Jumbo Shrimp Jazz Band
Prawn Shop
*** out of *****
The New Orleans, LA based Jumbo Shrimp Jazz Band's have made their name by holding down the late night Thursday slot at The Spotted Cat Music Club on Frenchmen Street and their newest release, Prawn Shop, tries to capture some of that live energy along with the bands varied musical influences.
Lead by Colin Myers (trombone, vocals) the core group of Mike Fulton - trumpet, Dr. Sick - violin, saw, Russell Welch - guitar, Joshua Gouzy - bass, and Simon Lott - drums, mix up influences from Eastern European waltzes to country western ditties. The swinging from genre to genre, song to song can be a little jarring on Prawn Shop, but JSJB and their guests seem to be mixing up the sounds for the fun of it.
Trad jazz horns and Caribbean percussion intertwine on the opening "Kedougou", which kicks Prawn Shop off with flair and exhilarating energy; an album highlight. The band shifts gears to country with violins and twangy guitars taking centerstage on "Take My Heart To Texas" before again genre jumping, this time to the big band sound of the 1930's with "The Splash" that features excellent tenor sax and trombone work.
The band's Balkan influence comes out in the "la la la" filled "Ghost of Love" and more delicately throughout "Chorando na Primavera" which is a haunting, cinematic tune that pushes Salvador Avila's guitar and Dennis Lichtman's clarinet and mandolin, both helping out in nuanced fashion.
Vocally Myers sings in Spanish on the mixed bag of "Malambo No. 1" and doesn't truly deliver the oomph vocally on the bands upbeat, twangy cover of "Breakaway" but does deliver the goods on the saw augmented "In the Land of Beginning Again" which is very well delivered. Guest vocalist Banu Gibson takes the reigns to close out the album with "Don't Stop Dancing" from Bojack Horseman that amps up the musical theater aspect of the band.
Prawn Shop shows the range of Jumbo Shrimp Jazz Band as they successfully cut up different sounds to create their own twist on things that serves them well on the live stage and in the studio.
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