SUM are a hard gigging New York band whose specialty is to fuse soul with smooth jazz and in September they’ll be launching their debut long player.
The album is heralded by a sweet and lovely single, ‘It’s Alright To Be Me’ – a gentle side swipe at the pressure on the Instagram/social media generation to look a particular way and also a lovely way to explain the band’s name and philosophy.
Latin scholars will know that “sum” is the Latin for “I am” and the group believe (quite rightly) that we all need to accept who and what we are – embrace our weaknesses and strengths and evolve socially.
Sonically, the music is exactly as described above – a pleasing blend of soul and smooth jazz. Drummer and band leader Steve Belvilus creates just the right backdrop for vocalist Patryce Williams to float a beguiling sung/semi-spoken vocal track; great horn parts too from sax man Andrew Gould and trumpet player Gil Defay.
