EUPHORIA BRASS BAND: Better Days

The Euphoria Brass Band has been a musical institution around San Diego for the past two decades. Their fourth album, Better Days, is a testament to their successful longevity. Recorded at K. St. Kreative in San Diego, it was engineered by Ian Tordella and mixed and mastered by Mike Napolitano.

The septet’s members feature Steve Ebner, trumpet; April West, trombone; David Jackson, tenor sax; Wayne Rice, sousaphone; Ron Bocian, snare drum, cymbal, and percussion; Drew Miller, bass drum and cymbals, and JP Balmat, alto and baritone sax, producer, and musical author and arranger on eight of the 11 tracks.

What’s totally unique is that there is no bass player or full drum kit happening, a refreshing concept as the many funky rhythm section grooves are compensated aptly by the hip syncopated percussive interplay from Bocian and Miller and the omnipresent bass figures from Rice’s sousaphone.

Balmat’s compositions and arrangements are easy to digest as most are straight-ahead funky feel good grooves with mostly the absence of musical bridges and intricate chord voicings to distract from the raw power of each tune as each improviser gets to stretch out comfortably over many of the repeating two chord change vamps, much in the spirit of the long instrumental jams of the Meters and Tower of Power.

You can’t help but to feel like you’re in New Orleans on the opening track, “Better Days,” with the interplay of the horns, fueled by Jackson’s burning tenor sax licks in addition to “Night Parade,” with trombonist West and Ebner’s trumpet riffing effortlessly in second-line parade fashion.

The Latin funk groove on “Rosarito Bus Stop” features tight ensemble work from the horn section with the infectious percussive rhythms bound to get a conga line happening amid the smooth vocal lines from guest Javier Cabanillas.

“Bari Funk” spotlights the succinct tones from Balmat’s baritone sax and flawless technique and chops he emotes throughout his solos here and also on the tracks “Snarky” and “Brass to Bhangra.”

Just when you thought you understand the gist of the Euphoria Brass Band, guess again. They include three varied cover tunes to sweeten the production, starting with a cover of Tupoc’s “California Love,” replete with guest vocalist Melody Ebner confidently nailing it, rap section and all.

Balmat’s lead vocal highlights “Tainted Love,” a tune that has seen everyone from Marilyn Manson to Milky Chance covering the Gloria Jones classic, not to be outdone by Balmat’s arrangement of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” choosing to give it a straight-ahead funk groove as opposed to the obligatory triplet treatment.

The album ends with the track “This Is Happy” in true Dixieland spirit, with polyphonic horn lines carrying the day against the syncopated percussion grooves with Ebner and Jackson’s solos that take us home before the closing melody, validating the track title that yes, this album is not only happy but musically unique as well with both the catchy melodies and the outstanding musical arrangements and improvisational prowess and energy from all on board.