CD Review
Motor City Street Band
"Sun Street Boogie"
(Sun Sounds)
by Mike Martindale
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Mardi Gras meets Motown in this fusion put together by the Motor City Street Band. The group was formed in 1993 as a side product of Detroit's popular Sun Messengers. The Street Band began strutting their stuff before Detroit Piston and Detroit Shock games and in the past six years have developed a nice mix of New Orleans style jazz (ala the Dirty Dozen Brass Band) with some funk tossed in for good measure. The result is a fresh, brassy, sassy sound on this independent release. The eight tracks on "Sun Street Boogie" show off the band's five horns and two drummers. Talk about unplugged! Baritone sax man Rick Steiger says the concept was to be "completely acoustic and completely mobile" and be able to parade into an audience at will, like one of his musical heroes, Sun Ra. They've even done a couple of traditional jazz funerals. Most of all "Sunstreet Boogie" is a fun, phat 42-plus minutes, about equally split originals and covers, including the
Parliament's "Up For The Back Stroke" and James Brown's "Make It Funky." And if those don't wake you up there's the New Orleans classic "Lil' Liza Jane" and a very lively "Sahara Samba" that will have music lovers both marching and dancing in the streets this summer. Contact Sun Sounds at P.O. Box 24668, Detroit, Mich. 48224 or rsteiger@africassette.com.
This review is copyright © 1999 by Mike Martindale, and Blues On Stage, all rights reserved.
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