tracks

Nothing From Nothing
Off The Wall
Panama Jack
Just My Imagination
JBB Secondline
Give It To Me Baby
Brownout
Beautiful Girls
Blue Light
Part Time Lover
Bad News
Mardi Gras Mambo
Hot Ham Sandwich
Lean On Me
Let’s Get It On

notes

Taken from booklet:
The music of the streets of New Orleans has come back to get you, but this time it’s coming from Minneapolis... that’s right Minneapolis. The Jack Brass Band has taken a great sound and turned the corner with it, like we would say at home in New Orleans, “They went uptown and took downtown with them.”

I like where these guys are going for several reasons - playing pop and R&B songs as well as original compositions that not only sound like the streets of New Orleans, but also playing the music in their own interpretation. For example, Michael Jackson’s “Off The Wall” is New Orleans Brass Band meets Chicago; it reminded me of when the Dirty Dozen Brass Band took off from the street back in the 1980’s and changed brass band landscape forever.

Originals, like “JBB Secondline” reaches to the streets of New Orleans and gets there - like a Sunday Social & Pleasure Club parade, “Brownout” also hits home for me in it’s sound. “Panama Jack” goes in a different direction, with a great Latin groove. With four different members of the band writing the originals on this disc, there’s a lot of talent and diversification in the offerings.

The band also has works together as a unit extremely well, as they cover such greats as Billy Preston’s “Nothing From Nothing”; Rick James’ “Give It To Me Baby”; Bill Wither’s “Lean On Me”; and (Minneapolis’ own) Prince’s “Blue Light” - all with a unique approach that takes familiar tunes and makes them “new” and danceable with the rhythms and pulse of New Orleans.

The first time I heard this CD was on a trans-Atlantic flight, and I was rocking the ship all the way to Berlin. This is a “Must Hear.”

George Porter, Jr.
Premier Bass Player from New Orleans (the Meters)

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