Hailing from New Orleans, progressive jazz-funk group Jank Setup honed their musical and performance chops playing raucous college house parties. Taking influence from the classic funk of James Brown and Earth, Wind & Fire, to the contemporary fusions of Anderson Paak and Tom Misch, the group have spent the past year recording in the studio.

Their latest single ‘Shy’ is a layered slice of soul and jazz-inflected R&B. According to the band:‘”Shy” calls out to the person inside each of us who struggles to find the strength to release their inhibition. Love is out there in every form – you just gotta open your eyes and grab it’

Kentro Mason Jr provides a fluid lead vocal broken up with tasteful interludes from Luis Carlos Villasenor on guitar and Nick Ferreirae on tenor sax. The comfortable and familiar groove flows into an unexpected climax with Mason Jr amping up his vocal and declaring ‘you do not have to be shy.’ Here’s hoping for more music from the group in 2020!

(Image Credit: Jank Setup)