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The Jazz Defenders have recently become a personal favorite. They truly ‘defend’ the art of jazz pumping out fresh sounds with deep roots. This is just their third album and their previous one ‘King Phoenix’ was one of my top albums of 2022 (review here). ‘Memory in Motion’ is a great mixture conjuring up various artists of the past but adding melodic twists and turns for an enjoyable scenic journey. The tightness of the quintet format allows the horns and piano to tell the story while the drums and bass rev the engine. I know that readers and followers ofContinue Reading

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Joe Marcinek has been consistently putting out excellent, interesting albums for several years now with a rotating group of musicians that keeps the music ever fresh and evolving. His latest release, 1 River Street, was recorded in Massachusetts at Iron Wax Studios with Alan Evans producing and on drums, Nate Edgar on bass, Kris Yunker on keys, Brian Thomas on trombone and Alex Lee-Clark on trumpet and Jared Sims on sax and flute.  It’s a tight collection of eight sharply-honed tunes, each with a different flair to appeal to all lovers of groove-oriented music. I feel like the the flexibilityContinue Reading

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“Mustard n’Onions,” the just-released, double helping of funk from Ghost-Note has been cookin’ for six-years and its savory beats strike my main nerve. Ghost-Note, the brainchild of Robert “Sput” Searight and Nate Werth, coming out of Snarky Puppy nearly ten years ago, is now a bona fide funk factory. This album of course features the powerfully, kinetic collaboration of Nate and Sput on percussion and drums with a rock steady rhythm section, a truly effervescent horn section and psychedelic keys throughout.  To top it off, they’ve brought in a legendary guest list including Benard Wright (keys) and Casey Benjamin (sax),Continue Reading

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Stings, the third studio album from Kamaal Williams is a masterpiece and FunkCity.net’s 2023 Album of the Year. This large compendium stretches across 13 tunes and almost as many genres, from hip-hop to acid jazz to neo-classical. The diversity of the vibes keeps it interesting from start to finish.  In a year when there were many stellar releases, Stings stands out for its depth and breadth of scenic imagery. Each song is part of a colorful tapestry, conjuring up calming feelings at one turn (The Last Symphony, Little River) to adrenaline pumping energy at another (Stings, Dogtown).  Kamaal, born HenryContinue Reading

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On Becoming from House of Waters is a stunning album all around — an exquisite listening journey that takes you to places you’ve not previously imagined.  Max ZT (hammered dulcimer) and Moto Fukushima (6-string bass) are joined by Antonio Sanchez on drums, and they weave a tapestry of feelings that will soothe your soul. It’s incredible to have a trio create such a richness in sound. Max can make his instrument sound like a harp or piano among other instruments and naturally as a dulcimer. Moto’s two-handed playing on the bass gives him astonishing range as well. And Antonio, newContinue Reading

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The Soul Sessions is an album I’ve been looking forward to most of the year after reviewing The Funk Sessions back in April. Like its predecessor, it was recorded live by Speedometer at the legendary Studio 3 in Abbey Roads Studios in London. Universal Music commissioned both albums for their Abbey Road Masters label and released them on all digital platforms. This iteration pays homage to Motown and you can hear it instantly and all the way through. It’s authentic, from the soulful riffs of horns, the tasty licks of guitar, the thumping rhythm section, and the handclaps and backingContinue Reading

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Bokanté encapsulates world rhythms like no other band. The band is the brainchild of Snarky Puppy’s Michael League and a vehicle for the marvelous vocals of Malika Tirolien, along with a roster of some of the most uniquely accomplished musicians around. Bokanté’s albums are always a treat. The songs are always percussion rich due to the amazing crew of Weedie Braimah, Keita Ogawa, Jamey Haddad and André Ferrari with a huge battery of instruments and sounds. They are offset by the amazing string instrument team of Michael League, Chris McQueen, Bob Lanzetti and Roosevelt “The Dr.” Collier. Malika is anContinue Reading

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Jonathan Scales is the current world leader steel pannist and each of his albums are great listens end to end. He follows his predecessor pannists Dave Samuels (Spyro Gyra), Andy Narell (Caribbean Jazz Project), and Robert Greenidge (Jimmy Buffet) in bringing the island sound to the world jazz scene. In his own words, RE-POTTED arose and “began production shortly after relocating to NYC from North Carolina, just months before the pandemic, and this conceptual album explores what it means to ‘uproot & replant’ into a more expansive yet more challenging environment.” In addition to the young lions Maison Guidry onContinue 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