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 The Greyboy Allstars Live! Relaxed Records 1CD |
The Greyboy Allstars is the live project of the trip-hop wizard collective Greyboy on Ubiquity Records ('Freestylin' and 'Land of the Lost). And if it's not, all the same... The group composition is best described as GreyBoy - (Harold Todd + Steve Haney) + (Zak Najor + Chris Stilwell) = Karl Denson on Sax, Flute & Vocals and Something Close To Leadership Position, Elgin Park on Guitar and Vocals, Chris Stilwell on Bass and Vocals, Robert Walter has to shut up but gets to play the Keyboards, Zak Najor on Drums. Musically, it comes down to GreyBoy - triphop + pure jazz = steamin' jazzfunk with a smooth touch. The Ubiquity eclectic nineties approach makes room for seventies flavour and a live atmosphere, which means a yellin' crowd in between the tracks and a highly original 'This track is called [track name]' intermission, do not expect Mtume-style 'chick-chasing' ("Whoah, look at those *beep*'s *beep*, 'Tie Me Up', 1984) or Fatback-style dialogues with the crowd ("Hey you, get on that floor !", 'Mister Bass Man', 1973) . But never the less, it must have been pretty sweaty during that live recording... Individually, the tracks do not stand as firm as the little adventure rides most of the GreyBoy triphop tracks are, but as a whole, this session kicks ass. Funky, yet never ruff, jazzy, yet never cheesy plus the needed variation, from '60s style compelling sax solos to mid '70s right-on jazzfunk. Memorable moments are 'Hot Dog' (original written by Blue Note legend Lou Donaldson, 10 minutes of 'Check Out Your Mind' (original by jazz guru Curtis Mayfield), and every time that perfect raw jazz voice comes into the smooth picture. Too bad they didn't think of a better album title than 'Live!' because some of the names of their own tracks -'Toys R Us', 'Hot Pants Breakdown'- really show what this music stands for : have fun and while you're at it, push the red 'Rec.' button. outspan may00 |