selling album, and its title track (a haunting soul ballad boasting Michael Henderson on vocals) was a #4 R&B hit in Billboard and a quiet storm favorite. On top of that, two other singles from You Are My Starship—“We Both Need Each Other” (a male/female duet featuring Henderson and the late Phyllis Hyman) and a remake of the Stylistics’ 1972 hit “Betcha By Golly Wow”—were well-received by quiet storm audiences. Connors, who started out his career as a jazz drummer and an instrumentalist, had acquired a lot of new fans by shifting his focus to vocal-oriented R&B—and those new fans had a lot to do with the fact that You Are My Starship soared to #5 on Billboard’s R&B albums chart.

Romantic Journey wasn’t as big a seller for Connors, but it did make it to #24 on Billboard’s R&B albums chart and to #10 on Billboard’s jazz albums chart. And the funky disco-soul single “Once I’ve Been There” (featuring Prince Phillip Mitchell on lead vocals) was a #16 R&B single in Billboard. “Once I’ve Been There” was an interesting choice for a single; after a string of quiet storm hits in 1975 and 1976, Connors surprised his fans by coming out with a danceable, club-friendly single that obviously wasn’t catering to quiet storm tastes. Indeed, given the way Connors made a big impression on quiet storm audiences with his #10 R&B single “Valentine Love” (a vocal duet that united Henderson and Jean Carn) in 1975 and built on that quiet storm image the following year with “You Are My Starship,” “We Both Need Each Other” and “Betcha By Golly Wow” (which featured Philadelphia native Hyman on lead vocals), one didn’t expect him to have a disco-soul hit in 1977. And the fact that “Once I’ve Been There” was chosen as a single in 1977 indicated that Connors didn’t want to become overly predictable.

Nonetheless, there is a strong quiet storm factor on Romantic Journey, and the romantic ballads include “For You, Everything,” “Destination: Moon” and a cover of the Stylistics’ 1971 hit “You Are Everything” (which was written by Thom Bell and the late Linda Creed, the same prolific team that wrote “Betcha By Golly Wow” and other Stylistics hits). Featuring Hyman on “Betcha By Golly Wow” had worked well for Connors in 1976, and the following year, he employed singer Eleanore Mills on another Stylistics-associated Philly soul gem from the Bell/Creed songbook.

Mills is also featured on “For You, Everything,” a male/female duet with Mitchell. Connors was fond of romantic male/female soul duets—first Henderson and Carn on “Valentine Love,” then Henderson and Hyman on “We Both Need Each Other”—and he takes that approach once again by bringing together Mills and Mitchell on “For You, Everything.” Mitchell is featured on three selections altogether: “For You, Everything.” “Destination: Moon” and, of course, “Once I’ve Been There.”

There are two versions of “Once I’ve Been There” on FunkyTownGrooves’ 2013 reissue of Romantic Journey: the version included on Buddah’s original 1977 LP, and the 7” single version (which is offered as a bonus track). The other bonus track on this CD is the 7” single version of “For You, Everything.”

Although Connors deemphasized instrumental jazz when he became an R&B star, that doesn’t mean he abandoned it altogether—and there are three jazz instrumentals on Romantic Journey: Gato Barbieri’s “Last Tango in Paris,” Pharoah Sanders’ “Thembi” and the title track (which Connors wrote himself). Jazz is a side dish on Romantic Journey, but it’s an appealing side dish.

Romantic Journey’s title track is a Return to Forever-ish fusion offering, and Ray Gomez’ passionate electric guitar solo brings a lot of rock muscle to that selection. The good-natured “Thembi,” meanwhile, is John Coltrane-influenced post-bop, and Sanders is featured on soprano saxophone. That wasn’t the first time Sanders and Connors had played together: Connors had been a sideman for Sanders in the early 1970s, playing his drums on Sanders’ albums Village of the Pharoahs and Love in Us All (both released on Impulse Records). Connors, however, didn’t play on Sanders’ Thembi album, which was recorded in late 1970 and early 1971. And Connors sounds like he is quite happy to be playing Thembi’s title track with Sanders himself on one of his own albums.

Argentinean tenor saxophonist Barbieri has played a wide variety of jazz along the way, ranging from blistering free jazz to modal post-bop to lush pop-jazz. And “Last Tango in Paris” clearly falls into the third category. Barbieri wrote that melody for a 1972 film by Italian director Bernando Bertolucci, which was also titled Last Tango in Paris and starred Marlon Brando as a middle-aged American widower who had a wild sexual affair with a young Parisian woman (played by the Paris-born Maria Schneider, not to be confused with the Minnesota-born jazz bandleader). The sexually candid nature of Last Tango in Paris earned the film an X rating in the United States back in 1972; regardless, Barbieri’s melody became famous, and Connors’ version goes for both pop appeal and jazz appeal.

Connors, who was born in Philly on March 1, 1947, turned 30 in 1977—and many of the people who bought Romantic Journey that year were newer fans he had picked up when he was in his late 20s. Those newer fans mainly knew him for “You Are My Starship” and “Valentine Love” and didn’t necessarily know about his jazz background or his associations with heavyweight improvisers like Sanders, Sam Rivers and Archie Shepp. But those who were hip to Connors’ earlier recordings knew all about his contributions to instrumental jazz, and they realized that there were different sides of his artistry. From disco-soul to quiet storm to instrumental jazz, Romantic Journey clearly illustrates the diversity of Norman Connors.

 —Alex Henderson, August 2013

Alex Henderson’s work has appeared in Billboard, Spin, Creem, The L.A. Weekly, JazzTimes, Jazziz, AlterNet, Salon.com, Cash Box, HITS, CD Review, Skin Two, Black Beat, The Pasadena Weekly, Black Radio Exclusive (BRE), Music Connection, Latin Style, The New York City Jazz Record and many other well-known publications. Henderson (alexvhenderson.com) has also contributed several thousand CD reviews to The All Music Guide’s popular website and series of music reference books.