Album Notes

Miles-deep into the rolling green humps that make up Eastern Washington's Palouse, hip hop and jazz fuse as one behind brick walls, campus boundaries and nearby grain elevators. This couldn't be more different than the underground, smoke-heavy air of an urban jazz club, or paler than any MC battle around. In fact, Locke and the Chris Wilson Five could hardly be filed under any preconceived musical stereotype. Their sound, their style and their stage presence are something truly organic - despite their Boy Scout appearances.

For several years, Locke has been spitting his homespun rhymes and rhythms at club crowds and house parties around his hometown of Spokane, Washington. He released his debut album Relevance in 2002, and began to bring his brand of hip hop around the West Coast. Yet something was left to be desired.

Midway through his education as a music major at Eastern Washington University in rural Cheney, Washington, Locke began collaborating with a few friends. Straight ahead flows slowly transformed into jazz-heavy hip hop over the drums, bass and chords of a few of his fellow music students. A gig was booked, a band was formed.

The band has seen runaway success in Spokane since their first performance. Their music reeks of experience and thorough understanding of their instruments, with each member seeming to fuse as one with their instrument. But Locke and the Chris Wilson Five aren't just a bunch of music geeks that got too cool for band camp. Not these guys. They are excellent musicians, but they are also a fast-paced, furious spectacle of a stage show. Locke and Chris Wilson are the energy keeping their funky fire stoked, while bassist Vincent LaBelle and drummer Matthew Coleman keep the rhythm alive. Jason Schultheis is a master behind the keys and sax, solely bringing the jazz to this hip hop joypop show.

It's funk you can understand, hip hop you can relate to; Locke and the Chris Wilson Five are the boys next door - you just had no idea that pure funk could exist behind toothy smiles and Boy Scout merit badges.