by The New Underground
Waterway Productions, 2007

The New Underground is one of several newer area bands—including Mac Tough, Out of Print, Analog Method and Organsim, among others—that are exploring various aspects of the jazz-funk movement pioneered by Herbie Hancock and myriad others in the 1970s. All of these groups bring a healthy 21st Century mentality to the music.

The New Underground’s debut CD, “Urban Suite,” the band seeks to establish its footing within the genre, and it does so with mixed results. This is a solid first effort, and I mean that in the positive sense. There’s some very fine solo work from various members, and the band has a cohesive and somewhat provocative sound. But there are times when I find the music itself to be lacking. More on that in a moment.

As mentioned, much of the soloing on Urban Suite is first-rate. Saxophonist Sean Berry, in particular, plays with inspired passion throughout, especially on tunes such as The “Uncommon Man,” “Seventh Avenue South” and a funked up version of McCoy Tyner’s “Passion Dance.” The twin keyboards of Ben Zecker on organ and Ryan Parker on piano are no less inspired and create interesting ensemble textures within the music when not soloed. Drummer Eric Donnelly lays down nice grooves, although he seems to be holding back somewhat and not engaging the other players more assertively within the music, as I know he is very capable of doing. Bridget Kearney adds terrific bass work on “Is The Soul,” “Turn the Corner” and the title cut. It may have given the music more vitality if she had played on the entire CD.

What prevents this CD from completely engaging me is that most of tunes have a similar lowdown, funk-rock groove with only occasional subtle harmonic twists to distinguish one tune from the next. At times, it comes off more as mood music than music to inspire heightened levels of creativity. More variety of style, such as some swing here, a Latin groove there and a variety of tempos, would give many of these tunes the added lift they need, such as on “Turn the Corner,” “Get By” or “In The Midst.” Only the tune “The Autumn Project” stands out in that it makes use of a gospel-ish back-beat groove.

Still, this is definitely a good first effort with a group that has a lot of potential if it’s willing to expand its stylistic scope a little.