I agree about "First Light"; "Red Clay" is a another good one. CTI was criticized by jazz "purists" for being too commercial. It is true that many of their recordings were cross-over, jazz-fusion or whatever one wants to call the genre; and some, like the Bob James recordings were fairly "lite". However, some like Freddie Hubbard's, were really good jazz recordings even if they possessed some r&b and funk elements. Unfortunately, some people lump all CTI artists together as being less than serious jazz players because some, well, are.
