An ambitious little set from Christian McBride – one that brings together 3CDs of music recorded over 2 nights of performance – all in a mode that shows McBride picking up plenty of funky touches! The group here features Geoffrey Keezer on keyboards, Ron Blake on saxes, and Terreon Gully on drums – really hitting the kit with a pounding intensity to match McBride's pulsating work on both acoustic and electric basses – jamming here a lot strongly than we remember from other studio sides. The expanded package is presented (amazingly) at the same price as a regular CD – and offers plenty of long tracks to really hear this great band stretch out in a space that's nicely between conventional jazz and some of the looser modes of the jamband underground. Guest appearances include Charlie Hunter, DJ Logic, Scratch, Eric Krasno, and Jason Moran – and titles include "Say Something", "Clerow's Flipped", "Lejos De Usted", "Sonic Tonic", "Hibiscus", "Sitting On A Cloud", "Mwandishi Outcome Jam", "Lower East Side", "See Jam Hear Jam Feel Jam", "E Jam", and "D Shuffle Jam". Lots of jams! (Jazz, Deep Funk) CD

A fantastic album from Mourning A BLKstar – even more powerful than their set dedicated to Eric Garner, and a batch of material that really gets at the righteous energy of this Cleveland combo! The group see themselves as part of the James Baldwin tradition of the artist bearing witness – and their genre-bending, gender non-confirming style really pushes forward the energy of underground soul music – as they worked together in an empty storefront in Cleveland to craft this beautiful cycle of songs initial sketches they all fleshed out together – in a mix of shifting vocal leads, heavy drums, dark guitar lines, and proud horn parts. Titles include "Sense Of An Ending", "Something JD Said", "Been Around", "Devil Get Behind Me", "Whom The Bell Tolls", "The Wants", "Deluze (Solange say rmx)", "So Young So", "The Box", and "4 Days". (Neo Soul, Deep Funk) CD

Soulful sounds from Black Pumas – a collaboration between singer Eric Burton and the great Adrian Quesada – the latter an instrumentalist and producer that you'll know from a variety of different funky projects over the years! This set might well be Adrian's ticket to the big time – as Burton's a singer with a very strong range, and great crossover potential – echoing Al Green one minute, hitting deeper vibes the next – and working alongside small combo backing that has plenty of laidback guitar lines and warm keyboards, all produced with the usual Quesada touch! Titles include "Oct 33", "Fire", "Colors", "Know You Better", "Stay Gold", "Old Man", "Confines", and "Touch The Sky". Expanded version features lots of bonus material – including "Eleanor Rigby", "Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City", "Fast Car", "Black Cat", and "I Am Ready" – plus "live in studio" versions of "Confines", "Colors", and "Oct 33". CD