Harrold is Gregory Porter’s regular sticksman (and brother to trumpet star Keyon) and this is his debut release under his own name. He’s enlisted some heavyweight jazz help from fellow Porter bandmate Tivon Pennicot, St Louis maninstay Carlos Brown, and well-travelled pianist Joel Holmes: this release, however, draws more on his background in contemporary Afro-American gospel and his love of the soul tradition to present four tracks of pumping contemporary jazz-funk.

‘Brighter Days’ comes riding in on waves of flute, vocals and percussion to deliver a mellow, uplifting message with plenty of tasty contemporary drum chops keeping things simmering along. ‘Best Part’ is a an equally suave instrumental, while ‘Free’ sounds like a pumped up out-take from ‘I Want You’ era Marvin Gaye. Best of all is a muscular reworking of the immortal Alan Toussaint anthem to self-empowerment, ‘Yes We Can’, carrying on the lineage brought to us from Lee Dorsey via the Pointer Sisters, with Harrold building on the legacy of the late lamented Gaylord G Birch and maintaining the funk immaculately throughout.