First Take CD

MUSIC

R&B / SOUL

Song Listing

Disc 1

Song Title

1. Compared To What ~ Roberta Flack

2. Angelitos Negros ~ Roberta Flack

3. Our Ages Or Our Hearts ~ Roberta Flack

4. I Told Jesus ~ Roberta Flack

5. Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye ~ Roberta Flack

6. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face ~ Roberta Flack

7. Tryin' Times ~ Roberta Flack

8. Ballad Of The Sad Young Men ~ Roberta Flack

Album Notes and Credits

Notes & Personnel Info
	Personnel includes: Roberta Flack (vocals, piano); Bucky Pizzarelli (guitar); Ron Carter (bass); Ray Lucas (drums).
	All tracks have been digitally remastered.
	Personnel: Roberta Flack (vocals, piano); John Pizzarelli, Bucky Pizzarelli (guitar); Gene Orloff, Emanuel Green (violin); Theodore Israel, Alfred Brown , Selwart Clarke (viola); Charles McCracken , George Ricci (cello); Frank Wess (saxophone, tenor saxophone); Seldon Powell (saxophone, baritone saxophone); Joe Newman , Jimmy Nottingham (trumpet); Benny Powell (trombone); Ray Lucas (drums).
	Recording information: Atlantic Recording Studios, New York, NY.
	Although originally released in 1969, FIRST TAKE languished in obscurity until noted jazz fan Clint Eastwood chose Roberta Flack's haunting, minimalist reinterpretation of Scottish folkie Ewan MacColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" to score a love scene in his 1972 film PLAY MISTY FOR ME. Latter-day fans of that single and Flack's later smooth soul hits might be surprised at the overall sound of FIRST TAKE.
	Recorded with a small combo of jazz giants--guitarist John Pizzarelli, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Ray Lucas, with Flack on piano--and produced by Atlantic's house eccentric Joel Dorn, FIRST TAKE is a jazz album with soul and pop influences. The recording has more in common with Nina Simone, or even Dorn's work with eclectic reedsman Rahsaan Roland Kirk, than mainstream soul divas of the 1970s. Flack's utterly controlled, elegant vocal style and her churchy piano chords root this album, which has a stately power and deliberate grace even at its most soulful--particularly on a call-and-response version of the spiritual "I Told Jesus" and the heartbreaking "Angelitos Negros."
Producer: Joel Dorn
Engineer: William Arit
Musical Guests
	Bucky Pizzarelli
	Ron Carter

Artist Overview

A former nightclub singer, Roberta Flack used her unflappable vocal technique to perfect a nuanced melange of soul, jazz, gospel, and folk music. Her sophisticated approach would reach its commercial and artistic zenith with the 1973 chart-topper "Killing Me Softly With His Song." Although the decades that followed weren't quite as kind to Flack, her work in the '70s remains some of the finest of the era and a huge inspiration to an entire generation of female R&B singers.

Compilation Appearances

	Donny Hathaway Collection
	Body & Soul: Platinum
	VERY BEST OF PEABO BRYSON
	Atlantic Records: Time Capsule (Limited Edition)
	Easy 80S
	Singers Songwriters
	Hidden Gems
	Life As We Know It (Ost)
	Best Of

Associated Artists and Works

	Bryson, Peabo
	Hathaway, Donny

Technical Info

	Release Date : 02/01/1991
	Original Release Date : 1969
	Catalog ID : 7567827922
	Label : Atlantic (Label)
	Number of Discs : 1
	Studio/Live : Studio
	Mono/Stereo : Stereo
	SPAR Code : n/a
	UPC : 00075678279225

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (10/29/70, pp.42-44)
- "...Flack underplays everything with a quietness and gentleness. More than any singer I know, she can take a quiet, slow song...and infuse it with a brooding intensity that is at times almost unbearable..."