Just when you started losing hope in the new generation of jazz artists…
Larry Wilson plays drums, percussion, B3, keyboards, bass, sings and I think he swept up the studio after all of the recording was done as well. He mixes and matches artists and styles on this wide ranging album that goes from jazz to soul to R&B and even the church There’s a core team of Wilson with Joshua Bowlus/p-key and Lawrence Buckner-Mike Perez-Jeremy Sauer/b as well as a bopping horn section of saxes (Jesus Rodriguez, Todd Delgudice, Daniel Dickenson) and brass (Bryant Paterson, Ray Calendar, Cory Wilcox).
As far as styles, these guys are stylin’! The horns and rhythm can get moody with Delgudice’s tenor as he goes from rubato to kinetic during “On The Move” while Wilson rides the whip as the unison horns bop with delight on the hefty “Ode To Oscar.” Some soulful R&B with vocals by Akia Uwanda on You Seem Familiar” mixes Wilson’s busy sticks with gracious piano work by Bowlus, and a folksy Caribbean groove by the leader as well as some rich B3 team up with his voice on “I See You.” Wilson and company deliver a funky Monkish march on “Light.” The drummer brings you to the church pew with “The Lord’s Prayer” performed with Celeste Betton’s voice in perfect pulse, and the album closes with a rollicking “Tutu’s Jig” that has the horns stampeding to the finish. If there isn’t something on this album that stirs you, you need a new whisk.