The Paul Litteral Band - THE LITTERAL TRUTH (2025)

Known for his work on Broadway, trumpeter Paul Litteral takes on rock hits from the 70s and paints them with a fresh jazz brush with a team of Shaunte Palmer/tb, Sam Morgan/ts-bs, Kyle Zimmerman/as-ts-fl, Bill Bodine/b, Rocky Davis/p-arr, Tony Pia/dr, Ken Rosser/g and a collection of vocal guests.

It makes sense that there is a hefty amount of Steely Dan material covered here, as Litteral brings that same sleek and savvy sound to the table, with Anna Oribson working her way around Bodine’s bass on “Black Cow” and Litteral himself bringing in some clever sounding horn work on his own on “Do It Again”, with the ultra hip “Home At Last” featuring Rocky Davis over some rich vocal harmonies. A pair of tunes from Edgar Winter’s White Trash is a more than pleasant surprise, with the horns showing some streetwise grit as they support Anna and James Oribson on “Give It Everything You’ve Got” and the leader digging in and Ken Rosser’s guitar getting swampy around O’Neill on “Dying To Live”. Even John Denver’s “Follow Me” works well here, with Davis’ piano classy and hip, ending the tune on a rocky mountain high note. Sophisticated and sharp.~ By George W. Harris