Atta Kid – East Basics

Atta Kid’s connection to New Orleans is largely spiritual, though members of the Bay Area band have played with local icons including Irma Thomas and Zigaboo Modeliste.

They’re a funky jam band using Meters-like grooves as springboards for lengthy, vocal-free workouts. Much of this album is about grooving for its own sake, though the best moments happen when they shake things up compositionally:

The eight-minute “Touch & Go” gives everyone space for a solo, then shifts into a surprising, heavy-guitar coda.

Founders Max Cowan (organ) and Daniel Casares (sax) get most of the solo space and earn it; Cowan’s solos have a tasty Jimmy Smith vibe and Casares’ parts are often doubled by trumpet, for a vintage Tower of Power feel.

If you miss Galactic before they discovered electronica and hip-hop, this one is for you.