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Como De Allstars is the fifth studio album and sixth overall from The Greyboy Allstars and it’s terrific from track-to-track. GBA formed over than 25 years ago in San Diego and immediately rekindled the light of “boogaloo” music, a popular Latin form from the 1960s in New York City. Their music has a feel for funk, jazz, beach and soul music. Since their seminal album West Coast Boogaloo, this group has been hitting us with great but all too infrequent albums and even less frequent live shows. The Greyboy Allstars play together a few times a year now finding perennialContinue Reading

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M-A-C-E-O Parker is the most iconic funk sax player of all time, full stop.  He’s had a nearly 60-year career and has been on many of the most famous recordings of all time with James Brown, Parliament/Funkadelic, The JB’s and since the early 1990s his own albums.  He’s one of those rare musicians that can go by one name only, Maceo! I’ve been a fan throughout his career and now he’s come out with his first studio album in eight years.  It’s a great 10-track album with a definite New Orleans flair spanning eight covers and two Maceo originals. HeContinue Reading

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Mike Casey, a rising New York tenor sax player,  just released ‘Get You – Take 1’ the first single off his upcoming album ‘Law of Attraction’ coming October 2020 and I’m happy to feature it here. The tune is one of two Daniel Caesar tunes reimagined. The original millennial slow jam is transformed into driving jazz-funk and will appear on Mike’s forthcoming studio debut Law of Attraction. Considering the original has over 300 million listens on Spotify, it’s a bold move that Casey sonically executes flawlessly.  Have a listen here. Of course, the original is a slow jam, downtempo songContinue Reading

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GoGo Penguin is a unique piano trio formed in 2012 in Manchester, England. Their sound defies any one conventional category as they cross between jazz, classical, funk, electronic, trance and hypnotic. I got hooked on them about four years ago when their third album Man Made Object came out. Now they’ve just released their fifth album with the eponymous title, GoGo Penguin. They’re not really a “power” trio but their work is amazing because at times it can seem “orchestral.” The group is comprised of pianist Chris Illingworth, bassist Nick Blacka, and drummer Rob Turner. For me, this album isContinue Reading

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I first became aware of The Haggis Horns from their playing with The New Mastersounds on their debut album Keb Darge Presents (1999). Then I got hooked with their own debut album Enter The Haggis (2007).  Both of these then turned me on to Corinne Bailey Rae, the wife of Jason Rae, the original Haggis sax player. So, I was excited to review their fifth album. “Stand Up For Love” which came out on their own label Haggis Records on the May 22nd. You can preview and purchase the album here  Stand Up For Love Preview and Purchase. This album fallsContinue Reading

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This album is a great finale to the Immigrance 2019 tour in much the same way North Sea was in 2018 for the 2-year Culcha Vulcha tour. The production values are stellar with extra clear engineering nearly on par with studio album. The audience sound is notable in that it is absent from the recording except at precisely the right times – end of solos or end of songs.  Not sure if this is part of the mixing or the audience was actually that in tune. The sound was big since there were thirteen band members instead of the usualContinue Reading

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After more than twenty years together, Lettuce is the preeminent funk band on the scene today.  Starting with their friendship at Berklee College of Music, they’ve shaped their sound from classic funkers of yesteryear like James Brown and Tower of Power but put their own new fresh spin on things. Going back 10 years or more the band did not tour very much and released a studio album every few years.  For the last several years, the band has been touring non-stop (pre COVID-19) and has become much more prolific in jam-funk-jazz improvisation and in recording albums.  Resonate is theContinue Reading

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Polyrhythmics are an eight-piece group with impossibly tight grooves and virtuosic musicianship. They released their fifth studio album, Man From The Future on May 8th. It’s hard to believe they’ve been around for 10 years and I just first got to see them live perform 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 group was started by Ben Bloom (Guitar) and Grant Schroff, (Drums) and originally drew heavily on Afro-beat from such notables as Fela Kuti and The Budos Band.Continue Reading

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The weekend of the cancelled New Orleans JazzFest seems like the perfect time to get down and review some classic NOLA sounds from the New Orleans Nightcrawlers latest album Atmosphere.  The title is appropriate as one listen will take you right into the NOLA mood. The Nightcrawlers have been around for more than 20 years and I first got hooked on them with Funknicity in 1997.  Despite their tenure, this is only their fifth album and first since 2009’s Slither Slice. Although the group credits Dirty Dozen Brass Band as the progenitors of the brass bound sound, I feel theContinue Reading

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Congratulations to House of Waters for the nomination of their Rising album for best independent instrumental of the year. Ever since seeing House of Waters at the first GroundUP Music Festival, I was captivated.  After all, how many “power” trios comprised of hammered dulcimer, 6-string bass and drums have you heard?  Their sound and virtuosity are totally unique and incredible.  Max ZT is called the “Jimi Hendrix” of the hammered dulcimer.  Crazily enough, I got to catch two of their shows in one week in July 2019 and then two more in September 2019 when they opened for Snarky Puppy. Continue Reading