Lee Oskar Before The Rain CD

Live Recording

Personnel includes: Lee Oskar (vocals, harmonica); Terry Medeiros (acoustic guitar, guitar); Steve Beckmeier (electric guitar); Robert Christie Hunter (bag pipes); Emilio Castillo (tenor saxophone); Stephen Kupka (baritone saxophone); Pat Rizzo (saxophone); Greg Adams (trumpet, flugelhorn); William Lamb (trumpet, trombone); Mic Gillette (trumpet); Herman Eberitzsch (piano, clavinet, keyboards); Bobby Vega (bass, guitar); Jamie Faunt (bass); Greg Errico (drums, guitar); Travis Fullerton, Eloise Laws, Linda Creed (background vocals).
Personnel: Lee Oskar (vocals, harmonica); San Francisco Bay Singers, Joe Chambers, The Chambers Brothers, Bianca Thornton (vocals); Terry Mederios (guitar, acoustic guitar); Steve Beckmeier (electric guitar); Stella Castellucci (harp); Don Palmer, Liz Edwards, Dave Woodcock, Ian Mackenzie, Anatol Kaminsky, Howard Ball, Jack Schulman, Henry Roth, Stephen Rowlinson, Bernard Kundell, Jacob Krachmalnick, Marshall Sosson, Irvine Arditti, Israel Baker, Bonnie Douglas, Roger Garland, Nathan Ross, Paul Shure, Christopher Warren-Green, Harry Bluestone (violin); Donald McVay, Gareth "Garry" Nuttycombe, Alexander Neiman, Roger Best, Robert Ostrowsky, Jan Schlapp, Stephen Tees, Virginia Majewski (viola); Gloria Strassner, Jesse Erlich, Roger Smith , Mike Huwitz, Clive Anstee, Edgar Lustgarten (cello); Duke Dobing (flute, oboe); Leonard Pickett (piccolo, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, lyricon); Lenny Pickett (piccolo, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Robert Hunter (bagpipe); Michael Harris (clarinet); Andrew Cauhry (oboe); Michael Parkinson (bassoon); Pat Rizzo, Charles Miller (saxophone); Emilio Castillo (tenor saxophone); Stephen "Doc" Kupka, Stephen Kupka (baritone saxophone); Greg Adams (trumpet, flugelhorn); William Lamb (trumpet, trombone); Malcolm Smith, Paul Cosh, Mic Gillette (trumpet); Paul Beer, Paul Barrett (trombone); Thomas Shepard, Gary Grant, Gene Cipriano, Jerome Richardson, Ollie Mitchell, Lew McCreary (horns); Herman Eberitzsch (piano, Clavinet, keyboards); Greg Errico (drums, percussion); Paulinho Da Costa (percussion); Eloise Laws, Travis Fullerton, Linda Creed (background vocals).
Recording information: Air London, London, England; Clover Studios, LA, CA; Record Plant, San Francisco, CA; Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, CA; Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco, CA.
Arrangers: Gene Page; Greg Adams; Paul Buckmaster.
Here's why all serious music lovers still need a turntable: there are so many worthwhile LPs from the '60s and '70s that will probably never be reissued on CD. Before Avenue Records came into the picture, it seemed unlikely that Lee Oskar's solo albums of 1976-1980 would ever be reissued on CD -- labels usually reissue titles they think there is a heavy demand for, and Oskar's solo efforts weren't the mega-blockbusters that War's albums were. But Avenue pleasantly surprised listeners in the '90s by making Oskar's solo output available on CD, including 1978's Before the Rain. Did this album outsell War classics like Why Can't We Be Friends? and All Day Music? Hardly. Reissued in 1995, this mostly instrumental album deserved to come back into print simply because it is good. From a commercial standpoint, the problem with Before the Rain is that it's difficult to categorize -- is it funk, pop-jazz, quiet storm, or fusion? Arguably, Before the Rain is all of those things, and Oskar's harmonica playing is expressive whether he is getting mildly funky on "Steppin'" or being mellow and laid-back on "More Than Words Can Say" and the title track. "Steppin'" certainly isn't typical of funk instrumentals; the tune opens with bagpipes -- not exactly an instrument that one ordinarily associates with funk. But then, Oskar is no stranger to multiculturalism; how many harmonica players who were born in Copenhagen, Denmark, went on to play with one of the top soul/funk bands of the '70s? Before the Rain may not have set the world on fire when it was first released