Identity, the last album from New Orleans’ premier jazz-funk band Naughty Professor, was a sprawling, adventurous tour-de-force, which featured a who’s who of vocalists and MCs. Their latest effort, Everyday Shredder,  is an instrumental EP that clocks in at a mere 29 minutes. But those five songs contain universes.

The six-piece group, which formed as a group of Loyola University students almost ten years ago, has tread similar instrumental territory in the past, but this recording demonstrates that the band is still growing and developing their deeply personal sound.

Without the help of the ubiquitous search engine that shall not be named, or a deep immersion into Japanese anime, it would have been impossible to figure out the meaning of two of the song titles. “Oroku Saki” is the name of a villain in the Super Mutant Ninja Turtles series, while “Masenko” is an energy blast weapon used on another show.

Being unfamiliar with the villain in question, the song that bears his name evokes a somewhat mild character as far as evildoers go. The song opens with a luscious guitar progression and some hardly aggressive drum work before the wonderful horn section kicks in with more ear candy.

The Naughty Professor horn section has become something of a calling card for the group, stepping out in support with numerous other bands. On this tune, they play the standard role and let the guitar take the song in varied directions.

On other cuts, particularly “Fiends,” the horns are more in front, driving the tune’s structure with inventive section work and strong soloing, while the rhythm section percolates a driving beat.

Throughout this EP, Naughty Professor keeps the listener on alert for rapid musical shifts that despite the band’s funky New Orleans roots are more in keeping with great progressive jazz and jazz fusion.