To give some idea of the overall sound of Late Bloomer you just need to read what David Jamison has to say about the music contained within:

Even though these songs span multiple genres, I think they all fit nicely together because they’re all in the same musical family. You start with jazz – one of original American art forms, developed by Black Americans – jazz begets blues, from there you eventually get funk and soul, which beget rap and R&B. In a way, this album is a product of the Black American musical timeline.

OK, so we know that we are not getting a jazz album here but a Black American music album with a jazz start, jazz undertones, stylistic variations and tracks that fade in and fade out. As a concept I think this album hangs together well. The tunes are well written, played and sung – the vocals are very good in fact (Dain Saint has a great sound on ‘She Don’t Love Me’ and should like to hear more of him).

The tracks that stood out for me are those with the greater jazz content (no surprises, this is a jazz blog you are reading) are ‘Flaws and All’ with its great jazz funk feel; ‘Spanish Jawn’ has a good guitar and sax line and keeps the right side of smooth jazz to be an interesting listen. ‘Body Roll, revels in its brevity and suggests that it could be developed further if needed. ‘I Can’t Help It’ is the standout track for me with its good blend of drums and keys overlaid with Stephen MItnaul’s sax. Where the mix is just right on track eight, I don’t think that carried over to the final number, ‘Tuesdays at TIME’ where I felt that the drums were, at times, too far forward and overshadowed Mitnauls sax and the keys of David Criswell. Having said that, this is still a good track and a strong end to a good album release.

‘Late Bloomer’ is available from Bandcamp.

Musicians: David Jamison – bass guitar, percussion; Stephen Mitnaul – alto sax; Nick DiGiacomo – guitar; David Criswell – keyboard; Clayton Carothers – drums; Elle Gyandoh, Dain Saint, Donte Young, RC & Asha-Lé Davis – vocals and MCs.

Tracklist: 1. Flaws and All. 2. Ain’t It Good to Ya. 3. Spanish Jawn. 4. Rap Snacks. 5. Uncle Nearest. 6. Body Roll. 7. She Don’t Love Me. 8. I Can’t Help It. 9. Tuesdays at TIME.