''Masterjam'' is the platinum-selling eighth studio album by

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

band

Rufus Rufus is a masculine given name, a surname, an Ancient Roman cognomen and a nickname (from Latin '' rufus'', "red"). Notable people with the name include: Given name Politicians * Rufus Ada George (born 1940), Nigerian politician * Rufus ...

(and their fifth album featuring singer

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Qu ...

), their debut on the

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

label following their purchase and dissolution of

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels befo ...

, released in 1979.

History

Produced by

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

, ''Masterjam'' was the band's fourth album to top ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

s R&B Albums chart, and also reached number 14 on thePop chart. The album includes the singles "

Do You Love What You Feel "Do You Love What You Feel" is a soul/ disco song by Rufus and Chaka. Background "Do You Love What You Feel" was released in late 1979 from the Quincy Jones produced album, '' Masterjam''. Charts "Do You Love What You Feel" spent three weeks a ...

", their fourth #1 hit on the R&B Singles chart and also #30 on Pop, "Any Love" (US R&B #24, 1980) and "I'm Dancing for Your Love" (US R&B #43, 1980). In 1979, Chaka Khan found solo success with the release of the album, '' Chaka'', and its parent single, "

I'm Every Woman "I'm Every Woman" is a song by American singer Chaka Khan, released as her debut solo single from her first album, '' Chaka'' (1978). It was Khan's first hit outside her recordings with the funk band Rufus. "I'm Every Woman" was produced by Arif ...

", which became her

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

years before " I Feel for You". However, Khan wanted to remain a member of her long-standing band Rufus, a group she had joined in 1972. Since their 1973 debut, Khan had led on most of the group's songs. While Ron Stockert, an earlier member, had added vocals to the debut and their follow-up, ''

Rags to Rufus ''Rags To Rufus'' is the gold-selling second studio album by funk band Rufus (band), Rufus, released on the ABC Records label in 1974. It reached #4 on both the Pop and Black Albums charts. It is notable for the hit singles "Tell Me Something Goo ...

'', Stockert left after complaining of their label's focus on Khan, and Tony Maiden would begin to lead on more songs as the seventies drew to a close, Khan's presence continued to boost the group. For their first album with

, which had absorbed

a year before, the group enlisted Jones to help them with the record (Khan had recorded with Jones the year before for his album '' Sounds...and Stuff Like That!!''). The group, while still with Khan, was now starting to record without her, while Khan was starting to express a view of going solo for good while still performing with the group onstage. Despite this, the album became a success upon its release. Following ''Masterjam''

recorded her second solo album '' Naughty'' and Rufus ''

Party 'Til You're Broke ''Party 'Til You're Broke'' is the ninth studio album by funk band Rufus (band), Rufus, released on the MCA Records label in 1981. ''Party 'Til You're Broke'' which was the band's second album not to be fronted by Chaka Khan reached #24 on ''Bill ...

'', released in 1980 and 1981 respectively. Khan reunited with the band again in 1981 for the recording of ''

Camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...

''. Jones had also brought in the Seawind Horns for help, as well as

the Brothers Johnson The Brothers Johnson were an American funk and R&B band consisting of American musicians and brothers George ("Lightnin' Licks") and Louis E. Johnson ("Thunder Thumbs"). They achieved their greatest success from the mid-1970s to early 1980s, ...

for additional percussion help. Rufus even does a funked-up cover of Jones's own "

Body Heat Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperature ...

Track listing

Personnel

– lead vocals, background vocals *Tony Maiden – guitar, vocals * Kevin Murphy – keyboards * John Robinson – drums, additional percussion, hand-clapping *Bobby Watson – bass * David "Hawk" Wolinski – keyboards * Seawind – horns *

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'', '' Rock with You'' ...

, Gary Grant, Larry Hall – trumpet, flugelhorn *Kim Hutchcroft, Larry Williams – saxophone, flute *

Bill Reichenbach Jr. William Frank Reichenbach Jr. (born November 30, 1949) is an American jazz trombonist and composer. He is the son of Bill Reichenbach, who was the drummer for Charlie Byrd from 1962 to 1973. He is best known as a session musician for television, ...

, Lew McCreary – trombone * Louis Johnson, George Johnson, Richard Heath – percussion, hand-clapping Production *

– producer *

Bruce Swedien Bruce Swedien (; April 19, 1934 – November 16, 2020) was an American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer. He was widely known for his work with Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Paul McCartney and Barbra Streisand. Swedien fi ...

– audio engineer, mixing *

– string arrangements *Sidney Sharp – strings concertmaster *Rufus – rhythm arrangements *

Rod Temperton Rodney Lynn Temperton (9 October 1949 – 25 September 2016) was an English songwriter, producer and musician. Temperton was the keyboardist and main songwriter for the 1970s pop music, disco and funk band Heatwave, writing songs including "St ...

– rhythm arrangements, vocal arrangements *

, Tony Maiden – vocal arrangements *

Ed Caraeff Ed Caraeff (born April 18, 1950) is an American photographer, illustrator and graphic designer, who has worked largely in the music industry. He has art directed, photographed and designed more than 400 record album covers from 1967 to 1981 for ...

- photography, album design

Charts

Album Singles

References

External links

*
Masterjam
' at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...