Sheree Brown [2023] - I’d Rather Be In Love With You (The Sax Way) [Expansion Records]

Sheree Brown releases a new single "I’d Rather Be In Love With You (The Sax Way)" today (13 Oct) on Expansion Records ahead of her UK appearance with Leroy Hutson at The Barbican, London, on 29 Nov. (Click flyer below for details and tickets).

In the late 70's Sheree worked on demos of two songs ("You'll Be Dancing All Night" and "I'd Rather Be In Love With You") that she felt would be a good representation of her music. She collaborated on the arrangements and music with Patrice Rushen, Ricky Lawson, Jim Gilstrap, Syreeta Wright, Abraham Laboriel, Brad Williams, Gerald Albright, Paulinho Da Costa, Curtis Robertson, Jr., Paul Jackson, Jr. and Alexander Thomas (EWF) who was music director and helped produce the demo. She presented the demos to Capitol Records in 1980 which resulted in Sheree signing a deal with the label.

However, when it came time to record her first album, “Straight Ahead” (1981), the producer, Richard Rudolph (husband of Minnie Riperton), did a magnificent job of capturing the arrangement and essence of her demo for "You'll Be Dancing All Night", but "I'd Rather Be In Love With You" had a certain raw sensitivity and sweetness and Sheree yearned to produce and re-record it herself and decided to hold off putting it on the album until an opportunity presented itself sometime in the future. 

That opportunity arose in the late 90's and she recorded a new version of the song for an event to raise funds for her daughter and two of her friends traveling to NY for the summer to attend Alvin Ailey and the Dance Theater of Harlem's summer youth dance programs. It was retitled "I'd Rather Be In Love With You (The Sax Way)" and featured saxophonist Dean James and background vocals by Juliana Jai Bolden and was produced by Sheree and musician/songwriter/singer Lisa Huang. 

She performed it live for the fundraiser, accompanied by a tap dancer Miles Jeffries from the Broadway musical Stomp who danced to the rhythmic pulse of the song. In the new recording she used the rim shot from the drums on the original version throughout the song, along with her guitar, bass, and keyboards, and of course the backgrounds. The song was included to a limited licensed CD for "Straight Ahead" in 2010 as a bonus track and is now being made available as a single. 

We did a feature and Discography on Sheree Brown in Feb '21 (pre-Spotify days) so if you wish to explore her music further then we direct you there. Her 1982 album track "Got To Get Away" from "The Music" is one of our desert island discs.

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Click icons below for further information or to connect with the artist. 

 

 Click flyer for details and tickets

Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Expansion
Cat No:	None
Date:	13/10/2023
Key/BPM:	11A/90
Price:	£1

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