Down to the Bone: Spread Love Like Wildfire

You got to hand it to U.K. jazz-funk band Down to the Bone. On its sixth CD, the horn group continues to offer hard grooves when it would be so much easier to settle into a smooth mood. The core band remains the same, with producer and composer Stuart Wade, keyboardists Neil Angilley and Neil Cowley, saxophonist Paul “Shilts” Weimer, guitarist Tony Remy, bassist/percussionist Richard Sadler and drummer Neal Wilkinson.

DTTB has been incorporating more and more live music on its CDs lately, and the result is a warmer sound. Guest stars always make DTTB CDs fresh; here flutist Jeremy Steig, who has performed with legends like Jimi Hendrix, Bill Evans, Jan Hammer and Johnny Winter, adds a new sound to the jammy “Memphis Groove” and the Brazilian-influenced “Wildfire Woman.” The standout radio track on the disc is “Tiburon,” which was cowritten by Tim Best, who assisted with the song “Brooklyn Heights” from the band’s debut, From Manhattan to Staten. The song has the same kind of groove as that classic track, and it’s relentless.

Originally Published July 1, 2005