For those unaware, Something Else!, a new all-star group assembled by and featuring the great alto saxophonist Vincent Herring, is on a mission to make jazz music that is energetic, fun, and popular.

Their first release, Soul Jazz, celebrates the music that their parents would feature in heavy rotation on the turntable, which would subsequently inspire each of them to pursue careers in music.

R&B, soul, and jazz were all part of the same musical family and were blended together to create music that is still loved today. Jeremy Pelt, Wayne Escoffery, Paul Bollenback, David Kikoski, Essiet Essiet, and Otis Brown III join Herring in this irresistible romp through some of those classics by Stanley Turrentine, Eddie Harris, Herbie Hancock, Donald Byrd, and more.

1. Filthy McNasty
2. Too Blue
3. Mean Greens
4. The Chicken
5. Driftin
6. Slow Drag
7. Strasbourg/St. Denis
8. Naima

On their brand new album, the new supergroup Something Else! first brings us Horace Silver’s bristling anthem Filthy McNasty and the smooth touches that bring Too Blue to life and then proceeds to bring us the hearty feast that is Eddie Harris’ Mean Greens and the funky grooves within Pee Wee Ellis’ The Chicken.

Along next is a staggeringly perfect rendition of Herbie Hancock’s Driftin which is itself backed by Donald Byrd’s resplendent Slow Drag, rounding out on the dutifully-cultured, handclap-fed cover of Roy Hargrove’s classic Strasbourg/St. Denis, closing on John Coltrane’s endearing ballad Naima.

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