Forecast

Album review

On their fourth album, 2022's wryly titled Forecast, instrumental jazz supergroup Jazz Funk Soul further embrace their hooky, soulful sound. The record follows 2019's Life and Times, which found guitarist Paul Jackson, Jr. taking over for original guitarist Chuck Loeb (who tragically died from cancer in 2017) and joining forces with the other founding members, saxophonist Everette Harp and keyboardist Jeff Lorber. Though subtle, the change from Loeb to Jackson was significant, as each player brought his own distinctive style to the band's overall sound. With Loeb, the trio favored soaring, brightly attenuated pop-jazz melodies. While that melodicism remains a core part of the group's style (just check out "Count Me In"), Jackson brings a crisp, rhythmic R&B sensibility to their sound, informed by his many years of working with artists like Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, and Whitney Houston. If Life and Times evoked the funky soul-jazz of the Crusaders and sax icon David Sanborn, then Forecast makes such comparisons vibrantly explicit. Cuts like the opening "Hustle," "Fish Grease," and "Funkin' in AZ" spotlight the warm interplay between Harp's juicy sax lines, Lorber's rich keyboard harmonies, and Jackson's bluesy fretboard riffs. Particularly evocative of the Crusaders' sound is "When the Time Comes," with its warm acoustic bass groove and summery, laid-back atmosphere. The trio even pay tribute to their late bandmate with the poignant slow-jam album closer "CSL (For Charles Samuel Loeb)." With Forecast, Jazz Funk Soul underline their reputation as masters of no-nonsense, soulful contemporary jazz.

© Matt Collar /TiVo