Look Up!

 ALBUM NOTES:

BAND OF OTHER BROTHERS is excited to announce their new and second collection of music, “Look Up!”, available August 13, 2021 on Ear Up Records. A veritable cross-genre “supergroup,” the group consists of Jeff Coffin on saxophones/woodwinds (Dave Matthews Band, Bela Fleck & The Flecktones), Jeff Babko on keyboards (James Taylor, Toto), Will Lee on bass & vocals (Late Show w/ David Letterman, The Brecker Brothers), Nir Felder on guitar (solo albums, Terri Lyne Carrington) and Keith Carlock on drums (Steely Dan, Sting).

A bit of history about the band: 15 years ago, Babko and Coffin teamed up with drum pioneer Vinnie Colaiuta in Hollywood, CA at the legendary West Coast jazz studio Sage & Sound for “Mondo Trio” (Abstractlogix 2007). Bill Milkowski wrote of that recording, “Those three voices combine for one resounding burst of kinetic energy and inspired playing on the volatile jam-oriented “Mondo Trio”.

Looking for another excuse to join forces, the two Jeffs realized that drummer Carlock had just relocated his family from New York City to Nashville, where Coffin is based. They thought this might be a great reason to record in Nashville, but Babko wanted to expand from the trio format. “After listening to a lot of Pat Martino while reading his biography,” Babko explains, “I thought of Will Lee, who is on Pat’s 70’s ‘Starbright’ album, and who I’d met at Letterman and also had a shared University of Miami connection.” Babko continues, “What Will brings to a band is a deep groove, an innate urgency and excitement, and a lifetime of experience and utter hipness.” The Martino deep dive also inspired Babko to add a voice on guitar. “I’d met Nir when he was playing with Chuck Mangione like 100 years ago,” he explains, “and knew immediately we had to make some noise together. He’s so special.”

Christening themselves Band Of Other Brothers, the group recorded their first album, “City Of Cranes” (Ear Up Records, 2016) at the world renowned Blackbird Studios in Nashville, with superstar engineer Niko Bolas. “It really did feel like a band immediately,” says Babko. “We trucked along at a blistering pace, recorded an album in 2 days and even squeezed in a Taylor Swift concert.” After the record was released, the band performed two sold-out annual January engagements in Los Angeles, as well as a week long standing-room-only stint in Manhattan at the Iridium. This live playing further solidified the group of musicians as an actual “band”, and as a bonded 5-way friendship.

In March of 2020, Felder suggested to the guys that it might be time to get back on the horse and write and record some more, and the other four band members jumped at the chance. In addition to Babko and Coffin, Will Lee composed three songs for what would become Band Of Other Brothers’ sophomore release, “Look Up!” For Lee’s beautiful “Cassie”, he enlisted bass colleague Stanley Clarke to contribute an acoustic bass solo, a highlight on the record. Lee also contributed “Freedom March,” a spirited tribute to the life of civil rights leader John Lewis, and the group’s first vocal on Babko’s nod-and-a-wink “Right Now Blues”.

Other songs include Babko’s Steely Dan-esque “Painfully Oblivious”, and his tribute to late guitarist Chuck Loeb, “Chuckles” (featuring scorching vibes by Nick Mancini). Coffin provided the funk-soaked “The Rabbit” and an edgy tribute to the late Steve Grossman. Jazz listeners also should enjoy the 1970’s McCoy Tyner influenced title track.

Carefully mixed and mastered by Grammy winning engineer John Paterno (Bonnie Raitt, Latin Playboys), this album takes Band Of Other Brothers to the next level sonically, as well as compositionally and collectively.

As Coffin puts it, “Making music with these guys is like getting three scoops of ice cream instead of just one! It’s like when your mom let you lick the frosting bowl at the end of finishing the cake or getting the birthday present you always wished for but were afraid to ask.”