''Solid Ground'' is the sixth studio album by American saxophonist Ronnie Laws released in 1981 by

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Alvin Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous rev ...

. The album reached No. 17 on the ''

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 advertis ...

'' Top Soul Albums chart.

Track listing

Personnel

* Ronnie Laws – acoustic piano (1, 6), soprano saxophone (1, 2, 4–7), tenor saxophone (1), lead vocals (2, 3, 5, 7), backing vocals (3), alto saxophone (3, 8),

alto flute The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, pitched below the standard C flute and the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the piccolo. It is chara ...

(4),

sopranino saxophone The sopranino saxophone is the second-smallest member of the saxophone family. It is tuned in the key of E♭, and sounds an octave higher than the alto saxophone. A sopranino in F was also described in Adolphe Sax's patent, an octave above an F ...

(5) *

Larry Dunn Larry Dunn (born Lorenzo Russell Dunn; June 19, 1953) is an American keyboardist, producer, songwriter and musical director, known as one of the original members of the music group Earth, Wind & Fire. Dunn was inducted, as a former band member, in ...

–

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

(1, 3, 4, 6, 7), Moog bass (1) * Barnaby Finch – acoustic piano (1–4, 8) * Denzil "Broadway" Miller – acoustic piano (5), Minimoog (5),

Oberheim OB-X The Oberheim OB-X was the first of Oberheim Electronics, Oberheim's OB-series polyphony (instrument), polyphonic Analog synthesizer, analog Subtractive synthesis, subtractive synthesizers. First commercially available in June 1979, the OB-X was ...

(5),

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

(6) * Roland Bautista – guitars (1, 4) * Pat Kelly – guitars (2, 3, 7, 8) * Leon Johnson – bass (1–4, 6–8) * William Bryant – drums (1–5, 7, 8) * Raymond Pounds – drums (6) * Munyungo Jackson – percussion (1) *

Hubert Laws Hubert Laws (born November 10, 1939) is an American flutist, piccoloist and saxophonist with a career spanning over 50 years in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop ...

–

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

(5) * Frank Kavelin – string arrangements (8) * Marlena Jeter – backing vocals (2, 5, 7, 8) * Gwenche Machu – backing vocals (2, 5, 7) * Debra Laws – backing vocals (7) * Maxi Anderson – backing vocals (8) * Eloise Laws – backing vocals (8)

Production

* Ronnie Laws – producer * Chris Brunt – chief engineer * Gerry Brown – assistant overdub engineer * William Jeffrey – production assistant * Bill Burks – art direction * Scott Thorn – back cover illustration * Amy Nagasawa – inner sleeve design * Tom Gibson – photography * L.D. Gordon – background photography * Pete Turner – background photography * Phil Casey and Forest Hamilton Management – management

Charts

;Album ;Singles

References

1981 albums Ronnie Laws albums Liberty Records albums {{1980s-R&B-album-stub