Come De Allstars＜Colored Vinyl＞

On their fifth studio album and first since 2013s Inland Emperor, the Greyboy Allstars dive into a fertile funk and Latin stew that evokes the work of classic 60s and 70s artists. Having initially started out in the 90s as an acid jazz collaboration between rare groove DJ Greyboy and saxophonist/flutist Karl Denson, the Greyboy Allstars evolved into vibrant purveyors of old-school funk and soul-jazz. Though DJ Greyboy occasionally works with the band, since the mid-2000s the group has largely centered on Denson, guitarist Elgin Park, keyboardist Robert Walter, bassist Chris Stillwell, and drummer Aaron Redfield, all of whom are featured on 2020s Como de Allstars. Though it took the Greyboy Allstars seven years to get into the studio and record Como de Allstars, they finished the album quickly in just three days. The brevity shows in positive ways and the record has an organic energy that grabs your attention from the start. The album kicks off with the title track, a Latin Tropicalia anthem marked by a bright flute and sax melody and group vocals, all of which bring to mind a vibrant mash-up of Sergio Mendes and Sly and the Family Stone. More vintage vibes follow with The Skipper, a crisply attenuated head bobber with a sample-worthy bass and drum groove that sets up spiraling solos from Park, Denson, and Walter, the latter of whom lays into his Hammond B-3 organ with eye-wrinkling gusto. Elsewhere, whip-crack snare hits, crunchy, fuzz-tone guitar licks, and slippery rubber-band bass riffs abound as the Allstars offer up what could easily be an evenings worth of prime-time early-70s library music. We get Catalina with its Sanford & Son-go-on-a-sea-cruise aesthetic, Complete Breakfast with its Baretta-meets-Barney Miller textures, and The Executive with its loping, good-time groove that sounds like Starsky & Hutch out at the club. Theres even a left-field leap into late-60s psychedelic country twang on Warm Brass, complete with vocals and sax accompaniment that sounds improbably like the Byrds featuring Joe Henderson. ~ Matt Collar