The Essex

What has three horns, seven heads, and a kick? The Essex - a hard-hitting, horn-driven, Brooklyn-based funk/soul outfit now in their fifth year. The Essex is all about the mix of power and groove. The penetrating immediacy of their three-part horn lines delivered with raw rock intensity, jazz-inspired improvisations, swaggering hiphop, breakbeats and deep funk combine to create a high energy live show unique to the New York City soundscape.

The band's newest member, Jeff Jeswald (formerly of Georgia Soul Council), brought with him a fresh energy drawing heavily on late-60s souljazz and early-70s breakbeat funk. Reinvigorated and on a creative tear, the group debuted a brand new set of tunes in late-2014 at Brooklyn Bowl and Rockwood Music Hall, two of their favorite NYC venues to play. Following 2012's self-titled EP and 2013's Living with a Borrowed Soul, the Essex's third EP and first vinyl 45" drop in late-2015, with a 10" LP set to follow in 2016.

The Essex is a fitting addition to the sounds coming out of Brooklyn with an identity all its own. Punching, weaving horns and the lockstep rhythm section keeps things tight and in-the-pocket, even as the band launches into often unexpected directions, following the mus