Album Notes

This is the debut CD by the St. Louis-based Funky Butt Brass Band. It's a broad mix of traditional New Orleans jazz, raucous Chicago blues, greasy funk, even a little twangy country and Southern rock. The band is made up of members of Gumbohead, The Feed, Musica Slesa and other veteran St. Louis groups. "Cut The Body Loose" was engineered and mixed at Shock City Studios by Tony Esterly, and mastered by Brad Sarno.

“Although a sousaphone and marching snare drum are part of the [Funky Butt] experience, the local sextet is well-versed in all things funk. Its razor-sharp horn section blasts out the sort of punchy stabs that have made thousands of white people dance to Tower of Power, while its unhinged rhythm section recalls the greasy funk that drips from fingers and collects in the gutters of New Orleans.” ~ The Riverfront Times

“The CD is the total package, folks. Everything here is first class. [FBBB] proves that you don’t have to be from, or living in, New Orleans to feel the funk.” ~ STLBlues.net


"It's safe to say that the Funky Butt Brass Band uses the New Orleans brass tradition as a base and then builds off of it. "If You Love Me Like You Say" is a heartfelt soul number in the Stax Records tradition, while the slide guitar gives a country & Western flair to the taxpayer's lament on "Hey Yeah." Each instrumentalist adds his own flair. Saxophonist Ben Reece comes off sounding like Tom Waits sideman Ralph Carney on the dirty blues of "Gone Gone Blues," while trumpeter Adam Hucke uses solos to test the upper octaves of the instrument. Special attention must also be paid to sousaphone player Matt Brinkmann, who supplies the band's rumbling bass lines. It's a reminder that funk can come from the unlikeliest places — even an unwieldy, oversized hunk of metal." ~ The Riverfront Times