Out to Lunch

On the opening track of their debut Excuse Me While I Do The Boogaloo, Brooklyn soul jazz band Out To Lunch almost musically typecast their sound on the strength of Eric Lane’s surging Hammond B-3 and JB-style horn action. However, bass clarinettist/bandleader David Levy wisely directs OTL away from the seductive Jimmy Smith/Cold Sweat sound vortex, instead composing a melodically balanced mix between avant jazz, meshed genres and funky bounce. Levy’s liner notes confess that Boogaloo derives great inspiration from Eric Dolphy’s 1964 jazz classic Out To Lunch. And indeed, "Me & Minskers” and "When You Hear The Music” feature intense bass clarinet improvising. But Boogaloo’s dynamic diversity is most striking when engineer Kris Smith sound designs a seamless DJ-style mix of musical Americana (and Caribbeanna), stretching from the ambient jazz house of "Sebbie Says” to the sinewy dub-wise klezmer fusion of "Maudlin Eleven.” You’ll also hear salsa, soundtrack jazz and more within these dozen tracks. But the Crescent city funk of "New Orleans Awaits” and its jazz gospel follow-up "Magnanimous Fellow” end Boogaloo on a bittersweet post-Katrina note.