We the People
The Brooklyn-based Groove Collective deserves to be at the forefront of acid-jazz, that indefinable genre that here mixes postbop improvisation into a cauldron of emphatic rhythms, all the while avoiding the bland surfaces and mechanical production that usually develop when jazz gets this close to pop.We the Peoplefeatures heavy, danceable grooves that combine pulsing bass lines with dense but bright Latin percussion, surmounting it all with thick riffs from the horns. It's a group blessed with real improvisational skills, particularly those of saxophonist Jay Rodriguez and flutist Richard Worth, and it's fascinating to hear how far outside they can get while the band keeps pulsing. It's a heady mix that suggestsTito Puente,Parliament, andHerbie Hancock's Headhunters, but Groove Collective emerges with its own identity. --Stuart Broomer