The New Mastersounds is a funk and soul-jazz band that came out of the northern English city of Leeds in the mid-1990s. Made For Pleasure is their 10th album, but the first time I’ve heard about them was when a track from this release was played on my local jazz radio station. Hooray for radio, right?
The core of the band consists of guitarist Eddie Roberts, drummer Simon Allen, bassist Pete Shand, and keyboardist Joe Tatton, although they’re joined by a raft of guests on this outing. For this 10th studio album they decided to record in New Orleans, the home of their type of music, and the spirit of the whole album pays homage to the eclectic spirit of the Crescent City. The two opening tracks, “Made For Pleasure” and “High & Wide,” are both flat-out Meters-style funk with a driving beat, lots of electric bass and plenty of sweet Hammond B-3 organ from Tatton. On High & Wide we first hear from horn players Joe Cohen (tenor sax) and Mike Olmos (trumpet), both of whom play with guitarist Roberts in his U.S.-based band West Coast Sounds. The two of them even face off in dueling solos at one point on “High & Wide.”
The album also features plenty of old-school soul jazz that would have been right at home on CTI in the 1970s, including my favorite, the closing track Tranquilo, a funky meditation led by Tatton on electric piano, with a little bit of synth and some sweet horns. “Cigar Time” showcases Roberts’s guitar work laid atop the bubbling organ and backed by that smoldering horn section. The cinematic “Sitting On My Knees,” a soul-jazz arrangement of the song by the British psychedelic band Dave Pike Set, has some amazingly hot picking by Roberts. Cooling things down a bit is the soul-jazz ballad “Pho Baby,” with Tatton’s electric piano taking the lead.
The guests really help this disc shine and add variety. North Carolina-based singer and Native American activist Charly Lowry (who in 2014 recorded with Rhiannon Giddens of Carolina Chocolate Drops), sings on three tracks. I particularly enjoy “Joy,” on which her powerful vocals call to mind young Aretha. She also sings on “Just Gotta Run” and the upbeat, gospel-inflected “Joy.” And the heavily funky classic soul of “Enough Is Enough” complete with a serious horn chart. The Denver-based reggae singer Spellbinder drops in for a seriously deep cover of Iggy Azalea’s hip-hop hit “Fancy,” and frequent collaborator Mike Dillon contributes vibes and tabla to “Let’s Do Another.” The vibes, shimmering wah-wah guitar, funky bass guitar and the horn section playing lead runs, make this one sound like it’s right off an early ’70s Herbie Hancock session.
Here’s an entertaining video about the making of the album, in case my fumbling attempts to describe its riches have failed.
Royal Potato Family, 2015
The New Mastersounds have a website and are on Facebook.
