horns Archives - ContemporaryJazz.com

Soul Funk from Lettuce

John Hilderbrand — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 15:02:13 +0000

Lettuce has a sweet new funk-groove single, “Monorail 3000.” The track pays homage to The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, with a pocket rhythm section, hypnotic grooves, and sultry horn lines.

“‘Monorail 3000’ is an ode to ‘J.B Monaurail’, one of our favorite James Brown tunes. The mood of the song is cool and steady. All aboard, everyone!” says drummer Adam Deitch. Listen now!

The post Soul Funk from Lettuce appeared first on ContemporaryJazz.com.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

John Hilderbrand — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 21:18:32 +0000

I was in NYC for the Big East Basketball Tournament last week, feasting on incredible ball, walking 7th Avenue back and forth from the DoubleTree in Times Square to the Garden, twice a day for the double headers. As I’m walking back from the Garden and approaching 42nd Street on Thursday afternoon, I hear the distinctive sound of a brass band, a few blocks away, thinking that it’s probably a bunch of kids from one of the schools that got knocked out of the tournament that day from one of the two early games. But, as I get closer, I start hearing Latin, Reggae, odd syncopated rhythms, this was no college marching band! In front of the Subway sandwich shop on 7th near 42nd, was a group of guys playing the most hypnotic and trance like jazz-jam-reggae that I have ever heard; trying to sell their CDs to the sizeable crowd which had gathered to listen to them. I had never heard of the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, but I made sure to catch their name. Incredibly, they were still there playing, two hours later, when I walked past on my way back to the Garden for the late games! That night when I got back to my hotel, I immediately started searching for this incredible group. I found theirMySpace page and blog, and also downloaded their first two recordings from iTunes. If you like music that you can’t stop bobbing your head to, that makes you want to get up and dance, or just puts a huge smile on your face – give these guys from Chicago a shot!

The post Hypnotic Brass Ensemble appeared first on ContemporaryJazz.com.

Review: Supercharged from Down to the Bone

John Hilderbrand — Thu, 31 May 2007 11:00:50 +0000

Down to the Bone has the perfect summer soundtrack with their fun and funky new release Supercharged. True to the title, this release is a pumped-up, constant jam that won’t let your body remain idle. It needs a warning label – “Product contains powerful horns (props to Shilts and the D.C. Horns), percolating bass, mean guitar by Tony Remy, and relentless energy – may leave you exhausted after play!”

Supercharged sounds like it should be listened to in the sunshine, preferably driving down the highway with the top down. It conjures up summer imagery, especially on two of my favorite tracks. “Parkside Shuffle” is a nice, sweet tune, reminiscent of a walk in the park, that builds into an unbelievably infectious melody around the two-minute mark. Hil St. Soul adds a strong vocal effort to the uplifting “Smile to Shine.” A flavorful bass line and welcome trumpet and trombone solos at the end only make a great song better.

Maybe I’m not looking hard enough, but it’s rare to hear this kind of music released and receiving mass distribution in the States. Buy this release when it comes out on June 18. Not only will you get music you’ll enjoy all season/year long but maybe enough copies will sell to justify more funky soulful jazz recordings.

The post Review: Supercharged from Down to the Bone appeared first on ContemporaryJazz.com.