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STEVE BARON QUARTET - THE MOTHER OF US ALL - CD

* Championed by Pete Townshend
* Superb fusion of jazz, psych and folk
* First time on CD

1. Bertha Was The Mother Of Us All
2. Don't You Hate The Feeling
3. I Sang About My Lady
4. In The Middle
5. Lonely River
6. Goodbye Road
7. Mr. Green
8. Love Me Laura
9. God Never Lived For Me
10. Shadow Man

Despite boasting enthusiastic sleevenotes from Pete Townshend of the Who (‘all the musicians are in perfect harmony, all the songs are full of life, all the sounds spontaneously and simultaneously imploding and exploding’), this superb fusion of jazz, folk and psychedelic rock failed to connect when it first appeared in 1969. Featuring superb musical interplay and stunning guitar leads, as well as a handful of haunting acoustic tracks, it’s a lost classic that finally makes its CD debut here.

“I remember watching television – educational television – in mid-1967, to see a program called ‘Eavesdropping On The New Rock’ and a group called The Steve Baron Quartet. It was really strange: the jazz group name, a person with a deep, friendly voice singing very melodic folk songs accompanied by three jazz musicians. Jazz folk? Whatever it might be called, it was incredibly good. It’s 1969 now. The Steve Baron Quartet have made their first album. Of course, it’s good.

Steve came to live in New York during the folk revival of the early 60s, and has been writing ever since. His material is among the strongest I have ever heard. Of all the contemporary folk singers, he is one of the very few who knows how to write melodies. Poets they may be, but they usually cannot write songs that keep you awake. The songs on this album have some of the finest melodies and most sensitive thoughts written in the past few years. My picks are Goodbye Road and Don't You Hate The Feeling?, but all the others are exceptional. The group’s playing leaps in and out of the songs like tiny silver sparks. It all works so well. You may find Steve Baron sneaking up on Paul Simon one day, some day soon” – Mike Jahn, music critic, the New York Times

“After a long wait, this album finally appears. A few of us have been lucky enough to have heard the music of the Steve Baron Quartet before, but living with it ourselves has only made us more anxious to let others hear. I’m afraid, despite my usual abundance of categories, I fail to operate here. My favourite category is Rock and Roll. The Quartet is definitely that, but also jazz, also folk. Mainly, I think the Quartet is a sound that can be recognised and loved. All the musicians are in perfect harmony, all the songs are full of life, all the sounds spontaneously and simultaneously imploding and exploding. Just like nature! The Steve Baron Quartet make (here’s the category!) Natural Music. Jai Baba!” – Pete Townshend, The Who

Your songs are full of sensitivity, gentle humor, love and, above all, an intense, anguished, though often joyful search for the meaning, not of life in a philosophical, detached way, but of your own life… during some of your songs, I almost cried” – a letter

All songs by Steve Baron except 4 & 10 (Steve Baron / Tom Winer)

Steve Baron – acoustic guitar, lead vocals
Bill Davidson – lead guitar, vocals
Jef Lowell – bass, vocals
Tom Winer – piano, organ

with

Bill La Vorgna (drums on tracks 2, 3, 4 & 6) / Herb Lovelle (drums on tracks 7 & 10)

Produced by Mike Berniker
Engineered by Tony May
Recorded at A&R Studios, New York City
Arranged by the Steve Baron Quartet, with additional arrangements by Manny Albam
Cover photos by Joel Brodsky
Original design by Gerry Olin

This album is dedicated to all those whose time, talent and patience have made its creation possible.

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