Live In Love

With Live in Love, trumpeter-composer-arranger Philip Lassiter mixes socio-political messaging ("Make America Love Again") with humorous, earthy storytelling ("Poof," "Suga Coat Me," "Root Chakra") and some forays into old school funk (the James Brown-inspired "Repent" and the P-Funk-ish "Love Story"). Along with detours into one-drop reggae ("Take a Little Time" and "Live in Love"), an eerie hoodoo number (the J Dilla-D'Angelo flavored "Babayaga") and a dreamy, romantic love song ("Light Me Up"), Lassiter's latest is a triumph of deep groove, swaggering horns and soul-stirring vocal performances by the likes of Jonathan Hoard, Mariah Meshae, Charles Jones, Durand Bernarr, Mackenzie, LaVance Colley, Munir Hossn, Elliott Yamin and Lassiter's wife Josje (aka Josephine Rojer). The title track also features a vocal duet between Josje and 22x Latin Grammy-winning legend Juan Luis Guerra. On board for this ride into the funkosphere are fellow musicians; keyboardist David Paich (of Toto), bassist Mono Neon (of Prince), LEOPARD label mates keyboardist Bobby Sparks, drummer Robert "Sput" Searight and Mark Lettieri (all of Snarky Puppy), saxophonist Jeff Coffin (of Bela Fleck & The Flecktones and the Dave Matthews Band), label mate organist Ricky Peterson (of David Sanborn, Prince, and George Benson), drummer Nikki Glaspie (of Beyonce, Maceo Parker, and Dumpstaphunk) and string arranging genius Simon Novsky. With one foot firmly planted in old school funk, Lassiter confidently strides somewhere else on each of the ten tracks of Live in Love. "You hear a lot of hip hop blended with jazz nowadays and also neo-soul blended with jazz," he said. "But, I don't know that I've heard a whole lot of large ensemble neo-soul/hip-hop/jazz. That's what we do."