The James Taylor Trio - The Truth (Vinyl)

Black Vinyl LP, The Jazz Sessions Volume 3

This is the vinyl edition of The Truth by The James Taylor Trio, issued by Acid Jazz as the third volume of its Jazz Sessions series under catalog number AJXLP 941. It is a single black LP cut to play at 33 1/3, with four tracks on each side, and its jacket carries illustrations by Curtis Tappenden and artwork by Jaffa at The Unknown.

This James Taylor is the Hammond organist who leads the James Taylor Quartet, not the American singer-songwriter. Acid Jazz presents the album as marking 40 years of his solo career: after his earlier band The Prisoners split in 1986, he recorded his first single as the James Taylor Quartet, a version of Herbie Hancock's "Blow Up," for Re-Elect The President, the label that preceded Acid Jazz. The quartet's 1993 album Supernatural Feeling reached the UK top 30, and In the Hand of the Inevitable (1995) is listed as Acid Jazz's biggest-selling album. The label notes that The Truth is his first release in a trio format.

Per the jacket credits, the trio recorded at Ranscombe Studios in Chatham on February 24 and 25, 2026, with Jim Riley recording and mixing and Taylor producing. Taylor plays Fender Rhodes, Solina strings, vibes, harp, piano and Hammond, with Orlando Fleming on double bass and Theodore Carasco on drums. Aref Durvesh plays tablas on every track, and Liz Jai sings lead on "The Truth," "Another Day" and "Nothing Else." Nick Robbins mastered the album at Sound Mastering.

Acid Jazz's notes point the trio toward the records Les McCann, Hampton Hawes and Lonnie Liston Smith were making in the early 1970s, with the Fender Rhodes as Taylor's principal instrument throughout. Five of the eight pieces are Taylor originals; the others are Vince Guaraldi's "Linus & Lucy," Roy Budd's "Get Carter" and Richard Strauss's "Thus Sprach Zarathustra." A&R was by Dean Rudland and Eddie Piller, who is also executive producer of the Jazz Sessions series.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Linus & Lucy
2. The Truth
3. Elevation
4. Get Carter

Side B

5. Thus Sprach Zarathustra
6. Another Day
7. Aref's Space
8. Nothing Else