HOROJO TRIO-SET THE RECORD-OUTSTANDING SOULFUL DEBUT

HOROJO TRIO’S debut album Set The Record is a gorgeous fusion of R & B, Contemporary Blues, and in the end just damn good Rock n’ Roll.

An album by an Ottawa Canada trio that has an International roots feel deep in it’s grooves.

Heck did I mention the 11 track 39 minute album is very addictive?

Okay now you know!

Jeff Rogers the piano playing lead vocalist has a voice somewhere between Boz Scaggs and Robert Cray that can be playful, soulful and in the case of the ballad The Night a very Leon Russell emotional center.

Rogers tears it up on the opening track Man of Steel driven by the groove of drummer Jamie Holmes and the organic guitar sound of JW-Jones.

This is followed by the very radio friendly A Little Goes a Long Way produced by Steve Strongman.

If the above mentioned song is not a hit on any roots radio in North America then something is wrong.

Things get Neville Brothers funky on the Title Track and Hard As I Can has a crisp Cooper Brothers Pop/R & B feel with a great Jones solo and fills.

It should be motioned that veteran Ottawa songwriter Dick Cooper co-wrote 9 out of 11 songs with the band.

Elsewhere, Stay Crazy would not sound out of place on a Los Lobos album and is beautifully sung by Rogers.

Something You Should Know locks in again via the killer stick work of Holmes and the stinging Albert King attack of Jones’ fluid guitar.

The album ends with Real Deal an all out rocker that breaks down into a blues middle before swinging for the fences.

Exciting, distinctive and contemporary this debut can’t miss!

JOHN EMMS is a veteran music journalist/Post Media contributor, musician, and Juno Awards Judge.

Twitter https://twitter.com/emmsreviews