Rhythm People

New York-based composer and trumpeter Eddie Allen introduced his band Push with the critically lauded album of the same title in 2014. Allen is always busy playing R&B, pop, Latin music, jazz, and classical in small ensembles, orchestras, big bands, and Broadway pit bands. Rhythm People, the first album by this group in 12 years, was released by the visionary indie label Origin. The sextet lineup includes Jonathan Beshay on tenor sax, Misha Tsiganov on electric keys, Tyler Bullock II on piano, Kenny Davis on bass, and E.J. Strickland on drums; trombonist Steve Turre guests as well. The album is aptly titled given that the majority of these 13 tunes are rooted in groove, R&B, and modern jazz using post-bop language while embracing contemporary jazz and fusion. Allen composed most of the tunes, and arranged and produced the set. The title cut opener is a case in point. Here, Latin grooves crisscross post-bop harmony as Tsiganovs marimba-like keyboards offer contrapuntal swing and are illustrated by Bullocks strident piano, Turres groove, and Stricklands sublime post-bop kit work over a funky bassline. "Between the Darkness and the Dawn" is introduced by Rhodes and acoustic piano as Allen, Beshay, and Turre play the lyric head in unison before Davis struts in with a fingerpopping vamp framing tight, beat-conscious sax and trumpet solos before a synth solo hovers atop the pianos rhythmic vamp. "Maurice," for Earth Wind & Fires Maurice White, is led by Tsiganovs canny marimba keyboard playing joining Latin and Brazilian grooves while the horns lay down a tight, post-bop lyric phrase and Beshay takes a soulful solo followed by Turres contributing gritty, swinging blues. The bands stylistic plurality is evidenced by the hard funk in "Daybreak." Its horn section borrows a line from "House of Blue Lights" atop Tsiganovs B-3. Turre delivers a rippling bone solo followed by Beshay emerging from the pocket while Allen adds a taut, fleet, bumping solo framed by bass and piano offering barely concealed reggae pulses. "The Journey" joins blues, funk, and post-bop in a biting fingerpopper that juxtaposes the vamping horns against piano and clavinet, while the rhythm section plays against the beat adding a basketful of groove. Beshays solo is meaty and blue. There are lovely, sophisticated covers of "Mood Indigo" and "Our Day Will Come" added to the originals. The syncopated percussion and Tsiganovs organ playing make the latter ballad a highlight. The urban texture in "7 Days" breezes along a rhythmic framework unafraid to make the elegant melody really pop. Closer "Eves Deception" is an exercise in NOLA-style jazz-funk with Davis, Strickland, and Bullock driving the groove before Turre brings the grease in his solo, while Allens break weaves soul-jazz, post-bop, and blues; Tsiganov paints the backdrop with organ and synths. The bottom line on Rhythm People is that the varietal rhythmic abundance, lyrical sophistication, and hip modern charts deliver a diverse, seamless interaction woven in modern jazz, R&B, and Afro-Latin traditions without sacrificing groove. ~ Thom Jurek