Given the band’s loose arrangement, All That’s debut release appropriately sounds more like a jam session of some of New Orleans hottest funk and brass band players than an overly-polished studio release. As noted in the liner notes, the “all one band” of the current New Orleans music scene spreads beyond All That’s line-up for the record – including members from ReBirth Brass Band, Galactic, New Orleans Klezmer All Stars, Royal Fingerbowl and – to as casual a feel as any local band has culled from a studio session in the past year. Eponymous Debut features one track recorded live at the Mermaid Lounge, but the whole record sounds like a gathering of musician friends, exemplified by the inter-member banter preceding All That’s version of “Lil’ Liza Jane.” Founded on Davis “OJ Davis” Rogan’s and sousaphonist extrodanairre Kirk Jospeh’s dream of melding a brass band front line with a funk rhythm section, All That incorporates the two styles perfectly throughout Eponymous Debut. The original “Back To Broke” sounds straight from the brass band canon, augmented by Alex McMurray’s slinky riffing guitar and Rogan’s swirling organ. All vocal tracks are infused with a good dose of humor. Old-school rap bravado and genuine social-activism push for greater acceptance and appreciation of the varying cultural histories of New Orleans and the world (“So Long”), and lament on the loss of the city’s hottest brass band venues – shut down by “the fat bureaucrat [who] begins to feel the need to impede” – in “Little People’s Place.”AIl That’s hottest live number, the eponymous “All That,” is also the hottest track on Eponymous Debut. The song’s intro rap is a brief history of the band, and Joseph’s heavy bottom proves, undeniably, that the sousaphone is in no way inferior to electric bass in funk jams. Elsewhere on the record are tips-of-the-hat to Jelly Roll Morton, in “Morton,” and to Herbie Hancock in “Red.” These brief tributes are telling of the sound of All That, a sound that combines classic, native New Orleans music with the groove of 70s funk. Add some clever raps and occasionally noisy guitar, and it’s gotta be All That.
-Alex Oliver
