Country : United States Label : Knowledge Room Genres and styles : Boogaloo / Funk / Soul Jazz Year : 2020

Como De Allstars

· by Rupert Bottenberg

It’s been over a quarter-century since The Greyboy Allstars released their first album, heralding their musical intentions clearly with the title West Coast Boogaloo. Digging into the mash-up of mambo and R&B that originated back east in NYC in the ’60s, they set at it with a certain soul-jazz savoir-faire, setting a standard of quality early on. They’d assembled as a house band – first at a weekly club night, then in the studio – for San Diego’s DJ Greyboy, a kingpin in California’s corner of the ’90s rare-groove revival, and kept at it since then – slowly but surely.

Maybe it’s that they’ve been pacing themselves, spacing their albums out a half-decade apart (this is their sixth), but The GBAS hit the ground running, with energy and inspiration to spare. The basic-model boogaloo jams like the lively “Catalina” are certainly satisfying. “Executive Party” is a suave little shuffle, while “Complete Breakfast” is a heavier excursion, lifting off into cosmic territory as it concludes. The C&W/psych-pop detour “Warm Brass”, though, is even stranger in its own way.

Band leader (and powerhouse session man – what a resumé!) Karl Denson’s sax, and sometimes flute, generally lead the march here, though Robert Walter’s organ steps up at key moments (no pun, I swear!), owning the show on the punchy closer “Rebounder”. Indefatigable to the end.

Latest 360 Content

Festival des Saveurs | Carminda Mac Lorin, The Woman of Many Hats

Festival des Saveurs | Carminda Mac Lorin, The Woman of Many Hats

SAT X EAF | Amselysen and The Ideal Perfume of A Serial Killer

SAT X EAF | Amselysen and The Ideal Perfume of A Serial Killer

Festival Classica 2025 | Women’s Cellos

Festival Classica 2025 | Women’s Cellos

Nuits d’Afrique 2025: ALL About The Program

Nuits d’Afrique 2025: ALL About The Program

Festival Classica: An Ode to Hope with Elvira Misbakhova

Festival Classica: An Ode to Hope with Elvira Misbakhova

Festival des Saveurs | Aldo Guizmo Goes “Str8 Forward”

Festival des Saveurs | Aldo Guizmo Goes “Str8 Forward”

Deafhaven – Lonely People with Power

Deafhaven – Lonely People with Power

Transforming Hiroshima mon amour into contemporary opera: Christian Lapointe and Rosa Lind tell the story

Transforming Hiroshima mon amour into contemporary opera: Christian Lapointe and Rosa Lind tell the story

Sparks – MAD!

Sparks – MAD!

“Hiroshima, mon amour”: An Evening to Remember

“Hiroshima, mon amour”: An Evening to Remember

Peter Murphy – Silver Shade

Peter Murphy – Silver Shade

Ken Pomeroy – Cruel World

Ken Pomeroy – Cruel World

Art of the Line: Klangkarussell’s Euro Vision at SAT

Art of the Line: Klangkarussell’s Euro Vision at SAT

Festival des Saveurs | Closing With Reggae

Festival des Saveurs | Closing With Reggae

Centroamérica – a powerful docu-play about truth and connection in an age of distance and denial

Centroamérica – a powerful docu-play about truth and connection in an age of distance and denial

Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Tamir Barzilay – Phosphene Journal

Tamir Barzilay – Phosphene Journal

The best ‘’Candlelight concert‘’ ever.

The best ‘’Candlelight concert‘’ ever.

Men I Trust – Equus Caballus

Men I Trust – Equus Caballus

The Halluci Nation – Path of the Baby Face

The Halluci Nation – Path of the Baby Face

A lap steel guitar choir and an angel to end the Innovations en concert 24-25 season

A lap steel guitar choir and an angel to end the Innovations en concert 24-25 season

The OSM and Abel Selaocoe: Evenings When You’d Like to Stop Time

The OSM and Abel Selaocoe: Evenings When You’d Like to Stop Time

Reaching for the sky: Francis Choinière’s challenge to end his OPCM’s 10th season

Reaching for the sky: Francis Choinière’s challenge to end his OPCM’s 10th season

Subscribe to our newsletter