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TC & The Groove Family: First Home

By Chris May
June 9, 2022
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The nine-piece collective TC & The Groove Family are based in the northern English city of Leeds. All but one of the members studied at Leeds College of Music. They play a goodtime mash-up of Afrobeat, jazz, funk, hip hop, dub and samba, reflecting the cultural melting pot which exists in most English cities and which has, to varying degrees, shaped the country's alternative jazz scene.

TC & TGF are at the extreme gumbo end of the English alternative jazz spectrum: jazz is only one of the ingredients and is not the dominant strand. Purists, you have been warned.

Fundamentally, TC & TGF are a dance band, custom made for club dancefloors and summer festivals. They are part of a venerable European multi-cultural tradition whose modern manifestation began in the late 1990s. Two of the movement's pioneers, London's

Soothsayers

" data-original-title="" title="">Soothsayers and Barcelona's

Ojos de Brujo

band / ensemble / orchestra

" data-original-title="" title="">Ojos de Brujo, formed in 1998. The Barcelona band splintered circa 2011, but Soothsayers are still going strong, still led by their founders, tenor saxophonist

Idris Rahman

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Idris Rahman and trumpeter

Robin Hopcraft

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Robin Hopcraft. Aside from TC & TGF, recent additions to the ranks include London's

Ezra Collective

band / ensemble / orchestra

" data-original-title="" title="">Ezra Collective and another outfit with Leeds roots,

Nubiyan Twist

band / ensemble / orchestra

" data-original-title="" title="">Nubiyan Twist.

Nubiyan Twist is produced by Tom Excell, who also produced First Home, which is TC & TGF's debut. Moments of pure jazz are few and far between; trumpeter Grifton Forbes-Amos, a Tomorrow's Warriors alum, delivers a blinder of a solo on "Duende," and baritone saxophonist Hannah-Mae Birtwell intrigues on "Weh Dem A Do" and leaves one wanting more. Most of the time, however, the band does what it says on the can and get-on-your-goodfoot-groove rules.

After two years of dancefloor and festival abstinence, TC & TGF should go down a storm on their extensive June through August British tour.

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Track Listing

Tio; Bossfight; Dueno; Duende; Sleeping Lions; Suckerpunch; Weh Dem A Do; Clipstone Parade.

Personnel

Grifton Forbes-Amos Quintet

trumpet

Hannah Mae-Birtwell

saxophone, baritone

Max Purcell-Burrows

trombone

Mikey Scott

guitar, electric

Nath Sayers

guitar, electric

Beth O'Lenathan

bass, electric

Tim Cook

drums

Pariss Elektra

vocals

NikNak

turntable

Additional Instrumentation

Hannah Mae-Birtwell: tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone.

Album information

Title: First Home | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Worm Discs

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