There may not be a band with a mission more plainly stated in its name than Jazz Funk Soul, a supergroup set up in 2013 by Jeff Lorber, Chuck Loeb and Everette Harp. This is the kind of music these three could make in their sleep but there’s something about hotshots being in the same room as other hotshots that makes them raise their game – and have a lot of fun in the process.
After two well-received albums, that fun ground to a halt with the tragic passing of Loeb on July 31, 2017. Undoubtedly as Loeb would have wanted, however, Lorber and Harp soldiered on.
Loeb is irreplaceable, really, but the surviving two reconvened and brought on another irreplaceable guitarist, Paul Jackson, Jr. A veteran of memorable recording sessions going back to the ’70s, this guitar ace has worked with legends ranging from Aretha Franklin and the Temptations to Michael Jackson and Steely Dan; his list of credits is longer than Easter Mass. He’s also appeared on eight or nine Jeff Lorber albums and four Harp albums, so the newest member of Jazz Funk Soul is actually an old, familiar associate.
The reconstituted band already has Jazz Funk Soul album #3 Life and Times in the can, and the stream above is an advance track from that record, “Windfall.” It features a signature Lorber strutting groove, and soon Harp’s gospel-drenched sax doing its funky expressions. Jackson quickly follows with his familiar tasty licks imbibed with the blues and Lorber makes his short turns on piano count. It sounds like Jazz Funk Soul is going to be alright, after all.
Life and Times is set for release by Shanachie Entertainment on January 25, 2019.
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