Houston Express is the ninth album led by saxophonist Houston Person. It was recorded April 8 & 9, 1971 and released on the Prestige label.Prestige Records discography accessed April 15, 2013Payne, D, A Houston Person discography, June 7, 2009.Enciclopedia del Jazz: Person, Houston, accessed February 16, 2018 To date, it has only been re-released on Compact Disc in South Africa.
Reception
Allmusic awarded the album 4½ stars stating "As period soul-jazz goes, this is considerably above the average. It's funky, but not in the bland crossover sense; there's a sense of jazz ensemble discipline to the arrangements, but it's still R&B-based enough to groove to".Unterberger, R. Allmusic listing accessed April 15, 2013
Track listing "Young Gifted and Black" (Nina Simone, Weldon Irvine) - 5:15 "The Houston Express" (Horace Ott) - 5:48 "Enjoy" (Ott) - 4:55 "Give More Power to the People (For God's Sake)" (Eugene Record) - 3:40 "Chains of Love" (A. Nugetre) - 7:30 "Just My Imagination" (Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong) - 5:35 "Lift Every Voice" (James Weldon Johnson, John Rosamond Johnson) - 5:40
Personnel Houston Person - tenor saxophone Cecil Bridgewater (tracks 4–6), Harold "Money" Johnson (tracks 1–3 & 7), Thad Jones (tracks 1–3 & 7), Ernie Royal (tracks 1–3 & 7) - trumpet Garnett Brown, Jack Jeffers - trombone (tracks 1–3 & 7) Harold Vick - tenor saxophone, flute (tracks 1–3 & 7) Babe Clarke - baritone saxophone Paul Griffin - piano, electric piano (tracks 1–3 & 7) Jimmy Watson - organ Ernie Hayes - organ, electric piano (tracks 4–6) Billy Butler - guitar Jerry Jemmott - electric bass Bernard Purdie - drums Buddy Caldwell - congas Horace Ott - arranger, conductor (tracks 1–3 & 7)
References