Poetry In Motion

“It’s Up To You”

(Mack Avenue Records)

New Orleans’ Soul Rebels have been making a big noise in the Big Easy for more than 20 years. With their latest release, Poetry in Motion (Mack Avenue), the brass-fueled party band hopes to expand its fan base even further. Blending Bourbon Street jazz with hip-hop, funk, soul and R&B, The Soul Rebels are hardly traditional. But with origins in the Olympia Brass Band and other local institutions, the members are well-versed in the second-line vernacular. On the new album, the mighty octet invites guests from around the corner — Trombone Shorty, trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, vocalist PJ Morton and rapper Big Freedia — and from around the music spectrum, with reggae-rapper Matisyahu and keyboardist Robert Glasper also contributing to the mix. Reggae artist KES and R&B singer Kayla Jasmine provide the vocals on the highly danceable “It’s Up to You,” included here, which also features the rapping of Soul Rebels trumpeter Julian Gosin. The whole thing is livelied up by the group’s bright horns, with sousaphone player Manuel Perkins Jr. pumping out the bass groove.