Joey Morant is the kind of artist that embodies the soul of jazz. He sings, plays trumpet and gives commentary on life during this wonderful collection of songs, mostly self penned, by a meat and potatoes team of Mike LeDonne/B3-p, Mark Whitfield/g, Amadeus Morant/dr, Ted Firth/p, Max Schweiger/bs and John Simon/ts. While Morant mixes and matches the instrumentation, the general casual and heartfelt feel of this album never wavers. His singing/commentary style is wonderfully avuncular, as if he’s offering some sage advice, as on the streetwise “It’s Expensive To Be Poor” or relaxes with the B3 on a relaxed yet swinging “Long Ago and Far Away.” His horn can go into rapid fire mode as on the shuffling “Wacky, Lacky , Clacky,” frisky on the post Monk boppish “Joey’s Theme,” lovely and warm during “My Mother’s Eyes” or completely bel canto on his aria with Conley on a drop dead Rita Hayward gorgeous “Don’t Blame Me.” Whitfield gets some licks in on the hip read of “Star Spangled Blues” and Simon gets down on the boogaloo-ing take of “Sidewinder.” But this is Morant’s world, and he makes you feel right at home while he takes you on a journey on “Hey There.” Blue collar bop! As my dad used to say, “It’s guys like that that have made America great.”