ProJazz.net

It Could Only Happen with You is the final album by American pianist and arranger Duke Pearson featuring performances recorded in 1970 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1974.

AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine:
On It Could Only Happen With You, his final album for Blue Note, Duke Pearson followed the conventions of the time and cut a smooth, commercially-oriented jazz album that made allusions to traditional and contemporary pop, hard bop, soul-jazz and bossa nova. The results are a bit muddled, but the album is more coherent than its predecessor, How Insensitive, even with its flaws. Pearson’s playing remains tasteful, but he tends to get lost among the guitars, flutes, trumpets, trombones, bass, and Flora Purim’s vocals. Although the record is a pleasant artifact of its time, it’s a rather sad, undistinguished way to close out Pearson’s career (https://www.allmusic.com/album/it-could-only-happen-with-you-mw0000903117).

Track listing:
“Gira, Girou (Round and Round)” (Milton Nascimento) – 7:20
“It Could Only Happen with You” (Antônio Carlos Jobim, Louis Oliveira, Ray Gilbert) – 3:35
“Book’s Bossa” (Walter Booker, Cedar Walton) – 6:35
“Hermeto” (Hermeto Pascoal) – 5:35
“Lost in the Stars” (Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson) – 3:27
“Stormy” (Buddy Buie, J. R. Cobb) – 3:35
“Emily” (Johnny Mandel, Johnny Mercer) – 4:00
Recorded at A & R Studio, New York City on February 13 (track 8) & April 10 (tracks 1-7), 1970

Personnel:
Duke Pearson – piano, electric piano
Burt Collins, Joe Shepley (tracks 1-7) – trumpet
Kenny Rupp – trombone
Hermeto Pascoal – flute, guitar, bass (tracks 1-7)
Jerry Dodgion (track 8). Al Gibbons (tracks 1-7) – alto saxophone, alto flute
Frank Foster – tenor saxophone (tracks 1-7)
Lew Tabackin – tenor saxophone, flute (track 8)
Bob Cranshaw – bass, electric bass (tracks 1-7)
Ron Carter – bass (track 8)
Mickey Roker – drums
Flora Purim – vocals (tracks 1, 2 & 6)

___________________________

Released: 1974
Recorded: February 13 & April 10, 1970
Length: 34:07
Label: Blue Note
Producer: Duke Pearson