| Jazz |
Reimagining the Groove: Simard’s Take It to the Sky Revives Jazz-Funk’s Golden Pulse
In a Vancouver studio humming with brass and ambition, a new generation of musicians takes flight, not by chasing nostalgia, but by reinventing it.
A Collective Dream in Motion
Released in late August, Take It to the Sky is the fruit of a young collective whose passion burns brighter than their years. And if its title rings a familiar bell, it’s meant to. The phrase echoes Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1980 album, but what unfolds here is no simple tribute. Instead, the record reinvents that golden era’s magic. Drawing from the works of Earth, Wind & Fire, George Duke, The Crusaders, and Eumir Deodato, the group weaves new arrangements lush with horns, strings, and a groove that feels at once timeless and startlingly fresh.
The album, several years in the making, is less a revival than a rebirth, a joyful resurrection of jazz-funk and soul textures that first shaped Simard’s imagination. These musicians aren’t merely revisiting the past; they are building a bridge between generations, where analog warmth meets modern clarity.
Twenty-One Musicians, Four Days, and a Century of Sound
The challenge was monumental: twenty-one musicians, four days of recording, and an ambition that reached far beyond homage. Under the direction of arranger and producer Bill Runge and production lead John Korsrud, the sessions took place at Vancouver’s Monarch and Hipposonic Studios last December.
The lineup reads like a dream team of Canadian jazz: Brad Turner, André Lachance, Randall Stoll, joined by the remarkable vocal pair of Rebecca Shoichet and Marcus Mosely. Together, they gave Simard’s vision a tangible heartbeat: to revive the essence of timeless music, but on a grander scale. Strings replace vintage synthesizers, brass sections expand to fill every corner of the soundscape, and each arrangement breathes new vitality into familiar melodies.
If there is a regret to voice, purely personal, of course, it is the absence of M.F.S.B., one of the era’s defining ensembles. But that omission hardly dims the radiance of the record. What emerges instead is a genuine rewriting of classics, guided by melody rather than mimicry. The result? Cooler, freer, and, in many ways, more adventurous than the originals.
From Vision to Celebration
For Simard, Take It to the Sky is more than an album, it’s a statement of purpose, a celebration of collaboration, perseverance, and the timeless power of music. Entirely self-financed through his entrepreneurial ventures, the project stands as a testament to his lifelong devotion to the arts and his deep respect for the musicians who bring these arrangements to life.
Much has changed since the analog age of the 1970s and ’80s, the instruments, the recording methods, even the bass frequencies that once thumped through vinyl grooves. Yet this record doesn’t chase the past. Instead, it listens to it, reinterprets it, and translates its language into something both contemporary and deeply human.
The musicians’ interpretations shimmer with a kind of nostalgia for an era they never lived through. In their hands, the funk and soul of yesterday are refracted through the restless curiosity of youth, a dialogue between what was and what could be, with whispers of pop and rock sensibilities that anchor the sound firmly in the present.
Toward the Next Horizon
With Motivation, this Take It to the Sky emerges as nothing short of a love letter to jazz-funk itself. Each note feels like a salute to the joy of groove, the discipline of ensemble playing, and the courage to dream collectively.
And as the final track fades, one can’t help but hope that this ensemble, these audacious architects of rhythm and melody, will next turn their energy toward original compositions. That would be both a natural evolution and a revelation.
Because if this record proves anything, it’s that the sky isn’t the limit. For these musicians, the sky is the groove.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, November 7th 2025
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Musicians :
Lead Vocals: Rebecca Shoichet, Marcus Mosely
Background Vocals: Jennifer Scott, Tom Arntzen
Horns: John Korsrud, Derry Byrne – Trumpet; Bill Runge – Alto Sax; Mike Allen – Tenor Sax; Jim Hopson – Trombone
Strings: Cameron Wilson, Mark Ferris – Violin; Parmela Attariwala – Violin, Viola; Finn Manniche – Cello
Piano, Rhodes, Clavinet: Brad Turner, Bruno Hubert
Hammond B3 Organ: Michael Kalanj
Guitar: Russ Klyne, Tristan Paxton
Bass: André Lachance
Drums: Randall Stoll
Percussion: Raphael Geronimo
Track Listing :
T-Jam (Featuring Brad Turner, Michael Kalanj & Bruno Hubert)
Prelude (Featuring Bruno Hubert)
Take It To The Sky (Featuring Rebecca Shoichet)
Skyscrapers (Featuring Brad Turner, Michael Kalanj & Bruno Hubert)
Never Let Me Go (Featuring Marcus Mosely)
Free As The Wind (Featuring Brad Turner, Bruno Hubert & Mike Allen)
You Can’t Even Walk In The Park (Featuring Brad Turner & Bruno Hubert)