Greyboy Allstars preview new covers album with an update of "I've Got Reasons"

The Greyboy Allstars' version of "I've Got Reasons" is off their Get A Job album out April 1 on Knowledge Room Recordings.

Here's the scoop...

The Greyboy Allstars have announced the April 1st release of Get a Job: Music from the Original Broadcast Series Soul Dream—the sixth studio recording to date by the quintet comprised by Karl Denson (saxophone, flute), Elgin Park (guitars), Aaron Redfield (drums), Chris Stillwell (bass) and Robert Walter (keys). The album was captured live in the studio during The Greyboy Allstars' 2021 Soul Dream live-stream series and will be issued on the band's own imprint, Knowledge Room Recordings. The set notches up the band's own jazz-funk and boogaloo narrative by spotlighting ten unique, never-before-released covers that have become an integral part of their famed live performances for nearly three decades, including songs by Gil Scott-Heron, Gary Bartz, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons and Burt Bacharach. 

The first single and its accompanying video, "I've Got Reasons," (watch it below), a rendition of the Eddie Bo-penned deep funk gem originally cut by Mary Jane Hooper aka Sena Fletcher, is out now. Additionally, a 21-date "Get A Job" tour in support of the collection beginning this March has been announced. Six of the shows are on-sale now, while the remaining 15 dates go on-sale this Friday, February 4 at greyboyallstars.com

"We keep a running master list of around 70 tunes. From those I picked a mixture of tried-and-true live staples and songs that weren't always in common rotation," says band keyboardist Robert Walter of the Get a Job set. "Usually, for gigs I propose a list and then the other members edit and tweak it. For the taping, we wanted each episode to have a theme: two of them focused on originals and the other two were covers: live favourites, and music that came out on Prestige Records. The tunes on this release are the best of the covers."

"The covers come from the tradition of the artists we love and how they would grab the pop tunes of the day, most likely to broaden their listening base. George Benson, Grant Green, and Kenny Burrell all did Beatles and Bacharach tunes," continues band guitarist Elgin Park, of GBA's tapping of the tradition of savvy jazz legends exploring the then-expanding "fake book" of mid-20th-century pop songs. "Also, everyone is coming with different levels of seriousness to the music at different times."

The resulting album finds The Greyboy Allstars in full flight, in performances both raucous and reverent to the formative music that shaped them, while adding their own funky imprint to each song's arrangement and legacy. There is a generosity of spirit that runs through Get a Job. The band's decision to take the tragedy of Covid-19 lockdown and open their studio space for a kind of digital communion with their fans is evident throughout. Yet even in the delivery of these covers, both classic and obscure, there is an ease of playing that gives service to the song, rare in a band of such heavyweight soloists.

"The more we play together, the more I enjoy listening to the other guys," concludes Park. "It seems like a simple idea but finding a place in the mix is what’s important: not the solo. Weave a thread inside the fabric."

Check out the video for the Greyboy Allstars' version of "I've Got Reasons" followed by the original by Mary Jane Hooper and a 2017 panel discussion with Mary Jane Hooper at Ponderosa Stomp below.