Solid Ground
View on Discogs
View on Wikipedia
Album Summary
Solid Ground came rolling out in 1981 on Liberty Records, and it was a statement — pure and simple. Ronnie Laws, that Houston-born tenor and soprano saxophonist who had already made his mark with Blue Note and United Artists, stepped into the early eighties with a sound that was sleek, soulful, and undeniably his own. Produced with a keen ear for the moment, the album wrapped Laws' warm, breathy saxophone tone inside lush contemporary R&B and funk arrangements that were tailor-made for the radio landscape of 1981. This was a man who had come up playing alongside Earth, Wind and Fire, and that spiritual groove never left him — Solid Ground carried that DNA in every groove pressed into the vinyl.
Reception
- Solid Ground performed respectably on the R&B and jazz charts, continuing Laws' track record as a consistent presence in the soul-jazz and smooth funk marketplace of the early 1980s.
- The album was embraced warmly by fans who had followed Laws through his Blue Note years, rewarding them with the kind of sophisticated yet accessible instrumental work that had made him a beloved figure in the crossover jazz world.
Significance
- Solid Ground stands as a textbook example of the jazz-funk fusion aesthetic that ruled the early eighties — sophisticated enough for the jazz crowd, funky enough for the dance floor, and smooth enough for late-night radio.
- The album captures Ronnie Laws at a transitional moment in popular music, when instrumental artists with jazz roots could still command serious commercial attention and radio airplay alongside vocal R&B acts.
- As a body of work, Solid Ground reinforced Laws' identity as a saxophonist who never sacrificed his musical integrity for commercial appeal — a balance that made him a touchstone figure for the entire smooth jazz-funk generation that followed.
Tracklist
-
A1 Heavy On Easy —
4:06
-
A2 Segue —
1:14
-
A3 There's A Way 80
3:57
-
A4 Stay Awake 136
4:09
-
A5 Solid Ground 106
4:34
-
B1 Your Stuff —
3:38
-
B2 Just As You Are 77
3:59
-
B3 Summer Fool —
4:07
-
B4 Good Feelings —
4:21
Artist Details
Ronnie Laws is an American saxophonist and flutist born on October 3, 1950, in Houston, Texas, who rose to prominence as a solo artist in the mid-1970s after early experience playing with Earth, Wind & Fire and Hugh Masekela. His sound blends jazz, funk, R&B, and soul, creating a style often associated with the smooth jazz and jazz-funk movements that defined much of the decade's instrumental music. He signed with Blue Note Records and released his debut album Pressure Sensitive in 1975, which became a landmark recording in the jazz-funk genre, featuring the widely sampled track "Always There." Laws is considered a pivotal figure in the crossover between jazz and popular music, and his recordings have been heavily sampled by hip-hop artists, extending his cultural influence well into subsequent generations. His brother Hubert Laws is also a celebrated flutist, making the Laws family a notable dynasty in American jazz history.
