Not so long ago, we were privileged to listen to and review the debut album of a fantastic new quintet, The Big Four. With their eclectic and intelligent mix of roots, jazz, swing and blues music, they quite stunned us here at JazzandSoul HQ. So ... useless to say that we were anxious to pop in their follow up disc, Sanctified.

And our expectations are more than fulfilled.
A very positive aspect is, that the band's line - up hasn't been changed since their debut recording. Of course this shows and makes The Big Four Quintet sound like a tight, smooth running collective.

After the compelling opening track, Aaricia's Moods, named after J.B.'s daughter, The Big Four again manage to take us on a rollercoaster of styles, tempo's, timbres and themes. Title track, Sanctified takes off a bit mysterious to evolve into a 'boombastic' track with heavy horns and resonator guitar. J.B.'s voice sounds more mature and themewise, the cut drives me a bit towards Pink Floyd.
Something very different than in Seeing angels at Sunset, where 'The Quintet' takes the sunny, uplifting and loungy path, based on groovy saxophone and guitar work.
A track that intrigued me from the first time I heard it was The Dun. It opens somewhat dark as the screech of an ancient warrior tribe, to change into an uptempo soulish song with a super climax at the end, sounding as a big relief. This is world class music !

The strength of TB4Q undoubtly is, that they manage to surprise with every new jam they present, grabbing you by the throat from the first note, leaving you in a haze of perplexity afterwards. From the misty funk in Ambinet Groove, the adventurous improvisation in KidK, the bluesy soul in Communicate or the latin vibe in Las Niñas de la Mancha ... The Big Four Quintet delivers as no other band can.
Even more than The Congregation Sessions, Sanctified offers an exciting reconnoitring into music, and will give The Big Four the acknowledgement they deserve.

Sanctified is world class material.