The Stepkids

The solid ground of the East coast jazz and R&B circuit on which drummer Tim Walsh, guitarist Jeff Gitelman and bassist Dan Edinberg were raised can be heard on the Stepkids' self-titled debut. It's an honour to hear as solid an album as this coming straight from the aligned hearts of these luminary pro artists, who have toured with Alicia Keys, 50 Cent and Lauryn Hill throughout their busy careers, recorded for movies, ads and produced personal albums. "Intro" bares low-tempo jazz power and the same song stylishly reappears at the close of the album on "Outra," running holistically full circle. Eight experimental musical fusions of funk, jazz, folk and soul rhythms exist between those two tracks; song titles like "Brain Ninja" and "Suburban Dream" speak volumes of some serious Funkadelic experimental dimensions this record takes. The Stepkids remind us that the power of jazz exists both in spontaneity of creation and in deep music consciousness developed through years of practice the latter allowing the former to ring true.