Guitarist Dean Brown, an American with firm roots in funk jazz, developed the basic idea for this release and attached particular importance to the versatility already mentioned, because he didn't want to present a pure jazz or jazz-funk record, but to unite different sub-styles. His focus was especially on young artists. Most of the pieces on "Emergency Funk Radio" are instrumental and concentrate completely on the interaction of the different instruments. Of course, the jazzy influences remain in the foreground, but the listener will also find excursions into other areas, for example the track "Morning Star" by Avi Bortnick, a minimalistically-inspired piece with electro elements. But also enchanting vocals are to be expected, for example the exceptional voice of Tonni Smith on the Lettuce song "Twisted" or more soulful vibes of Magnum Coltrane Price with "I Got Mine". Fans of the instrumental genre will get their money's worth even more, real hints are Sam Kiniger's piece with the somewhat strange title "32-84-31-St" or the groovy jazz trio from New York, Medeski, Martin & Wood, who rather put their composition "Night Marchers" into funk. Dean Brown, the man behind the whole thing, can't be missing himself and put his "Break Song" on the CD. He also contributes a number of interludes with his Groove Warriors, which is not a bad idea for a record like this, because this way individual pieces are better connected and a red thread is woven through the almost hour of entertainment. Although this release didn't make me a jazz and/or funk fan, you can listen to the record - very well even.
