{"id":19888,"date":"2020-10-17T05:30:46","date_gmt":"2020-10-17T09:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=19888"},"modified":"2020-10-15T14:44:32","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T18:44:32","slug":"album-review-the-greyboy-allstars-como-de-allstars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/17\/album-review-the-greyboy-allstars-como-de-allstars\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: The Greyboy Allstars — Como De Allstars"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Greyboy Allstars released their debut, West Coast Boogaloo<\/i>, in 1994. That album, a collaboration with the great Fred Wesley, was reissued on vinyl this year<\/a>. Now \u2013 more than a quarter century later, a period that included a seven-plus year break for the soul jazz ensemble \u2013 they return with their sixth album, Como <\/i>D<\/i>e Allstars<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Members have come and gone since the early days, but four of the five founding members \u2013 Karl Denson (sax), Elgin Park (guitar), keyboardist Robert Walter and Chris Stillwell on bass — are still on board. The band\u2019s sound hasn\u2019t changed radically since \u201894, but that\u2019s not a bad thing: The Greyboy Allstars excell at finding new and tasty grooves that operate within their chosen style.<\/p>\n

The virtuosity of the players means that \u2013 like any jazz outfit worth its stripes \u2013 The greyboy Allstars can trade licks at will or give the spotlight to a single player for an entire tune. More often than not, they take the fomrer route, delivering memorable, powerful and deeply groovy melodic runs from Walter, Denson and Park (aka Mike Andrews).<\/p>\n

When it comes to soul jazz, my own tastes lean heavily in favor of instrumental work. As such, cuts like \u201cWarm Brass\u201d don\u2019t do al ot ofr me; that track dials back the qualities that make the group special in favor of a sound that\u2019s \u2026 well, fine<\/i>, but nothing special. Como De <\/i>A<\/i>llstars<\/i>is at its very best when the band focuses on their instruments.<\/p>\n

The album\u2019s musical focus is \u2013 as the title telegraphs \u2013 Latin-flavored. But those Afro-Cuban and South American flavors are worked into the band\u2019s character in such a way that they never sound dilettantish. When Denson plays flute (or multiple overdubbed flutes, as on \u201cCatalina\u201d), the overall effect is reminiscent of some of Herbie Mann\u2019s best work.<\/p>\n

Fans of soulful, gurgling organ work will thrill to these tunes as well; Walter\u2019s playing is never less than interesting, and it\u2019s always tuneful. Park\u2019s guitar work is sometimes understated, but it too never fails to impress. Como De Allstars<\/i> is successful as a listening experience, but because of the joy that the musicians put into it, it\u2019s really more than that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Greyboy Allstars released their debut, West Coast Boogaloo, in 1994. That album, a collaboration with the great Fred Wesley, was reissued on vinyl this year. Now \u2013 more than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,49,65,69],"tags":[4320],"class_list":["post-19888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jazz","category-new-release","category-review","category-soul","tag-the-greyboy-allstars","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","cat-69-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19890,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19888\/revisions\/19890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}