Track Listing

1. Shake it down
2. The funky funk
3. Payback
4. Where it's at
5. Mellow fellow
6. (I say...) it's alright
7. Wild and free
8. Badbone theme
9. Red cent
10. Can it be done

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #160360 in Music
• Released on: 2006-08-28
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Badbone might be the first album from funk trombonist Dennis Rollins, but a random look through albums by Courtney Pine, US3, the Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai or Lynden David Hall, to name but five, will show just what a key figure Rollins has been in British jazz, funk and soul music over the past decade. His trombone playing is relaxed and supple, but full-blooded enough to dominate the funk grooves that make up most tracks on this set. If you want comparisons, his sound is more Fred Wesley--he of the James Brown band--than JJ Johnson or other jazz 'bonists, but this man is no stranger to his jazz heritage, nor to the smoother side of soul. The instrumentation behind him is basic--guitars, keyboards, bass and drums, with the occasional trumpet and vocal line to add extra colour--and the arrangements purposely simple. What results is a modern tribute to that funk-drenched decade, the 1970s, when Earth Wind & Fire and the Crusaders as well as Brown and Sly Stone ruled the airwaves. As such, it's a perfect accompaniment for a summer's day. --Simon Adams

Customer Reviews

A summer jazz classic !!
I first came across Dennis Rollins when he was playing alongside the fantastic Courtney Pine at a gig in Bristol late last year. So I would highly recommend Badbone & Co to any Pine fans out there. Trombonists don't tend to get the same exposure as saxophonists do, and because their instrument is less versatile i was very curious to find out how Rollins would manage to produce a CD centred around his choosen medium. The album contains upbeat tunes like 'Shake it down' and 'Its alright' which are cleverly tempered by the dreamy 'Mellow fellow' and the exquisite 'Red cent', which I could quite happily listen to all day ! Perfect for parties, perfect for chilling out to on lazy summer afternoons, Badbone is bad man ! Buy it !

Flippin' Amazing
Dennis is just such a wonderful artist both to watch and to listen to. He is so talented and so at ease with himself, he's no idea how amazing he is. Listen to this album at home and you can't help but dance around the kitchen table, he's so accessible and such fun. BUT so cool!!! I've introduced 'him' to a lot of my friends and they are total converts so try it!! What a high! I can't write about him musically but I just know what I feel and he is so right. TRY IT. Like me you may always have thought of trombone as being the comic instrument but I tell you this guy makes it SOOOO COOOOOOL!! FAB, FAB, FAB.

Disappointing
What the world needs now is more funky 'bone players: but not this CD. There's a subtle difference between 'cool' and 'tepid' (or is it 'torpid'? - the guy has great technique but no sense of rhythm and no feeling for the idiom). If you want to hear how it's really done, try almost anything by Fred Wesley. The best thing on this album: his solo with piano - a really beautiful thing. Forget the rest.