Description
2020, 2×12″ LP, Pheelco Entertainment.
2020 marks two decades since eight brothers from Chicago’s South Side decided to form their own jazz-fired, New Orleans style brass band, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. To mark the milestone, they’ve decided the time is right to unleash their first studio album in two years. As with many of their previous full-length excursions, Bad Boys of Jazz is an excitable, forthright and fiery affair featuring some stonking, dancefloor-friendly moments that brilliantly blend elements of jazz, soul, funk and more. Highlights are plentiful, from the up-tempo, brass-band-house heaviness of ‘After Party’ (which doffs a sizable cap to Royal House classic ‘Can U Party’) and similarly inclined ‘In The House’, to the deep and melancholic ‘Mary’ and the low-slung brilliance of ‘What It Is’. – Juno
