# CTI Records

CTI Records (Creed Taylor Incorporated) is a jazz record label founded in 1967 by Creed Taylor. CTI was a subsidiary of A&M before becoming independent in 1970. Its first album was A Day in the Life by guitarist Wes Montgomery in 1967. The final release, by the CTI Jazz All-Star Band, was recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2009, and released in November 2010 on multiple formats: CD, DVD and Blu-ray.
Its roster included George Benson, Ron Carter, Eumir Deodato, Astrud Gilberto, Freddie Hubbard, Bob James, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Hubert Laws, Airto Moreira, Stanley Turrentine, and Walter Wanderley.

## History

Don Sebesky created many of the arrangements for CTI and its subsidiary labels. He was later joined by Bob James and then David Matthews in the mid-1970s. Taylor used Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with Rudy Van Gelder engineering nearly all sessions until the later years of the label. Sessions included Ron Carter, Eric Gale, Herbie Hancock, Bob James, Richard Tee, Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Steve Gadd, Idris Muhammad, and Harvey Mason.
CTI was commercially successful with certain albums well-received by critics. CTI's best-selling album was Deodato's Prelude, which reached No. 3 on the US Billboard albums chart in 1973. A single from the album, "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)", peaked at No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 7 in the UK. Other successful singles were Bob James' "Feel Like Making Love" and "Westchester Lady", Idris Muhammad's "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This", and Esther Phillips' "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes", a disco hit.
Successful album releases included Grover Washington, Jr.'s Mister Magic and Feels So Good (both reaching No. 10 in 1975), Esther Phillips' What a Diff'rence a Day Makes (reaching No. 32 in 1975), and Bob James' BJ4 (reaching No. 38 in 1977).
Taylor's productions for CTI helped to establish smooth jazz as a commercially viable musical genre. CTI also became known for its striking album sleeve designs, most of them with images by photographer Pete Turner.
After founding CTI as a jazz label for A & M Records in 1967, Taylor decided to go independent three years later. The company had several subsidiary labels. Kudu Records was established in 1971 and concentrated on soul jazz with albums by Joe Beck, Hank Crawford, Grant Green, Idris Muhammad, Esther Phillips, Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and Grover Washington Jr. Salvation Records released 10 albums during its existence, including music by Airto, Roland Hanna, Faith Howard, New York Jazz Quartet, Johnny "Hammond" Smith, and Gábor Szabó Greenestreet (which released albums by Jack Wilkins, Claudio Roditi, Les McCann) and Three Brothers (with recordings by The Clams, Lou Christie, Duke Jones, and Cassandra Morgan).
A switch to Motown Records for distribution was to end in difficulties in 1977, with legal and financial problems eventually leading to the label filing for bankruptcy in 1978. CTI, though, remained active until 1984, releasing studio albums by Ray Barretto, Urszula Dudziak, Jim Hall, Roland Hanna, Nina Simone, and the all-star studio band Fuse One
Taylor restructured CTI in 1989, resuming his association with Van Gelder and Turner in June 1989 when recording the all-star session for Rhythmstick, an ambitious album released on vinyl, CD, VHS, and LaserDisc in 1990. Many young musicians were signed to the label, such as Charles Fambrough, Jim Beard, Ted Rosenthal, Bill O'Connell, Donald Harrison, Steve Laury, and Jurgen Friedrich, as well as veteran guitarist Larry Coryell, who collaborated with arranger Don Sebesky on the best-selling Fallen Angel album, which reached No. 18 in the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums Chart in 1993.
CTI's post-A&M Records catalog (albums released between 1970 and 1979) is owned by Sony and distributed by Masterworks Jazz in the USA. King Records handles the rights for exclusive distribution in Japan. Grover Washington, Jr.'s Kudu albums have been re-issued by Motown and its MoJazz imprint as part of Universal Classics & Jazz. Bob James owns the four albums he recorded for CTI (now managed by Evolution Music Group under license from Tappan Zee, James' record label). Seawind also owns their back catalog of CTI releases. CTI's A&M-subsidiary releases are distributed by Verve, a division of Universal Music Group.
In 2009, Taylor produced a reissue series of twenty CTI titles remastered by Van Gelder for release on SHM-CD format in Japan. New liner notes were provided by Ira Gitler, Arnaldo DeSouteiro, and Doug Payne. Other reissue series came out in December 2013 (including forty titles released on Blu-spec CD format) and in December 2017 with another forty titles on the CTI 50th Anniversary Collection.

## Discography
### 3000 Series

The albums comprising the CTI 3000 Series were produced by Creed Taylor between 1967 and 1970 and issued by A&M with a "CTI" logo on the front cover.
| Catalog number (mono) | Catalog number (stereo) | Artist | Title |
| | SP 3000 | Various Artists | Audio Master Plus Series Sampler Volume 1 |
| LP 2001 | SP 3001 | Wes Montgomery | A Day in the Life |
| LP 2002 | SP 3002 | Antonio Carlos Jobim | Wave |
| LP 2003 | SP 3003 | Herbie Mann | Glory of Love |
| LP 2004 | SP 3004 | Tamba 4 | We and the Sea |
| | SP 3005 | Nat Adderley | You, Baby |
| | SP 3006 | Wes Montgomery | Down Here on the Ground |
| | SP 3007 | Artie Butler | Have You Met Miss Jones? |
| | SP 3008 | Kai Winding and J. J. Johnson | Israel |
| | SP 3009 | Soul Flutes | Trust in Me |
| | SP 3010 | Richard Barbary | Soul Machine |
| | SP 3011 | Tamiko Jones | I’ll Be Anything for You |
| | SP 3012 | Wes Montgomery | Road Song |
| | SP 3013 | Tamba 4 | Samba Blim |
| | SP 3014 | George Benson | Shape of Things to Come |
| | SP 3015 | Paul Desmond | Summertime |
| | SP 3016 | Kai Winding and J. J. Johnson | Betwixt & Between |
| | SP 3017 | Nat Adderley | Calling Out Loud |
| | SP 3018 | Walter Wanderley | When It Was Done |
| | SP 3019 | Milton Nascimento | Courage |
| | SP 3020 | George Benson | Tell It Like It Is |
| | SP 6-3021 | Various Artists | Audio Master Plus Series Audio Sampler, Vol. 2 |
| | SP 3022 | Walter Wanderley | Moondreams |
| | SP 3023 | Quincy Jones | Walking in Space |
| | SP 3024 | Paul Desmond | From the Hot Afternoon |
| | SP 3025 | George Benson | I Got a Woman and Some Blues |
| | SP 3026 | Hubert Laws | Unissued |
| | SP 3027 | Kai Winding and J. J. Johnson | Stonebone (Originally only issued in Japan; Re-issued as 2020 Record Store Day pressing in Red Vinyl) |
| | SP 3028 | George Benson | The Other Side of Abbey Road |
| | SP 3030 | Quincy Jones | Gula Matari |
| | SP 3031 | Antonio Carlos Jobim | Tide |

### 1000 Series

In 1970, Creed Taylor established CTI independently of A&M and issued the first five releases as the 1000 Series which had a green record label. The 1000 Series featured artists working outside of the jazz genre.
| Catalog number | Artist | Title |
| CTI 1001 | Kathy McCord | Kathy McCord |
| CTI 1002 | Hubert Laws | Crying Song |
| CTI 1003 | Flow | Flow |
| CTI 1004 | Dave Frishberg | Oklahoma Toad |
| CTI 1005 | Fats Theus | Black Out |

### 6000 series

The albums in the CTI 6000 series were released between 1970 and 1976 and featured an orange CTI label with black print, but Quadraphonic issues featured a red label variant. Later albums in the 6000 series were distributed by Motown and are designated by the addition of an S1 to the catalog number.
| Catalog number | Artist | Title |
| CTI 6000 | Hubert Laws | Crying Song (Reissue of CTI 1002) |
| CTI 6001 | Freddie Hubbard | Red Clay |
| CTI 6002 | Antonio Carlos Jobim | Stone Flower |
| CTI 6003 | Joe Farrell | Joe Farrell Quartet |
| CTI 6004 | Bill Evans | Montreux II |
| CTI 6005 | Stanley Turrentine | Sugar |
| CTI 6006 | Hubert Laws | Afro-Classic |
| CTI 6007 | Freddie Hubbard | Straight Life |
| CTI 6008 | Astrud Gilberto | Gilberto with Turrentine |
| CTI 6009 | George Benson | Beyond the Blue Horizon |
| CTI 6010 | Stanley Turrentine | Salt Song |
| CTI 6011 | Kenny Burrell | God Bless the Child |
| CTI 6012 | Hubert Laws | The Rite of Spring |
| CTI 6013 | Freddie Hubbard | First Light |
| CTI 6014 | Joe Farrell | Outback |
| CTI 6015 | George Benson | White Rabbit |
| CTI 6016 | Randy Weston | Blue Moses |
| CTI 6017 | Stanley Turrentine with Milt Jackson | Cherry |
| CTI 6018 | Freddie Hubbard | Sky Dive |
| CTI 6019 | Jackie and Roy | Time & Love |
| CTI 6020 | Airto | Free |
| CTI 6021 | Deodato | Prelude |
| CTI 6022 | Hubert Laws | Morning Star |
| CTI 6023 | Joe Farrell | Moon Germs |
| CTI 6024 | Milt Jackson | Sunflower |
| CTI 6025 | Hubert Laws | Carnegie Hall |
| CTI 6026 | Gábor Szabó | Mizrab |
| CTI 6027 | Ron Carter | Blues Farm |
| CTI 6028 | Airto | Fingers |
| CTI 6029 | Deodato | Deodato 2 |
| CTI 6030 | Stanley Turrentine | Don't Mess with Mister T. |
| CTI 6031/32 | Don Sebesky | Giant Box |
| CTI 6033 | George Benson | Body Talk |
| CTI 6034 | Joe Farrell | Penny Arcade |
| CTI 6035 | Gábor Szabó | Rambler |
| CTI 6036 | Freddie Hubbard | Keep Your Soul Together |
| CTI 6037 | Ron Carter | All Blues |
| CTI 6038 | Milt Jackson with Hubert Laws | Goodbye |
| CTI 6039 | Paul Desmond featuring Gábor Szabó | Skylark |
| CTI 6040 | Jackie Cain & Roy Kral | A Wilder Alias |
| CTI 6041 | Deodato/Airto | In Concert |
| CTI 6042S1 | Joe Farrell | Upon This Rock |
| CTI 6043S1 | Bob James | One |
| CTI 6044S1 | Freddie Hubbard/Stanley Turrentine | Freddie Hubbard/Stanley Turrentine in Concert Volume One |
| CTI 6045S1 | George Benson | Bad Benson |
| CTI 6046S1 | Milt Jackson | Olinga |
| CTI 6047S1 | Freddie Hubbard | The Baddest Hubbard |
| CTI 6048S1 | Stanley Turrentine | The Baddest Turrentine |
| CTI 6049S1 | Herbie Hancock/Freddie Hubbard/Stanley Turrentine | In Concert Volume Two |
| CTI 6050S1 | Chet Baker | She Was Too Good to Me |
| CTI 6051S1 | Ron Carter | Spanish Blue |
| CTI 6052S1 | Stanley Turrentine | The Sugar Man |
| CTI 6053S1 | Joe Farrell | Canned Funk |
| CTI 6054S1 | Gerry Mulligan / Chet Baker | Carnegie Hall Concert Volume 1 |
| CTI 6055S1 | Gerry Mulligan / Chet Baker | Carnegie Hall Concert Volume 2 |
| CTI 6056S1 | Freddie Hubbard | Polar AC |
| CTI 6057S1 | Bob James | Two |
| CTI 6058S1 | Hubert Laws | The Chicago Theme |
| CTI 6059S1 | Paul Desmond | Pure Desmond |
| CTI 6060S1 | Jim Hall | Concierto |
| CTI 6061S1 | Don Sebesky | The Rape of El Morro |
| CTI 6062 | George Benson | Good King Bad |
| CTI 6063 | Bob James | Three |
| CTI 6064 | Ron Carter | Yellow & Green |
| CTI 6065 | Hubert Laws | Then There Was Light: In the Beginning Vol. 1 |
| CTI 6066 | Hubert Laws | Then There Was Light: In the Beginning Vol. 2 |
| CTI 6067 | Joe Farrell | Song of the Wind (Reissue of CTI 6003) |
| CTI 6068 | Allan Holdsworth | Velvet Darkness |
| CTI 6069 | George Benson and Joe Farrell | Benson & Farrell |
| CTI 6072S1 | George Benson | In Concert-Carnegie Hall |

### CTI Twofer series

The albums in the CTI Twofer series were double albums released between 1972 and 1974.
| Catalog number | Artist | Title |
| CTX 3+3 | Hubert Laws | In the Beginning |
| CTX 2+2 | CTI All-Stars (George Benson, Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws, Stanley Turrentine, Hank Crawford, Johnny Hammond, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Airto) | California Concert - The Hollywood Palladium |

### 5000 Series

The 5000 Series was introduced in 1975 as a series of popular music recordings and consist of eight issued albums. Only a handful in this series were produced by Creed Taylor; outside producers handled the rest, like Harvey Mason producing Seawind's albums and David Grusin and Larry Rosen producing Patti Austin's second album. The first releases features a "P.S." (which stood for "Pop Series") inside the familiar CTI logo.
| Catalog number | Artist | Title |
| CTI 5000 | Lalo Schifrin | Black Widow |
| CTI 5001 | Patti Austin | End of a Rainbow |
| CTI 5002 | Seawind | Seawind |
| CTI 5003 | Lalo Schifrin | Towering Toccata |
| CTI 5004 | John Blair | We Belong Together |
| CTI 5005 | David Matthews | Dune |
| CTI 5006 | Patti Austin | Havana Candy |
| CTI 5007 | Seawind | Window of a Child |

### 7000 Series

The 7000 Series continued the numbering sequence from the 6000 Series after it ended its distribution deal with Motown.
| Catalog number | Artist | Title |
| CTI 7070 | Urbie Green | The Fox |
| CTI 7071 | Hubert Laws | The San Francisco Concert |
| CTI 7073 | Art Farmer | Crawl Space |
| CTI 7074 | Bob James | BJ4 |
| CTI 7075 | Jeremy Steig | Firefly |
| CTI 7076 | Various Artists | CTI Summer Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl - Live One |
| CTI 7077 | Various Artists | CTI Summer Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl - Live Two |
| CTI 7078 | Various Artists | CTI Summer Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl - Live Three |
| CTI 7079 | Urbie Green with Grover Washington, Jr. and David Matthews' Big Band | Señor Blues |
| CTI 7080 | Art Farmer with Yusef Lateef and David Matthews' Big Band | Something You Got |
| CTI 7081 | Deodato | 2001 (Reissue of CTI 6021) |
| CTI 7082 | Yusef Lateef | Autophysiopsychic |
| CTI 7083 | Art Farmer / Jim Hall | Big Blues |
| CTI 7084 | Nina Simone | Baltimore |
| CTI 7085 | George Benson | Space |
| CTI 7086 | Patti Austin | Live at the Bottom Line |
| CTI 7087 | Art Farmer with Joe Henderson | Yama (Only issued in Japan) |
| CTI 7088 | Yusef Lateef | In a Temple Garden |
| CTI 7089 | Art Farmer | Live in Tokyo |

### 8000 Series

The 8000 series was launched in the late-1970s. Its purpose was to reissue previous CTI and Kudu albums. In some instances original album titles were changed, and artwork was also altered, with releases originally issued in gatefold album covers now reduced to single sleeves.
| Catalog number | Artist | Title |
| CTI 8000 | Airto | Free (later reissued as Return to Forever) (Reissue of CTI 6020) |
| CTI 8001 | Ron Carter | Blues Farm (Reissue of CTI 6027) |
| CTI 8002 | Joe Beck | Beck & Sanborn (Reissue of KU-21 as Beck) |
| CTI 8003 | Joe Farrell | Moon Germs (Reissue of CTI 6023) |
| CTI 8004 | Milt Jackson | Sunflower (Reissue of CTI 6024) |
| CTI 8005 | Joe Farrell | Outback (Reissue of CTI 6014) |
| CTI 8006 | Stanley Turrentine | Sugar (Reissue of CTI 6005) |
| CTI 8007 | George Benson | Beyond the Blue Horizon (Reissue of CTI 6009) |
| CTI 8008 | Stanley Turrentine | Salt Song (Reissue of CTI 6010) |
| CTI 8009 | George Benson | White Rabbit (Reissue of CTI 6015) |
| CTI 8010 | Stanley Turrentine | Cherry (Reissue of CTI 6017) |
| CTI 8011 | Stanley Turrentine | Don't Mess With Mister T. (Reissue of CTI 6030) |
| CTI 8012 | Jim Hall | Concierto (Reissue of CTI 6060S1) |
| CTI 8013 | Airto | Virgin Land (Reissue of SAL 701) |
| CTI 8014 | George Benson | Take Five (Reissue of CTI 6045S1 as Bad Benson) |
| CTI 8015 | Hubert Laws | The Chicago Theme (Reissue of CTI 6058S1) |
| CTI 8016 | Freddie Hubbard | Red Clay (Reissue of CTI 6001) |
| CTI 8017 | Freddie Hubbard | First Light (Reissue of CTI 6013) |
| CTI 8018 | unissued | unissued |
| CTI 8019 | Hubert Laws | Afro-Classic (Reissue of CTI 6006) |
| CTI 8020 | Hubert Laws | The Rite of Spring (Reissue of CTI 6012) |
| CTI 8021 | Deodato | Prelude (Reissue of CTI 6021) |
| CTI 8022 | Freddie Hubbard | Straight Life (Reissue of CTI 6007) |
| CTI 8023 | unissued | unissued |
| CTI 8024 | unissued | unissued |
| CTI 8025 | Deodato | Deodato 2 (Reissue of CTI 6029) |
| CTI 8026 | unissued | unissued |
| CTI 8027 | unissued | unissued |
| CTI 8028 | Deodato/Airto | In Concert (Reissue of CTI 6041) |
| CTI 8029 | Hubert Laws | Morning Star (Reissue of CTI 6022) |
| CTI 8030 | George Benson | Cast Your Fate to the Wind (Reissue of CTI 6062 as Good King Bad) |
| CTI 8031 | George Benson | Summertime (Reissue of CTI 6072S1 as In Concert-Carnegie Hall) |

### 9000 Series

The 9000 Series was started in 1980 and was distributed by CBS Records but maintained its independence (except for Patti Austin's Body Language album which carried a CBS-style look and catalog number) The series started with the classic orange label (used since the 6000 Series) but by 1981 switched to a white label with a new logo design, though in 1983, for George Benson's archive release Pacific Fire it had a silver label.
| Catalog number | Artist | Title |
| CTI 9000 | Art Farmer with Joe Henderson | Yama (The USA release of CTI 7087) |
| JZ 36503 | Patti Austin | Body Language (Originally slated for CTI 9001) |
| CTI 9002 | Ray Barretto | La Cuna |
| CTI 9003 | Fuse One | Fuse One |
| CTI 9004 | Nina Simone | Baltimore (Planned reissue of CTI 7084, but never released) |
| CTI 9006 | Fuse One | Silk |
| CTI 9007 | Chet Baker, Jim Hall, Hubert Laws | Studio Trieste |
| CTI 9008 | Roland Hanna | Gershwin Carmichael Cats |
| CTI 9009 | Patti Austin | In My Life |
| CTI 9010 | George Benson | Pacific Fire |

### Kudu

The Kudu label was started by Creed Taylor in July 1971 and specialized in soul jazz, releasing 39 albums from 1971 to 1979. Kudu is considered CTI's sister label.
| Catalog number | Artist | Title |
| KU-01 | Johnny Hammond | Breakout |
| KU-02 | Lonnie Smith | Mama Wailer |
| KU-03 | Grover Washington, Jr. | Inner City Blues |
| KU-04 | Johnny Hammond | Wild Horses Rock Steady |
| KU-05 | Esther Phillips | From a Whisper to a Scream |
| KU-06 | Hank Crawford | Help Me Make it Through the Night |
| KU-07 | Grover Washington, Jr. | All the King's Horses |
| KU-08 | Hank Crawford | We Got a Good Thing Going |
| KU-09 | Esther Phillips | Alone Again, Naturally |
| KU-10 | Johnny Hammond | The Prophet |
| KU-11 | Eric Gale | Forecast |
| KU-12 | Grover Washington, Jr. | Soul Box Vol. 1 |
| KU-13 | Grover Washington, Jr. | Soul Box Vol. 2 |
| KU-14 | Esther Phillips | Black-Eyed Blues |
| KU-15 | Hank Crawford | Wildflower |
| KU-16 | Johnny Hammond | Higher Ground |
| KU-17 | Idris Muhammad | Power of Soul |
| KU-18 | Esther Phillips | Performance |
| KU-19 | Hank Crawford | Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing |
| KU-20 | Grover Washington, Jr. | Mister Magic |
| KU-21 | Joe Beck | Beck |
| KU-22 | Phil Upchurch and Tennyson Stephens | Upchurch/Tennyson |
| KU-23 | Esther Philips with Joe Beck | What a Diff'rence a Day Makes |
| KU-24 | Grover Washington, Jr. | Feels So Good |
| KU-25 | Ron Carter | Anything Goes |
| KU-26 | Hank Crawford | I Hear a Symphony |
| KU-27 | Idris Muhammad | House of the Rising Sun |
| KU-28 | Esther Philips with Joe Beck | For All We Know |
| KU-29 | Grant Green | The Main Attraction |
| KU-30 | David Matthews with Whirlwind | Shoogie Wanna Boogie |
| KU-31 | Esther Philips | Capricorn Princess |
| KU-32S1 | Grover Washington, Jr. | A Secret Place |
| KU-33S1 | Hank Crawford | Hank Crawford's Back |
| KU-34S1 | Idris Muhammad | Turn This Mutha Out |
| KU-35S1 | Hank Crawford | Tico Rico |
| KU-3637M2 | Grover Washington, Jr. | Live at The Bijou |
| KU-38 | Idris Muhammad | Boogie to the Top |
| KU-39 | Hank Crawford | Cajun Sunrise |

### Salvation

Salvation Records was a CTI subsidiary originally intended for gospel albums but after releasing one album by the B. C. & M. Choir and laying fallow for two years the label was revived for a handful of jazz and R&B releases. While Creed Taylor did produce the B. C. & M. Choir album, outside producers would handle the other releases.
| Catalog number | Artist | Title |
| SAL 700 | B. C. & M. Choir | Hello Sunshine |
| SAL 701 | Airto | Virgin Land |
| SAL 702 | Johnny Hammond | Gambler's Life |
| SAL 703 | The New York Jazz Quartet | In Concert in Japan |
| SAL 704S1 | Gábor Szabó | Macho |

### Three Brothers label

Three Brothers Records was a short-lived subsidiary of CTI named after Creed Taylor's sons (Creed Jr., John, and Blake). It had a few single releases and issued one album by Lou Christie.
| Catalog number | Artist | Title |
| THB 2000 | Lou Christie | Lou Christie |