The Lao Tizer Band: Songs from the Swinghouse

Keyboardist Lao Tizer fronts an 11 member band that is filled with swinging funk, not dissimilar to vintage Tower of Power and AWB. Along with Eric Mrienthal-Steve Nieves/sax, Chieli Minucci-Jeff Marshall/g, Ric Fierabracci-Cheikh N’Doye/b, Karen Briggs/vi, Tita Hutchison/foc, Munyungo Jackson/perc and a slew of guests, Tizer mixes his own compositions with some clever takes on covers. Hip soul with punchy horns gets the feet moving on “The Source” with  Briggs’ violin adding a Latin gypsy flavor on “16th Heaven.” Hutchison’s voice delivers a hip reading of Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On” as well as a lilting and pastoral take of Cat Stevens’ “Sad Lisa” while she and the team get funkified on “Metropolis.” Impressive and catchy.

www.laotizer.com

Leave a Reply