Paul Litteral, Litteral Truth Review

Horns that Speak: The Architecture of Paul Litteral’s Litteral Truth

by Sylvannia Garutch

Before diving into the overt craft on Litteral Truth, it’s worth noting that this album is a fun exploration of the horn-band tradition. Paul Litteral approaches these songs with arranging that features someone who has lived inside the horn section, inside the pocket, inside the chord changes. His playing is informed by a life spent on bandstands, in rehearsal halls, and behind the trumpet, absorbing how horns breathe together and how groove is a structural foundation rather than a garnish. This record honors lineage from Blood, Sweat & Tears to early Tower of Power to the LA studio school. The music is created to phrase in the language of now with harmonic nuance, orchestral space, and a modern understanding of how horns frame voice and rhythm section.

It’s a record built on the power of horns, where counterlines matter as much as lead lines, and voicings bloom like chord clusters on a piano. The ensembles are sculpting harmonic character and rhythmic argument. And crucially, they leave room: for air, for groove, for phrasing to develop with intention. Litteral Truth is a record by someone who respects the pocket and trusts the listener’s ears.

“Home At Last” opens the album with a reggae-shaded ease, led by Rocky Davis’ warm, unforced vocal delivery. Supporting his singing is his own background-vocal arrangement that casts Angela O’Neill, Anna Orbison, and Deborah Davis as supple harmonic cushions. Michael Wetherwax’s horn arrangement makes an immediate impression with clustered brass voicings that bloom into space rather than dominating it, and his use of sustained pads feels almost choral in resonance.

Ken Rosser’s guitar sits lightly in the groove, framing harmony with subtle rhythmic flickers. When Paul Litteral steps forward, his trumpet solo follows the vocal logic established by lyrical phrasing, gentle arc, and no rush. His lines are a line with the pocket and taper into melodic candor. The track has an appealing vocal and horn-section empathy as this is arranging and playing that treats horns as voices and voices as part of the band to make a unified breath.

On “Give It Everything You’ve Got”, Michael Mull’s arrangement leans deeper into dance-floor funk. Rosser sets up the pocket, and the rhythm section locks in as Anna and James Orbison playfully trade phrases. The horns speak in unified bursts with short punctuations and tight figures that ride, not crowd, the groove. The band understands that funk demands patience; build slowly, trust rhythmic clarity, and let the listener feel the hits.

On “Do It Again,” Rocky Davis shifts roles from vocalist to horn arranger, shaping an elegant setting for Literal’s dynamic building of the melody. Literally’s effected trumpet voice leads the ensemble with orchestral finesse, shading lines, and then punching them within the arrangement. A blues-tinted guitar solo leads into a full shout chorus with tight, harmonically stacked, and impeccably voiced horn parts and band figures. It’s big band language translated into funk-soul ecology. When Litteral enters solo, he does so with precision in developing motifs. He places his impressive jazz phrases at just the right moments to give the most impact.

In “New York,” Mull again elevates groove into architecture through arrangement. The dance-funk beat is lively, with Anna and James Orbisonand adding spicy vocals. Colin Kupka’s tenor solo rides deeply in the pocket before yielding to Litteral’s upper-register assurance with his full tone, pure placement, and never forced style.

“Use Me” is a joy with Angela O’Neill’s singing channeling gospel-soul electricity, and Bodine’s horn voicings move like dialogue fabric. Litteral’s solo uses rhythm as language with ideas, melodic fragments, and motivic groove placement being the focus. He never rushes the time. He trusts the beat.

Litteral Truth is an album for listeners who appreciate the mechanics of an ensemble that has horns shading harmony and a groove built from an emotional trajectory that rises and falls naturally. Litteral Truth is a melody-first groove-aware project with a ten-track program of diverse styles and genres.