Not to be confused with the veteran jazz multi-instrumentalist of the same name, George James is a long-established member of the music scene in Woodstock, NY. The manager of the once fashionable Bearsville recording studio, James produced and/or was otherwise involved with several releases attempting to musically portray the altogether far-out atmosphere of the town and its inhabitants, many of them famous musicians. Music from Mud Acres, in which a crowd of these folk gather together to sing and strum as the Woodstock Mountain Revue, is perhaps the best known of these recordings, a list that also includes output from Artie Traum, Happy Traum, John Sebastian, and others. Jazz fans may recall James' name with a swallow of bile, on the other hand, since he is credited as producer on Carla Bley's Dinner Music, the first step in this talented performer's descent into hack commercial product. Once again the connection is Woodstock, where Bley resides. As a studio manager, James also was an early supporter of the excellent engineer Tom Mark, providing him with some of his first employment opportunities. As various sessions progressed, James has from time to time stepped forward to record his own musical contributions, including trumpet playing as well as joining the obligatory crowd overdubbing background vocals. ~ Eugene Chadbourne