The Crossing

The Crossing is an eleven-track collection of ensemble instrumentals rooted in the language of R’n’B, soul and funk with a hot, dusty, brooding aesthetic that recalls Morricone’s spaghetti-western soundtracks. It’s all about the brass on most of the tracks here, the stacked trumpet, trombone and saxophone riffs — sometimes straight out of Memphis but often with a Mariachi flavour — forming the centre of most of the songs. There are lots of funky drum beats, choppy b-lines, sanctified organ and chicken-scratch guitar but these aren’t raw funk jams, they’re sophisticated arrangements with top-level playing, all matched with a rich orchestration full of complex interweaving melodic lines and counter melodies. The description of this album by band leader Tommy Brenneck as “music to an unreleased Sergio Leone western starring the Wu-Tang” is pretty accurate — The Crossing is pure spaghetti-western-funk/soundtrack soul/cinematic hip hop.