From Here On Out (feat. Phil Kelly, Nate Winn & Takashi Iio)

The HSQ is a Detroit-based jazz quintet whose members have been gigging around the Motor City for over 18 years, but never together in this configuration. The group features co-leaders James Hughes on saxophones and trumpeter Jimmy Smith, with pianist Phil Kelly, bassist Takashi Iio, and drummer Nate Winn. The band began playing its version of Detroit post-bop and "original tunes with purpose" in 2012. Composing all original material for a debut release is risky, but in this case refreshing, especially when the results speak for themselves. With influences such as Donald Byrd, Sonny Stitt, Pepper Adams, Joe Henderson, and the Jones Brothers, these musicians are clearly steeped in Detroit bop but aren't a carbon copy of it, or compromising their musical vision with additional elements of crossover genres. The only thing the HSQ concern themselves with is making the music swing. They deliver that and then some on From Here on Out.