Norman Connors
Like Roy Ayers, George Benson, and Patrice Rushen, Norman Connors is best known for his major R&B hits but started out as a jazz improviser. The drummer/composer was born and raised in Philadelphia, where he lived in the same neighborhood as Bill Cosby and became interested in jazz when he was only a child. As a kid in elementary school, Connors was exposed to jazz extensively thanks to such schoolmates as drummer Lex Humphries and the younger brother of bassist and Jazz Messenger-to-be Spanky De Brest. Connors was in junior high when he began sneaking into jazz clubs and sat in for Elvin Jones at a John Coltrane gig. At 13, he first got to meet his idol, Miles Davis, and started expressing his admiration for the famous trumpeter by dressing like him. Connors went on to study music at Philly's Temple University and the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Gigs with Jackie McLean, Jack McDuff, and Sam Rivers followed, and he was first recorded as a sideman when Archie Shepp employed him on his 1967 Impulse! session Magic of Ju-Ju.
After touring with Pharoah Sanders and playing on several of his albums, Connors signed with Buddah's Cobblestone label in 1972 and recorded his first album as a leader, Dance of Magic and its follow-up, Dark of Light. A few more jazz-oriented Cobblestone and Buddah dates followed, and it was in 1975 that Connors made R&B his main priority with Saturday Night Special (which included the number ten soul hit "Valentine Love"). The rest of the 1970s found Connors featuring R&B singers prominently (including Michael Henderson, Jean Carn, and the late Phyllis Hyman) and scoring such R&B hits as "We Both Need Each Other," "Once I've Been There," and the lovely "You Are My Starship." Connors, who signed with Arista in 1977, wasn't as popular or as visible in the 1980s, although he would make a comeback in the 1990s by signing with Motown's MoJazz label and focusing on both urban contemporary and crossover. The 21st century found him moving along similar lines, releasing Eternity on Starship Records in 2000 and Star Power in 2009 on Shanachie Records.
© Alex Henderson /TiVo
Discography
21 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Dark of Light
Pop - Released by Legacy Recordings on 15 Jun 1973
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dance of Magic
Pop - Released by Legacy Recordings on 27 Jun 1972
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Love from the Sun
Pop - Released by Legacy Recordings on 1 Jan 1974
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best Of Norman Connors
Pop/Rock - Released by Buddha Records on 13 Nov 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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You Are My Starship
Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released by Legacy Recordings on 1 Jan 1976
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Saturday Night Special (Expanded Edition)
Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released by Legacy Recordings on 1 Jan 1975
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Take It To The Limit (Expanded Edition)
Pop - Released by Legacy Recordings on 1 Jan 1980
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Romantic Journey
Soul - Released by Norman Connors on 1 Jan 1977
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Essential Norman Connors - The Buddah/Arista Years
R&B - Released by Buddah - Legacy on 16 Mar 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Romantic Journey (Expanded Edition)
Pop - Released by Legacy Recordings on 1 Jan 1977
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Easy Living (Album Version)
R&B - Released by Motown on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Take It to the Limit
Funk - Released by Norman Connors on 1 Jan 1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saturday Night Special
Jazz - Released by Norman Connors on 1 Jan 1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo