Michael "Patches" Stewart - Blow (2005)

The Nawlins native teases with a taste of “Gumbo” (intro) on the opening track for about nineteen seconds and before you know it you’ll find your head boppin’ to title cut “Blow”. This infectious vibe has a twist of hip-hop penned by producer Marcus Miller, who actually starts the groove in motion.

At the three spot, Patches and the crew steps out with “I Know What You Like”. At a first glance, I thought I was listening the Parliament Funkadelic because the vibe taps into this throwback groove. This track contains some elements of songwriter Ron Temperton’s “Give Me the Night” from George Benson’s album of the same title. Ironically, there are also hints of Sly and the Family Stone locked into this groove as well! How mercy!

There have been so many talented artists that have covered “Overjoyed” by Stevie Wonder. Patches and Miller reworks this classic by giving it an unusual twist of vibrant and colorful flavors that envelope’s you. Therefore, their effort makes this one of the most invigorating renditions of “Overjoyed” that I’ve heard to date.

Miller pens the next tune called “We Be Gettin’ Down”. Never mind the Ebonics folks, this jam is strictly for the players and wannabes. Oh yeah, everyone is welcome to get into these seriously “nasty grooves” like no bodies business cause they do, what they do!

Mr. Stewart and company slows the pace with “Don’t You Know” featuring the one and only Will Downing. Now, you can imagine the purpose of this sonically infectious tune. Stewart blows some seriously sweet and soulful musings into his flugelhorn that slowly but surely resonates in the atmosphere with warm and sensuous stylings of late night jazz.

“Road Song” (written by John L. Montgomery) falls into the seventh spot on “Blow”. Patches plays his trumpet on this trip but also features the incomparable Kenny Garrett on alto sax. Road Song is definitely one of the less urban sounding tracks on the disc and possibly giving radio the opportunity to say let’s add this track to rotation.

The sonically tight urban vibes on “Blow” continues with “Crusin”. Have no fear folks it’s not another cover of Smokey Robinson’s classic (love you Smokey). However, rapper MC Lyte adds more than an adequate dose of freshness to this groove. Crusin’ reminds me somewhat of Will Smith’s “Summertime”. MC Lyte charms you with the warmth of her linear phrasings as she serves up a hint of poetic freshness that calls for a little fun in the summertime kind of groove.

Miller pens another killer groove titled “Congo Square”. This track features the trio of Stewart, Garrett and Miller. I really dig this track because there’s this funkiness about the vibe; it grabs and sticks to you with an adhesive that binds you to the groove. It’s got that straight to the blue light in basement kind of funk going on.

I love it when an artist takes a cover song and molds it to his or her musical personality. This time it’s Herbie Hancock’s “Tell Me A Bedtime Story” that’s on the cutting board. I can see a lot of folks digging this tune; it’s one of the jazzier cuts on “Blow”.

The next track is titled “No More” that features Marcus Miller on all instruments except trumpet, which of course is Patches Stewart who handles his business with style. The melody is picture perfect and the hooks are attractive as well on this piece. The cd concludes with a forty plus second snippet “Gumbo”.