Trumpeter Roy Hargrove drops funky on this six-track, 45-minute "EP." Teamed with a smorgasbord of musicians track-to-track, Hargrove throws down with everyone from bassist Pino Palladino to saxophonist
Karl Denson to a slew of keyboard players including Bobby Sparks as well as a handful of vocalists -- Hargrove gets into the vocal act as well. While this reads like a sure-fire recipe for disaster, it's nothing like that actually. This is deep groove jazz-funk and it's played in the pocket, fat and greasy. Recommended cuts include "Rich Man's Welfare," and the awesome, ten-minute, "Universe (Bigga Than You Know It Is Mix)." ~ Thom Jurek