[.ca] En Route

Very entertaining.:
Four80east is the Toronto based duo consisting or Rob DeBoer (piano, guitar, bass, programming) and Tony Grace (drums, programming), who, along with Grace's brother Paul, run Boomtang Records. The other half of the band is Bryden Baird on trumpet, and Jon Stewart on tenor saxophone. They are no stranger to the international circuit having attracted a fair bit of attention back in the 90s with several well-received projects, working as producers or remixers of other pop stars like Corey Hart, Amanda Marshall, Wild Strawberries... They are the prototype crossover musicians whether as performers, remixers or as electronica/new jazz/acid jazz pros. In their fourt album (the first for Native Language label) they have collected a slew of well-arranged grooves that will get wax heads their required fix for the evening. "En Route" shrugs the shoulder off of that past and lets true danceheads like us settle in for a good night's rhythm or three. Blessed with gifted production and nifty nods to funk, future jazz, and soul, Four80East is pretty much the dance equivalent of Jamiroquai. My picks are the funky "Five By Five", the hypnotic, jazzy "Noodle Soup", which has been nominated for Best Original Song at the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards, "Closer" with the soulful vocals from Caniadian hip-hop star Divine Browm and "Double Down" with an edgy, darker jazz fusion groove. Prepare to have great fun !

Two Words: Outstanding!:
En Route is an outstanding CD. Like the other Four80East cd's, it's been played a lot here. Though I liked it from the start, I thought it rated just four stars. But with repeated listenings, you begin to appreciate just how good it is. There are lots of interesting things going on in this album that you might not notice right off the bat: It's intelligence, the unusual electronic flourishes, Rob DeBoer's stylish bass lines.... And mention must be made of Jon Stewart's saxophone. Many saxists force their leads--resulting in brassy, disarticulate solos. Stewart's sax is sweet and natural. His playing never sounds forced, and is wholly in sync with the cool F80E atmosphere. En Route continues F80E's trademark of melodic, interweaving instrumental parts floating over DeBoer's bass riffs. Where it might differ from their other albums is the way the individual tracks, quite different from one another (a la Round 3), all come together so well. Forming an almost geometric whole. In that sense I believe it's their most mature effort yet. Maybe their best. And that's no small feat.

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