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The Budos Band is one of my favorite recording bands and live they’re especially crazy fun. They tour only on a limited basis so I’ve been fortunate enough to catch them a handful of times and each time it’s a party. The band and crowd feed off each other and the set gets increasingly more wild right up to the end. The band started on the Daptone label and originally fell pretty squarely in the afrobeat category but even early on they had a dark, edgy sound as reflected in their first three album covers of a volcano, scorpion andContinue Reading

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Over the last five years or so, when I hear Seattle Funk my ears perk up. There’s been so much great stuff coming out including Polyrhythmics, The True Loves, Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, The Dip, and now add The Oscillators to the list. As a recording collaborative, the instrumentation on each tune varies and so each is fresh and carves a differnt path. There’s everything from psychdelia, to jazz, NOLA jazz, fusion and plenty of funk, Olli Klomp makes this engine run on time with up to three layers of drums on a track. It’s innovative and relatable at theContinue Reading

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Raw in Amsterdam, just released from Philip Lassiter,  is a well done live funk party. I was first introduced to Lassiter when he and his band opened for Snarky Puppy in Atlanta in 2015. If you know anything about Michael League, SP’s leader, you know that he only brings great talent to open and I was a fan right away. Lassiter mixes funk, gospel, New Orleans jazz, and soul in his work and is an 11-time Grammy award winner including his work with Prince. This album in live big band format includes some very special guests, notably Candy Dulfer, Amsterdam’sContinue Reading

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BT ALC Big Band hit my radar a few years about three years ago with the release of their single ‘The Iguana,’ now included on this new album Hearing the Truth. It served as a signal of great tunes on the horizon and now the album totally lives up to the hype. The New England based bandwith a 13-piece horn section delivers a fast-paced, power-packed, funk feast in a 9-track package. On top of that, there’s special guest sit-ins from Adam Deitch, Eric Benny Bloom and Nigel Hall of Lettuce, Eric Krasno, John Medeski, Karl Denson, G Love and TheContinue Reading

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Yayennings Vol. 2 is a terrific album of conversations and chemistry.  Jay Jennings (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Bob Reynolds (tenor sax) are chatting and trading riffs constantly throughout each song. They flow in and out of unison alternating leads at breakneck speeds and relink back in sync. It’s incredible how fluid they are together and with Jose Perez on drums and and Ross Schodek on bass laying down the grooves end-to-end. I first got hip to this quartet at GroundUP Music Festival (GUMF) 2018 late night set (click for video) and taken in by an all drum brushes set from JoseContinue Reading

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The Funk Sessions is the first of 2 albums recorded at the legendary Abbey Roads Studios in London. Both albums were played live by the band in the famous Studio 3. Universal Music commissioned both albums for their Abbey Road Masters label and released The Funk Sessions on all digital platforms. This LP features the classic heavy raw funk that Speedometer has consistently delivered over the last 20 years. The second LP (The Soul Sessions) will be released in July and like the funk lp, was recorded live and features guest vocalists including Angelo Starr (younger brother to Edwin Starr). Continue Reading

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Malcolm Strachan, the trumpeter for The Haggis Horns, released his second “solo” album this year, Point of No Return.  Although it’s a solo album, the core band on “Point Of No Return” are musicians that Malcolm has known and worked with for over two decades, often in The Haggis Horns, and most appeared on the debut album. Newcomers this time are longtime Haggis Horns guest percussionist Sam Bell plus special guest vocalist UK jazz singer Jo Harrop, who adds non-verbal Flora Purim style vocals on tracks one and three. I covered hisdebut album About Time back in 2020 so IContinue Reading

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Finally getting to putting my thoughts together on the fantastic GroundUP Music Festival 2023 experience. This ‘Snarky Puppy’ festival is like no other, an intimate 14-hour per day, 3 day intimate event put on at the North Beach Bandshell for a max crowd of 1,500, comprised heavily of musicians and of course avid music fans. Michael League, Snarky Puppy founder and leader, is a musical genius and he compiles a lineup like no other in the world- a mix of well-known or up-and-coming or under-the-radar artists all with unique voices and sounds. Each day schedule features a Snarky Puppy set,Continue Reading

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When I think of Denver funk, The Motet is the first band I think of.  They’ve been putting out great albums for more than 20 years, with All Day, being their 10th and I’ve been with them most of that time. This album takes them back to their funk roots of hard hitting, retro-echoing, mood-enhancing instrumental music. In a way, the band has come full circle, from its afro-cuban stylings through it’s two eras with lead vocals and back. All throughout, The Motet‘s live sets always featured two or three tunes featuring instrumentals. One new twist for this release isContinue Reading

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Back when EMPIRE CENTRAL was released, I wrote a full review and declared that “this album will be nominated for and win Grammy (or two).” In fact, it has now made it to the second round as “Best Contemporary Instrumental Album” nomination and has also been released in Dolby Atmos format on all streaming platforms. The full review covers track-by-track and each tells its own story. Here, I took on the impossible task of highlighting some of the highlight moments and solos from some of the songs. It’s absolutely an album that should be in your rotation. I’d love toContinue Reading