Well, it has finally arrived. The long awaited, much anticipated, frustratingly delayed and notably debated CD from the Central Jersey horn based Rock band Yorktown is seeing its release date this Veterans Day, November 11, 2009. Its been almost two years since the recording of Yorktown’s seven-song, 32-minute CD entitled “The Battle of Yorktown” began at Frankensound studios in North Brunswick.
"We really tried to pull-out all the stops on this album and give our fans and listeners something significantly different than the typical Rock sound of the past 10 years" guitarist and songwriter James York states. "But to go forward sometimes it's beneficial to take a step back for inspiration . . . . we found ours in bands from the 60's and 70's such as Chicago, Edgar Winter and Blood, Sweat and Tears".
"My brothers and I originally formed this band in 2002 as a R&B/ Soul tribute act" James explains. "But since we've begun writing originals we have moved decidedly more in the direction of what I'd call Power-Horn Rock. Each of our musical tastes vary from Heavy Metal to Blues to Smooth and not-so-smooth Jazz, that is why we were able to bring a very diverse musical styling to this album."
With that being said, “The Battle of Yorktown” features musicians from two unique Jersey fronts. James (guitar), Michael (drums) and Chris York (alto/ barritone sax and flute) as well as Johhny Mac (tenor sax) and Phil Renaldi (trumpet) hail from the Middlesex County area in central New Jersey. While Tracy Sousa (vocals), Luke Kessel (bass) and Karl Dietal (keyboards) are part of the route 78 “Hunterdon County Crew”.
“We York brothers were very fortunate to have the incredible talents of everyone involved, but especially our North Jersey neighbors” states James. “When they came into the picture, the whole project just fell together. It was beautiful working with those cats.”
The songs on the CD each have their own unique flair. The opening tack “Jersey Bound” is a funky-rock instrumental that has ripples of Sir Isaac Hays “Shaft” soundtrack flowing through. Karl Dietal’s Hammond organ give “Stay the Light” a Gospel edge; “Funkfinger” a tribute to the late, great bassman James Jameson is nothing short than an all-out funk jam; “Charlie Don’t Surf” and “I Believe” are straight ahead rockers; “Sockdollager” - 30’s slang for ’knock out punch’- has drummer Mike tearin’ it up with earthshaking drive; and “Waiting for Q” is a Jazzy number whose style hasn’t been heard since the 1970’s CTI label recordings.
Yorktown will still be performing their unique brand of “old school” covers of R&B and Rock at local bars and clubs in the NJ/NY area and as for now their original shows are TBA.