The L.A. Express was an American

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

ensemble. Members of L.A. Express played on several

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

s, namely ''

Court and Spark ''Court and Spark'' is the sixth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Released by A&M in January 1974, it infuses the folk rock style of her previous albums with jazz elements. It was an immediate commercial and critical su ...

'', '' The Hissing of Summer Lawns'' and the live album ''

Miles of Aisles ''Miles of Aisles'' is the first live album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released in 1974 on Asylum Records. It is a double album documenting her concerts in support of the ''Court and Spark'' album with her backing band for the ...

'' between 1974 and 1975. The band also had two jazz

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

albums on their own – ''L.A. Express'' (1976), and ''Shadow Play'' (1976). The latter featured backing vocals and cover art by Mitchell. Both albums were recorded at James Guercio's

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studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

and were the first albums released on the

Caribou The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

. The L.A. Express formed in 1973 as the backing band for jazz saxophonist Tom Scott. The original lineup included bassist Max Bennett, drummer

John Guerin John Payne Guerin (October 31, 1939 – January 5, 2004) was an American percussionist. He was a proponent of the jazz-rock style. Biography Guerin was born in Hawaii and raised in San Diego. As a young drummer, he began performing with Buddy ...

, guitarist

Larry Carlton Larry Eugene Carlton (born March 2, 1948) is an American guitarist who built his career as a studio musician in the 1970s and 1980s for acts including Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell. One of the most sought after guitarists of his era, Carlton has ...

, and keyboardist

Joe Sample Joseph Leslie Sample (February 1, 1939 – September 12, 2014) was an American jazz keyboardist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Jazz Crusaders in 1960, whose name was shortened to "The Crusaders" in 1971. He remained a p ...

(the latter two were also members of the group The Crusaders). They recorded the album '' Tom Scott and The L.A. Express'', as well as a number of tracks on Joni Mitchell's ''

'' album in 1974 with this lineup, before both Carlton and Sample left the group.

Robben Ford Robben Lee Ford (born December 16, 1951) is an American blues, jazz, and rock music, rock guitarist. He was a member of the L.A. Express and Yellowjackets (band), Yellowjackets and has collaborated with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harriso ...

replaced Carlton as guitarist and

Larry Nash Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment * Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer * Larry Bo ...

took over as the group's keyboardist. After attending a Joni Mitchell concert in London in April 1974 and being impressed by the sound of her backing band,

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

invited the group to his home at

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, where they recorded the basic tracks for " Hari's on Tour (Express)" and " Simply Shady", which were released in December of that year as the first and second tracks, respectively, on Harrison's ''

Dark Horse A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person, team or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, that is unlikely to succeed but has a fighting chance, unlike the underdog who is exp ...

'' album. The group also performed the score to the 1974

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''. With Ford and Nash on board, Tom Scott and the L.A. Express recorded the ''Tom Cat'' album in late 1974 (released on Ode Records in early 1975). In '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981),

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

dismissed it as "

background music Background music (British English: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behav ...

without the foreground. It doesn't swing, it doesn't rock—it hops." After the release of ''Tom Cat'', Scott left the group and began recording solo. The group recorded their first album without Scott in 1976 – the self-titled ''L.A. Express'', which had as cover art a close-up of a belt buckle embossed with the band's name (simply "L.A. Express"), similar to one reading "Tom Scott & the L.A. Express" which was worn by a model on the cover of their first album with Scott. Later in the same year they recorded ''Shadow Play'', which included several popular jazz tracks played on jazz radio well into the early 1980s. On the first of these two albums keyboardist Larry Nash was replaced by

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

, and David Luell played saxophone and woodwinds. Robben Ford left the group prior to the recording of ''Shadow Play'' and was replaced by guitarist Peter Maunu.

References

{{Authority control Jazz ensembles from California Musical groups established in 1973 1973 establishments in California 1970s disestablishments in California Joni Mitchell Musical backing groups