Take one big brass band, a full-blown Afro-Cuban percussion section, wailing vocalists like D.C. go-go king Chuck Brown and Shaun Murphy of Little Feat, mambo, rumba. second-line, P-Funk, kickin' blues, bebop and a didgeridoo - put 'em together and you've got an incredibly hot, soulful amalgam of music. There simply aren't enough superlatives in Roget's to describe adequately what this group does. Soaring horn solos, tight bass grooves and fantastic charts make everything rock, from New Orleans classics like "Hey Pocky Way" to "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel" and the beautifully-realized ballad "Lucky Old Sun." If those cuts don't grab you, the mambo version of "Saint James Infirmary Blues" surely will.

                 -(DB)