Jeff Palmer, David Liebman, John Abercrombie, Adam Nussbaum

Abracadabra is an organ quartet record without a bassist: Jeff Palmer plays the Hammond B3 and takes the bass lines on its pedals, next to David Liebman on soprano saxophone, John Abercrombie on guitar synthesizer and Adam Nussbaum on drums. It was recorded in New York in November 1987 and held back until 1990, when Soul Note released it. Palmer had come up through clubs as an organist and had been encouraged by Paul Bley, who produced his first solo organ album, Outer Limit, in 1981 and produced this one too.

The session took place on November 24, 1987 at Sound On Sound Studio in New York, with David Baker engineering and Giovanni Bonandrini as executive producer; the cover painting is by Carol Goss. The band was essentially the one from Palmer's earlier album Laser Wizard, with Liebman taking the place of saxophonist Gary Campbell. Organ and guitar synthesizer carry on the fusion direction of that earlier record, with Liebman's soprano as the main solo voice. Nine tracks run for about an hour. Hip Slick opens the record, and three short pieces, Mr Adam, Mr. John and Mr. Dave, are named after Palmer's three partners. Tango Dream and Girl Swirl sit at around eight minutes each, and On Fire, the longest at over twelve minutes, closes the album.

This is the original Soul Note CD, catalogue number 121201-2, released in 1990.