Yes, music can be fun!
Singing and playing trumpet, Jumaane Smith boogaloos with Ian Hendrickson-Smith/sax, Dave Rosenthal/g, Will Gorman/keys, Carmen Intorre Jr/perc and a pair of background singers on this jumping and sweaty collection of stompers. Hi s horn wails on the funky “Chief” and the soulfully strutting “I’M Gone” and he adds a gritty touch to R&Bers like “Wang Dang Doodle”. The blues are painted with a wide brush with “St. James Infirmary” and the team boogies on “I Know” and Bops” for “The Other Side Of Me”.As they used to say in the day, he’s bare footin’!
Blues rocking guitarist Duke Robillard joins together Mark Teixeira/drr, Marty Ballou/b, Matt McCabe/p, Doug James/ts-bs, Rich Lataille/as-ts, Pam Murray/tb and some cameo guests for a mix of originals and covers that sound like they were recorded in STAX studios back in the 1950s. McCabe’s piano strides right on Fats Domino’s “Are You Going My Way” and takes a trip to Kansas City for “I Know You Love Me”. Robillard and company roll like a locomotive on “Boogie Woogie Country Girl” and the saxes sear through “Blue Coat Man”. This album needs gloves in order to open, it’s that hot!