Things get funky here as Manuel Valera uses his Rhodes, Minimoog, Phrophet 08 and Hammond B3 on ten originals with a hep team of EJ Strickland-Jeff “Tain” Watts/dr, John Benitez/b, John Ellis/ts-bcl and Nir Felder/b along with a few guests. The band is able to boogaloo on Broadway as Felder and Ellis’s tenor groove on “121st Street” and mix rock with bop with Ellis’ tricky line on “Coming Down” and the post bopping “Never Absent.” The B3 gets real pbluesy with Felder on “As ILisen” and Beitez slaps the electric bass on the head bobbing “Little By Little.” On the gentler side, Felder croons with Valera’s Rhodes on the ballad “Gliding” before things get revved up on the kicker “New Ways.” This team knows how to sizzle like dry rub BBQ
Destiny Records