Album Review: Conspiracy from Rich Willey's Boptism Funk Band

-

Album:  Conspiracy
Artist:  Rich Willey's Boptism Funk Band
Label:  Wise Cat Records
Website: www.boptism.com/conspiracy

Big Band music with a tinge of R&B blended into the mixture, Rich Willey's Boptism Funk Band makes jolly good music on their new CD Conspiracy.  Track after track is layered in throbbing drumbeats, rotating guitar chords, and a variety of traipsing adventures paved by the medley of horns, which give the compositions multifaceted traits.

Bobby Floyd's moaning Hammond B3 organ drives squiggling lines across "Clip Clop Mogul," which alternate with the bevy of horns scrolling a cluster of wiggling motions in a random fashion.  The jazz funk flapping produced by the musicians elevate the listener to that jolly place where the band wants their audiene to be.  Keeping up the merriment is the bopping toots of the horns piping "Adrenaline Rush," fringed in a tooling of twizzling guitar riffs from Dave Stryker.

The sunny tone of the horns shower dollops of buoyant jaunts along "Blessed are the Hip" as Stryker's guitar strings ramble into a series of consonant verses.  The correspondence produced by the instruments projects the image of dancing in a free-style and cohesive frolick.  The funky grooves of "Brother Kenya's Paradigm" are tweaked by the roaming flaps of the saxophone and trumpet, creating a crowd of several voices all complementing one another and moving in the same direction.

The jolly jiggles created by Rich Willey's Boptism Funk Band bring many voices together along the sound passages, producing a cohesive amalgamation.  The old world of bop and Big Band meet new world free-style jazz and R&B/funk on the band's new CD.  The merging of old thread with new patterns of embroidery bodes well with Rich Willey's Boptism Funk Band.

Musicians:
Bobby Floyd - Hammond B3 Organ & Piano
Byron “Wookie” Landham - Drums
Dave Stryker - Guitar
Wally Minko - Fender Rhodes and Synthesizer
Rich Willey - Bass Trumpet & Trumpet
Mike Boone, - 5-String Electric Bass
Dan Fornero - Trumpet & Flugelhorn
John Swana - Valve Trombone & EVI
Tom Evans - Tenor Sax, Alto Sax, Clarinet, Flute, Baritone Sax
David Mann - Tenor Sax & Soprano Sax

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Album Review: This Could Be The Start from Linda Purl

-
Image
Album: This Could Be The Start Artist:  Linda Purl Label: Reaching Records Website:  https://www.lindapurl.com Vocalist Linda Purl and her music director Tedd Firth come together for their fourth album, This Could Be the Start .  The collection contains Purl's reimagination of a handful of jazz standards, tailored to her vocal specifications.  Supported by an intimate cadre of musicians that include bassist David Finck, drummer Ray Marchica and reed player Nelson Rangell, Purl finesses a selection of Great American Songbook jewels with a contemporary sheen. The playful merengue rhythm driving "Blue Moon," a swinging romp written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, is trussed in Ray Marchica's percolating percussion and a profusion of jutting keys performed by Ted Firth.  The track steps out of the customary schematics of swing jazz bolstered by blues vocals and articulates a Latin-imbued tremor.  The bossa nova curves shaping one of Cole Porter's signature pieces,
Read more

Album Review: The Ways In from James Zollar

-
Image
Album:  The Ways In Artist:  James Zollar Label:  Label: JZAZ Records Websites:  https://www.rsberkeley.com/james-zollar https://www.discogs.com/artist/954763-James-Zollar https://wyntonmarsalis.org/personnel/detail/james-zollar A straight-ahead jazz oeuvre, The Ways In from bandleader and trumpet player James Zollar resumes a quest where pioneers of the trumpet's sympathetic vibrations like Clifford Brown and Bill Coleman left off.  Zollar shows audiences the delightful, melodious tone of the trumpet, moving in harmony with an array of brass, woodwinds, and rhythm instruments. The robust wails of Zollar's trumpet strutting languidly along "Do Nothing 'till You Hear From Me" emotes an enduring personable trait, unwavering persistence in the face of being dejected.  The recording switches to a joyful atmosphere in "Swing Spring" with jangly beats from percussionist Chembo Corniel, interfacing with the buoyant ripples generated by Michael Rorby's trom
Read more

Album Review: Globetrotter from Luca di Luzio

-
Image
Album:  Globetrotter Artist:  Luca di Luzio Label:  Self-Released Website:  www.lucadiluzio.it   Guitarist Luca di Luzio's upcoming CD, Globetrotter  is an assortment of contemporary jazz tunes bridging funk, blues, soul, and Latin music.  Comprised of a few jazz standards and a handful of original works written by Luca di Luzio, a prolific guitar player who studied different styles of music, the recording expresses his personal vision of jazz guitar based on melody and groove.  Joining Di Luzio in his vision are bass guitarist Jimmy Haslip, drummer Dave Wecki, keyboardist George Whitty, and saxophonists Max Ionata and Alessandro Fariselli. From dance-funk numbers like "Jazzlife" and "Elisir" to the soft billows and reflective moods projected in "Smile" and " Buena Suerte," Di Luzio's artistry stems from his vision to make music that is aesthetically pleasing.  "Sunshower," a tune written by Kenny Barron, is a pr
Read more