Dreams was an American

jazz-rock Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and keyb ...

group, which was one of the original prominent bands of the genre in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The band was formed by Jeff Kent and Doug Lubahn, who wrote and arranged their songs. It began as a trio and evolved into a horn-based band over time. They were later joined by

Will Lee William Lee (born William Lubovsky; August 6, 1908 – December 7, 1982) was an American actor who appeared in numerous television and film roles, but was best known for playing Mr. Hooper, the original store proprietor of the eponymous Hoope ...

Don Grolnick Don Grolnick (September 23, 1947 – June 1, 1996) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and record producer. He was a member of the groups Steps Ahead and Dreams, both with Michael Brecker, and played often with the Brecker Brothers. As a sess ...

, Bob Mann, and Eddie Vernon. Dreams selected as their producer, composer and sound engineer,

Fred Weinberg Fred Weinberg ''(born'' Manfredo Weinberg; 30 December 1942 Colombia) is an American composer, producer, sound designer, and founder of Fred Weinberg Productions, Inc. Early works While attending college, he was hired by a small recording studio ...

, whose work included albums for

Eddie Palmieri Eddie Palmieri (born December 15, 1936) is an American Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive. Early life Pal ...

Tito Puente Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz ...

La Lupe Lupe Victoria Yolí Raymond (23 December 1936 – 29 February 1992), better known as La Lupe, was a Cuban singer of boleros, guarachas and Latin soul, known for her energetic, sometimes controversial performances. Following the release of he ...

Mongo Santamaria Mongo may refer to: Geography Africa * Mongo, Chad, a Sahel city * Apostolic Vicariate of Mongo (Roman Catholic missionary jurisdiction) * Mongo, Sierra Leone, a chiefdom * Mongo River (Little Scarces River), Guinea and Sierra Leone, a tributa ...

, Celia Cruz, Illustration ( Alan Lorber's group), and Little Anthony.

Phil Ramone Philip Ramone (né Rabinowitz, January 5, 1934March 30, 2013) was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business pa ...

, another highly respected producer and studio owner, for whom Weinberg worked at the time at a studio named A & R in New York City, gave his blessings to Weinberg to record and mix the Dreams LP with former Atlantic A-1 engineer Jim Reeves at CBS Studios in New York City. During the Dreams sessions the recording sessions were moved by CBS execs to their CBS Chicago Studios because the CBS 52nd street studios became booked for several weeks by Paul Simon, and because Dreams had a deadline for their LP release. The album received a full page ad and a favorable review in Billboard Magazine. Dreams' second and final album ''Imagine My Surprise'' was produced in Memphis by Steve Cropper. Cropper wanted to "help the audience to better understand the group" so in his production he put "funkier, more commercial rhythms behind

he band He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

while trying to "keep jazz up front at the same time." While Dreams did not achieve the commercial success of either

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or Blood Sweat & Tears, they served as a launchpad for eventually prominent jazz fusion artists

Billy Cobham William Emanuel Cobham Jr. (born May 16, 1944) is a Panamanian–American jazz drummer who came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. He was inducted into the ''Mode ...

, and Randy &

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of M ...

(later known as the Brecker Brothers). Other prominent band members included guitarist John Abercrombie, trombonist

Barry Rogers Barron W. "Barry" Rogers (May 22, 1935 – April 18, 1991) was an American jazz and salsa trombonist. Career Born in The Bronx, he descended from Polish Jews and was raised in Spanish Harlem. His family (original name: Rogenstein) possessed a ...

, guitarist Bob Mann (who later joined

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

) and bassist Will Lee. One of the principal differences between Dreams and most other brass-infused bands was Dream's emphasis on spontaneity. The horn section would "work up spontaneous arrangements by jamming, always leaving them wide open to interpretations from night to night."

Discography

* ''Dreams'' ( Columbia, 1970) * ''Imagine My Surprise'' (Columbia, 1971)

References

External links

* AllMusicGuide {{DEFAULTSORT:Dreams American jazz-rock groups Columbia Records artists