Life Forms by James Dallas

Compact private smooth jazz affair from Milwaukee’s answer to Weather Report. Tracked in 1982 at Mauer Brothers’ studio, Life Forms is the debut album from multi-instrumentalist James Dallas, who cut his teeth with the Dynamic Exploits show band. Backed by Heavy Weather—Kevin Whitehead on bass, Myron McClain on drums, Christopher Dallas on a brand new Crumar Stratus keyboard, Dallas’ silky soprano sax is made whole with a crack team of Wisconsin medium-weights, including Nolan Clark on drums, Terry Sims on synthesizer, Jake Simmons on bass, Earl Thompson on percussion, and guitarists Robert Walls Jr. and Rick Lacey. The six song LP is a heady mix of funk, fusion, and synth (the Roland Vocoder, Arp Odyssey, and Jupiter 6 all make appearances), and an excellent starting point for the budding smooth jazz underground enthusiast.

A visit to the Numero office makes it very clear that ‘the stacks’ is a literal description of our process: we accumulate stacks of records, master tapes, photos, flyers, and old newspapers while assembling a project. From The Stacks is our way of illuminating the experience: the selections here are presented without curation. While we’re digging for gold, these are the lesser minerals we find.