Artist:     Grand Marquis

Album:     Brighter Days

Label:     Self-release

Release Date:     05/28/2018

84

BUY DIGITAL

BUY PHYSICAL

If you didn’t have the band lineup in front of you, you’d swear this was a bigger unit than just a six-piece—the horns of Grand Marquis create so much sound you might think you’re listening to a big band. They have been plying their jump blues and swing since the ’90s as this is their eighth release. Out of Kansas City, one of the foundation cities for jump blues and ‘50s R&B, Grand Marquis not only holds up their city’s hallowed tradition but extends their repertoire to Memphis and New Orleans. While the prohibition-era jazz is a key ingredient, Grand Marquis mixes in blues and a contemporary roots approach to comprise their signature style.

Bryan Redmond (lead vocals, saxophone) is the band leader for these seven originals and two covers. They kick off with the Stax-styled “Another Lover,” with three horns blaring away while the rhythm section of Ben Ruth (upright bass, sousaphone) and Fritz Hutchinson (drums) lay down the groove. The rhythm section then takes us into the jazz waltz of the title track with Redmond singing lines like these: “Haunted by love with an unbridled passion/Replaying scenes of revenge and redemption/Time to make a new start, got to find the trailhead/I believe brighter days are ahead.” Underneath it all is guitarist

Ryan Wurtz, accenting the desperate plea for optimism with incendiary slide guitar.

“I’m on Fire” features solos from Redmond and trumpeter Chad Boydston. Ruth’s sousaphone and Trevor Turla’s trombone bring in the unmistakable New Orleans second line brass band sound for “Night Shift” as each horn player solos in stretch out mode. “Night Shift” is the more vintage NOLA while the instrumental “It Don’t Matter” has the more contemporary funk-infused NOLA treatment, again putting each horn player in the spotlight.

The band returns to Memphis for a take on the ‘everybody-in-the-same-room’ Sun Records sound in the call-and-response of “Ain’t No Spark.” The band then launches into “Bad Seed,” a shuffling tune with several dynamic changes where Redmond’s aggressive sax solo is followed by Boydston’s ballad-like trumpet before the band wraps it up in a swinging ensemble. A soulful cover of Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers to Cross” follows before the band invokes rag-time for the spiritual “Down by the Riverside.” The horns deliver a Preservation Hall Jazz Band vibe as the band exits gleefully.

I had a friend say one time, “Everything is better with horns.” That’s certainly the case with Grand Marquis.

—Jim Hynes