Down to the Bone - Spread the Word

Acid Jazz - Down to the Bone - Spread the Word

People who complain that today's contemporary jazz is a bit too smooth need to get the word on this outfit and in particular its third disc, which follows in the tradition of British acts like Brand New Heavies that blend acid jazz, jazz, pop, retro soul, modern R&B, and (dare we discern) a little disco?

The funky and bluesy bounce and throb of the opening cut, "Keep on Keepin' On," is hard to resist. Mixing brass and the piano riffs of Neil Angilley creates an hypnotic effect over a punchy retro soul guitar flavor by Tony Remy. But the core tune is driven by the alto sax of Adrian Revell.

So many elements, a simple description can't contain them all. "Sound as a Pound" opens with some modern synth effects and a croaking bassline combined with Remy's retro rhythm guitars; the lead is given to Angilley's playful jazzy piano melody, and a horn section comes in after a few bars to echo his jumpy spirit. "Bridgeport Boogie" is like a classic Crusaders tune, all dancing horn melody over Rhodes and electric organ for that perfect simmering '70s sheen.

Interesting that the tune named "Righteous Reeds" begins with such a dramatic percussion jungle; the horns are fine, but the least dynamic part of the song! "The Backburner" begins the same way, giving percussionist Satin Singh a dramatic showcase for himself. "Downtown Shuffle" is all wah-wah guitar, pounding bass energy, and whimsical brass that soars to the heavens.

A lot of instrumental albums these days take a breather for a radio-ready ballad, but these guys might consider such a break unimaginative or downright blasphemous. So might the listener who keeps on boppin' along.

1. Keep On Keepin' On
2. Sound As A Pound
3. Righteous Reeds
4. Bridge Port Boogie
5. Soul Brother No.1
6. Downtown Shuffle
7. Black Choice
8. The Backburner
9. The Lowdown
10. Mighty Mighty Fine

Down to the Bone's Website

Get Down to the Bone - Spread the Word at Amazon


3 comments:

aj said...

enjoy

We're Late For Class said...

Hey Acidheads,

We’re Late For Class here.

We hope you might like to post our 30th release on your blog. It’s dumb and fun and sure to tick somebody off... and it’s called The Jim Morrison Seance Tapes.

Below is a link for the codes to post any & all of The Jim Morrison Seance Tapes on your blog for free (links, cover, FULL Mp3 player, etc). Your readers might enjoy it and we’d get some free publicity for our free music and free blog. Our folks would love you for it... and we also have pictures of sad-eyed puppies, in case we’re forced to send those, too. Drop us a line so we can add you to our “Bloggers Kind Enough To Promote Us Even Though There's Zilch In It For Them” list. We get almost all our traffic from other bloggers so a link would make all of our collective pants happy.
Thanks, as always.
WLFC
http://werelateforclass.blogspot.com

PRIVATE Link for you to get Codes and Links (Don’t post this link please)
http://werelateforclass.blogspot.com/2007/04/codes-for-posting-jim-morrison-seance.html


PRESS RELEASE
July 7, 2008

‘We’re Late For Class’ Jams With Jim Morrison

Via a medium, stoner college jam band We’re Late For Class performed a 14 minute improvisational space jam along with the disembodied voice of Jim Morrison, the late singer of The Doors.

“Why not!?,” said a We’re Late For Class spokesman. “It's cheaper than a living singer, what with classified ads, lodging and alcohol... and besides, you know how lead singers are to deal with.”

It’s entitled The Jim Morrison Seance Tapes and is their 30th. It’s available for free at the band’s blog, http://werelateforclass.blogspot.com

“So you don't think this is just something we slapped together with old recordings and ProTools... (you can hear) the engineer ask Jim for the ‘post-death stuff... the stuff without copyrights,’” the spokesman persisted. “In the end,” he said, ”it went smoother than our Screamin' Jay Hawkins seance.”

The free download also includes a 14 minute instrumental version for those that don’t buy the premise.

contact: werelateforclass@hotmail.com.

PiGGY said...

I like Down to the Bone, and Brand new heavies, and Incognito of course.
Nice to see a good AcidJazz blog here, i'll often visit by.
Nice Job!

What is Acid Jazz?

Acid jazz (also known as club jazz) is a musical genre that combines elements of soul music, funk, disco, particularly looping beats and modal harmony. It developed over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance/pop music.

The compositions of groups such as The Brand New Heavies and Incognito often feature chord structures usually associated with Jazz music. The Heavies in particular were known in their early years for beginning their songs as catchy pop and rapidly steering them into jazz territory before "resolving" the composition and thus not losing any pop listeners but successfully "exposing" them to jazz elements in "baby steps".

The acid jazz "movement" is also seen as a "revival" of jazz-funk or jazz fusion or soul jazz by leading DJs such as Norman Jay or Gilles Peterson or Patrick Forge, also known as "rare groove crate diggers".