Album Notes

Smokestack is a powerful improvisational groove quartet hailing from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Smokestack's members have studied music at the collegiate level, playing in both the University of Michigan and Detroit's Wayne State University jazz big bands and small group ensembles.

Since their formation in 1998, Smokestack has performed with national acts such as the Jerry Garcia Band, The Slip, Strangefolk, Umphrey's McGee, Larry McCray, and Howie Day.

Smokestack's 2001 independent album release entitled "It's Coming Down" provides listeners with an eclectic mix of original songs.

With a sound that mixes jazz, funk, Latin, reggae, rock and bluegrass, Smokestack has quickly gained a respectable following in the mid-west area.

Performing 80+ shows this past year alone, Smokestack will continue to impress diverse audiences with their unique improvisational abilities.

earbuzz.com review of track 1: "A Leg and a Foot" Smokestack's latest CD, "It's Coming Down", opens with the Calypso upbeat funk tune, 'Leg and Foot'.

The happy perpetually moving pop beauty combines some of the hippest and tightest rhythm section to grace this genre of music.

Dan Eichinger's abilities on the skins are reminiscent of Bonham and Hakim - with a pulse that bleeds through the track and fills that inspire.

The song itself, words, music, are memorable - a lyrical chronicle of a meeting with a mystically wise woman named Rosalee..

'so i took to the streets, and i met a girl named Rosalee... and this is what she said to me, you can always go your own way, but you can't be gone too long.

next time you go to the ocean, next time you go to the sea, listen for all the music, and someday you'll find Rosalee'.

The seven minute tune is a free form pop structure that includes stretched breaks for guitarist, Chuck Newsome, whose clean Knopfleresque tone is perfectly matched to the Caribbean Latin flavors that flow throughout.

The four piece band lists three members with vocal credits - so we're not sure who's singing - but whomever it is - the tone is easy and accessible - tell tale story with crisp intonation and warmth.

Great tune - and you know.... because before you start looking at your clock to see if the seven minutes is up.

it is.