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The year 2020 started off great with me first seeing Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio three times in 9 days, opening for Lettuce on January 2nd and 3rd and then as the headliner at Terminal West in Atlanta on January 9.  The Seattle-based soul-jazz groove combo release their new album “I Told You So” this past week on January 29th. The album was recorded in late 2019 for an early 2020 release.  When the Covid-19 crisis hit the band couldn’t tour and decided to postpone the album’s release which ultimately came last week.  The personnel on the album is of courseContinue Reading

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The Dip Plays It Cool. Yes they do. This band is one of my favorites to get introduced to over the last couple of years.  They have a new soul and funk sound with that old school feel and on top of that can play with both an edge and humor. The top-notch is seven piece unit is comprised of two guitars, bass, drums and a three-piece horn section based in Seattle, Washington.  The Dip started at University of Washington around 2013 and since 2015 has put out two full length albums and two EPs and The Dip Plays ItContinue Reading

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“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose” and this year it was for listening intently to recorded music.  In a time when live music was unimaginable, there was a plethora of terrific albums in 2020.  This annual recap covers my most enjoyable albums released in the last 12 months.  I tried to listen to as many as I could and  crank out reviews at a good pace – many of those reviews are cited here.  Hopefully you’ll be curious enough to listen to some of them and they will bring you joy. Resonate is theContinue Reading

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One of the coolest things in writing about music is finding out that the funk is alive all over the world. This coverage is on Pickpocket’s newly released album ‘Refraction‘ coming to us from Melbourne, Australia. The 8-piece band plays groove-based instrumental music with a focus on tight, funky rhythms and soaring, singable melodies. Refraction is the band’s third album with most of the recording completed in Melbourne in 2019 with  the final mixes arriving in early 2020 and the album’s digital release just this past week.   Pickpocket was started way back in 2012 by Craig Strain and wentContinue Reading

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Harlem Hipshake is a release that will keep you movin’ and groovin’ all day and night. It’s a full on party with a throwback style to the Latin soul of Ray Barreto and Mongo Santamaria in the ’60s.  The Bongolian, multi-instrumentalist Nasser Bouzida, plays all the instruments except the funky horns on the album, and there’s plenty of that.  Fans of retro cool bands like The New Mastersounds, New Cool Collective and The Filthy Six should feel Harlem Hipshake’s vibe from the get go.  Let’s get right into the track-by-track rundown. Track-By-Track East Side Give the Drummer Some:  Appropriately, ‘Drummer’Continue Reading

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There’s a Tide is one of the best jazz albums you’ll hear this year from a 12-piece band.  The awe-inspiring aspect is that all twelve pieces are played by Chris Potter.  As amazing as that is, the song’s are a superb collection with Chris’ impressive imprint on each track. s expected the woodwinds take the lead on each track here as Chris displays his remarkable dexterity on clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, alto flute and of course saxophones.  Chris seamlessly switches the lead from one to the next and blends them smoothly so the album is remarkably cohesive.  On top ofContinue Reading

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Polyrhythmics are a band that I first connected live perform during a scintillating set at Suwannee Hulaween 2019 in Live Oak, Florida. That set was transcendent and many who saw it said it was the best of the fest.  The eight-piece group with impossibly tight grooves and virtuosic musicianship. Back in May 2020 I reviewed their fifth studio album, Man From The Future. “Fondue Party” is a concept record of tracks recorded during the Man from the Future sessions, but deliberately saved for this EP. Polyrhythmics already play a wide range of styles from Afro-beat (their origin) to funk, soul,Continue Reading

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Three-O is Shaun Martin’s third album following 7 Summers and Focus, and naturally is a trio album.  Shaun is a six-time Grammy award winner, three with Kirk Franklin and three with Snarky Puppy. That’s a lot of threes.  Shaun is an amazing keyboardist and definitely his own man.  Yet, one of the things that I enjoy about his music is that he is so versatile in his playing and has an uncanny way of playing new songs in a familiar sounding way.  He reminds me of what Joe Sample, another Texas keyboardist know for work with The Crusaders and as aContinue Reading

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Butcher Brown is a quintet out of Richmond, VA playing a mix of jazz, funk and hip/hop, although their music is not easy to characterize nor should it be.  The group’s been around since the early 2010s but only recently has begun more broad national touring. They recall some of the great fusion bands of the 70s including Weather Report and Return to Forever as well as some great individual players like Ronnie Laws, who they cover on this album with “Tidal Wave.” I’ve seen them live four times although I barely remember the first time when they opened forContinue Reading

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Budos Band has long been one of my top bands to listen to and see live. They’ve just released their sixth studio album “Long In The Tooth” and in a longstanding tradition, it’s thematic and terrific. Listening to the Budos is always an adrenaline rush. They started out as a superb Afrobeat band on Daptone Records. There always have been dark undertones in their music as you can see from the album covers below starting with the volcano, then scorpion, then cobra.  The Budos Band morphed their sound to be especially dark and edgy with their fourth album “Burnt Offering”Continue Reading