''Grazin is the debut studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by music group

The Friends of Distinction The Friends of Distinction were an American vocal group founded by Harry Elston and Floyd Butler, best known for their late 1960s hits, "Grazing in the Grass", "Love or Let Me Be Lonely", and " Going in Circles". Career The Friends of Distincti ...

, released in 1969 on

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

Commercial performance

The album peaked at No. 10 on the R&B albums chart. It also reached No. 35 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album features the single, "

Grazing in the Grass "Grazing in the Grass" is an instrumental composed by Philemon Hou and first recorded by the South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela. Released in the United States as a single in 1968, it followed United States trumpeter Herb Alpert's vocal perform ...

", which peaked at No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 5 on the

Hot Soul Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

chart. A second single, "

Going in Circles "Going in Circles" is a song written by Jerry Peters and Anita Poree, and originally performed by The Friends of Distinction on their 1969 album ''Grazin, reaching number 15 on the U.S. Hot 100, and number three on the R&B chart. The song has ...

" also charted at No. 15 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 3 on the Hot Soul Singles chart.

Track listing

Personnel

*Ray Cork Jr. - arrangements, conductor *Floyd Butler, Harry Elston,

Jessica Cleaves Jessica Marguerite Cleaves (December 10, 1948 – May 2, 2014) was an American singer and songwriter. Cleaves was a lead singer of the Friends of Distinction, Earth, Wind & Fire, Parliament Funkadelic and Raw Silk. Early life Jessica Cleaves was ...

, Barbara Jean Love – vocals * Al Casey – guitar *

Arthur G. Wright Arthur George Wright (May 28, 1937 – July 4, 2015) was an American R&B session guitarist, arranger, record producer and vocalist, sometimes credited as Art Wright. He learned guitar as a child in Los Angeles, and started working with bands ...

– guitar * Max Bennett – electric bass * Jim Gordon – drums, percussion *King Errison – congas *Gary Coleman – percussion *Jack Arnold – percussion *John Audino – trumpet, flugelhorn *

Buddy Childers Marion "Buddy" Childers (February 12, 1926 – May 24, 2007) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer and ensemble leader. Childers became famous in 1942 at the age of 16, when Stan Kenton hired him to be the lead trumpet in his band. Biography ...

– trumpet, flugelhorn *Dalton Smith – trumpet, flugelhorn *Bill Peterson – trumpet, flugelhorn *

Bud Brisbois Austin Dean "Bud" Brisbois (April 11, 1937 – June 1978) was a jazz and studio trumpeter. He played jazz, pop, rock, country, Motown, and classical music. Career Brisbois was born in Edina, Minnesota and began studying the trumpet at age 12. ...

– trumpet *

Tony Terran Anthony Terran (May 30, 1926 – March 20, 2017) was an American trumpet player and session musician. He was part of the Wrecking Crew, a group of largely uncredited session musicians in Los Angeles, California, who helped famous artists record ...

– trumpet *David Duke – French horn *Dick Leith – trombone *

Plas Johnson Plas John Johnson Jr. (born July 21, 1931) is an American soul-jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist, probably most widely known as the tenor saxophone soloist on Henry Mancini’s "The Pink Panther Theme". He also performs on alto and baritone sax ...

– flute, clarinet *

Jim Horn James Ronald Horn (born November 20, 1940) is an American saxophonist, woodwind player, and session musician. Biography Horn was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for f ...

– flute, tenor saxophone *William Green – flute, piccolo *Gene Cipriano – flute, oboe, English horn, piccolo *Brad Bauder – tenor saxophone, clarinet *Jimmy Getzoff – violin *

Harry Bluestone Harry Bluestone (30 September 1907 – 22 December 1992) was a composer and violinist who composed music for TV and film. He was prolific and worked mainly on composing with Emil Cadkin. Earlier on, he was a violinist and freelanced on radi ...

– violin *Paul Shure – violin *Garry Nuttycombe – viola *Douglas Davis – cello *Catherine Gotthoffer – harp

Charts

Album Singles

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1969 debut albums The Friends of Distinction albums RCA Victor albums