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Claro e Escuro (Light and Dark) is the first collaboration of Justin Stanton and Chris Bullock together as a duo. Stanton and Bullock are members of the instrumental collaborative, Snarky Puppy and have each released prior solo albums. Both are multiinstrumentalists, with Stanton regularly playing keys and trumpet and Bullock all saxophones and flute as well as synths so this was bound to be an interesting combination. In addition, Stanton relocated to Portugal a few years back and Bullock traveled extensively in Brazil and South America so that flair naturally ended up on the record. Claro e Escuro, was recordedContinue Reading

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Can I Tell You Something? is Mark Lettieri’s ninth album as a leader and it’s a fantastic addition to the collection. Many listeners will know Mark as one of the guitarists in  the Grammy-winning band Snarky Puppy or the collaborative funk band The Fearless Flyers. He’s also put out a string of successful albums including Deep: The Baritone Sessions Vol. 1 &  2 (Read our coverage of Vol. 2 here) which leaned heavy on the funk. This album primarily features the touring Mark Lettieri Group including Wes Stephenson on bass (Funky Knuckles), Jason “JT” Thomas on drums (Snarky Puppy, FORQ) andContinue Reading

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Kinga Głyk has put out a truly transcendent album “Real Life.” It’s easy to lose yourself along the complex, multipath journey that is comprised of twelve individually adventurous songs. Kinga is a young Polish-French bassist and composer that was unfamiliar with until very recently. She was scheduled to perform at GroundUP Music Festival but was unable to because of an accident and then I was supposed to see her at North Sea Jazz in Rotterdam but was unable to attend. With Snarky Puppy’s Michael League as my sherpa, I know he’ll always lead me to some of the world’s absolutelyContinue Reading

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Cory Wong is a talent with an amazing aura and so prolific that it’s hard to keep up with all his undertakings. ‘Starship Syncopation’ is one that dropped very recently that you absolutely don’t want to miss. The album is a collaboration with The Metropole Orkest out of The Netherlands, which bills itself as the world’s leading pop and jazz orchestra. Fans of FunkCity.net will recognize them as collaborators on the Grammy-winning album ‘Sylva’ with Snarky Puppy and Grammy-nominated album ‘What Heat’ from Bokanté.  Cory had performed a set of his original tunes with the MO (click here for video)Continue Reading

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How To Dream In Color is the 11th studio album from Lotus, and it’s a winning mix of a wide range of song stylings. There’s  a lot to like for long time fans and newbies as well. ‘How to Dream in Color’ has synth and airy-guitar tunes that sound like early Lotus (), guitar-driven, edgey rock tracks and songs with vocals making an eclectic blend. It’s the first album since the tragic passing of long-time percussionist Chuck Morris and it’s great to hear them continue in their traditional sound by layering in percussion. I’ve been listening to Lotus for 20Continue Reading

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Galáctico is the second studio album from the Joe Tatton Trio and it’s top notch. Joe’s made his bones as the keyboard player for The New Mastersounds for 18 years teams up here with guitarist Lucas De Mulder who released his first album on Color Red last year. This album is an excellent mix of uptempo funk and jazz as well as more dramatic cinematic pieces. It also comes full circle back to some of NMS’ roots, bringing in the Haggis Horns who played on early NMS albums. I’ve seen Joe’s impact on the NMS sound increase over the years,Continue Reading

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Nick Gerlach is an accomplished tenor saxophonist who as recently been features on albums from some of my favorite bands includng Lotus and Sunsquabi. Concrete Lullaby is his first solo release since the disbanding of his band Cosby Sweater in 2016. For this session he brought in Neal “Fro” Evans (Dopapod) and Tommy Shugart (Roosevelt Collier, The Groove Orient). In Nick’s words, “The instrumental album is a three-song journey that includes a dystopian allegory, a compelling cover of “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden, and a funk track inspired by 80s horrors soundtracks and organ trio funk.  Have a listen andContinue Reading

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Tatiana Eva-Marie is the newest artist on the GroundUP Music roster and she brings one of the oldest music styles, manouche jazz or hot club music, to the label. It is one of the only music genres, jazz or otherwise, that is nearly universally attributed to one person, namely Django Reinhardt, a Romani born, French guitarist. He and his group, Quintette du Hot Club de France, featuring Stephane Grapelli on violin, were the delight of pre-WWII Paris.  Hot club music featured primarily string instruments, guitar, violin, bass and no percussion other than rhythm guitar and was a predecessor of swing.Continue Reading

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I’m a huge fan of the band Lawrence, but probably not a typical one in that I’m closer to their parents age than them. But, that gives me a different perspective and  insight on their music. The band is fronted by brother and sister, Clyde and Gracie Lawrence from New York and is hard to genre-fy, other than to say they are great singers, performers, lyricists and musicians. Their songs lean towards kitschy-pop with a strong portion of funk and soul. In that way, they’re probably most similar to Vulfpeck. A lot of their lyrics deal with maturing and youngContinue Reading