The track features Chuck Rainey on Bass guitar, Eddy Louiss on Hammond organ, Dave Grusin on Rhodes piano, Grady Tate on drums, and Valerie Simpson, best known from Ashford & Simpson, on vocals. Even if the track got a grammy for "Best Instrumental Arrangement", it's not completely an instrumental. Simpson's lyrics are reduced to only one bridge and one chorus (from 2:29). There's also a fine twist from original line “go out and find a girl” to “ain’t it nice just to be a girl?”. The track also features a fantastic string arrangement by Quincy Jones.
Quincy's version of "Summer in the City" has been sampled by several artists. According to whosampled.com it has been sampled in 87 songs (by October 2024)[2].
It was a foundation for Nightmares on Wax, which played a significant role in shaping the downtempo and chill-out genres in the 90's. They opened each of their three first albums, released over a decade, with a track built upon Quincy's version of "Summer in the City":
1991 A Word of Science: The First and Final Chapter opened with "Nights Interlude"[3].
1995 Smokers Delight opened with "Nights Introlude"[4].
1999 Carboot Soul opened with "Les Nuits"[5].
The title track "You've Got It Bad Girl" is a song written by Yvonne Wright and Stevie Wonder[7] and was originally released on Wonder's 1972 album Talking Book. Here Quincy Jones himself is performing the lead vocals.
The final track on the album, "Chump Change", was first used as the main theme to 1972's The New Bill Cosby Show on CBS, where Jones's orchestra provided music. The CBS game show Now You See It used "Chump Change" as its main theme as well, both in 1974 and on its revival in 1989. It is also used as the main theme to the Dutch radio programme Langs de lijn, as well as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation's programme Ukeslutt.
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