Bob James - Lucky Seven [22]

Title: Bob James - Lucky Seven
Year/Genre/Sub-Genre/City: 1979, Contemporary Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Marshall, Missouri 10/26
Matrix #: JC 36056 (Tappan Zee/Columbia, label AL 36056)
Condition: Ex (LM) | Members: Bob J (39' - ) | Producer: Bob James
Cultural Facts: [22]

1. Count the Spots: The ladybug on the cover has exactly seven spots, part of James's hidden habit of numbering his albums. Ladybugs are good-luck charms, so a seven-spot ladybug on his seventh album made it lucky seven twice over.
2. He Won a Contest Judged by Quincy Jones: In 1962 James's University of Michigan trio entered the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival planning to play the most avant-garde set in the room, and they won with Quincy Jones and Henry Mancini judging. Jones, then a young A&R man at Mercury, signed James and produced his debut, Bold Conceptions.
3. Hip-Hop's Favorite Jazz Pianist: "Nautilus," the closer on James's 1974 album One, became one of the most sampled jazz recordings in hip-hop, turning up on tracks by Run-DMC, A Tribe Called Quest, Eric B. & Rakim, Wu-Tang Clan, and Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth. A mellow CTI side ended up as one of the building blocks of the genre.