Review: Jambal - Men Of Average Nature (Independent)

Luxembourg-based jazz quartet Jambal link up with Kenai Shogun as a new collaborative alias of Luxembourgish / Brazilian rapper (f.k.a Culture the Kid) to release 'Men of Average Nature'; did someone say, "Roy Hargrove's RH Factor?" - thank you Mr. Trumpet Man!

Well that's what you'd be thinking after the opening track but beware, these are not 'Men Of Average Nature', they are long term friends that have manage to condence years of jamming together into these eight tracks.

Jambal and Kenai Shogun joined forces for this project after being scattred aroun Europe (London, Oslo, Amsterdam and Antwerp) only to blend their favourite genres back in Luxembourg.

So what are their favourite genres?  On 'Fair & Well' you might think potty mouth grunge rock rap jazz: "You what?", yeah, all in one track - Red Hot Chilie Peppers meets Modern Jazz Quartet (or more likely, JMMR - see review HERE).   

'Thalassophobia' is a track with more of a calm control and makes it easier to imagine all this energy was recorded at the prestigious Charles Stoltz’s studios as the album chills somewhat blending "jazz improvisation with sharp penmanship", 'Glon Cherry', 'Haunt Me, Curse Me' are far more jazzy, featuring Mateus Wojda on guitar and Ben Bley on trumpet respectively.

Don't be put off by the cover photo as Jambal takes the success of UK jazz groups, Ezra Collective etc, into their own 'out there' hip-hop, jazz and rap further with the addition of Brazilian rap; with a capitol 'S'; are they getting at the spelling of 'Brasil'? 

In fact, the Brasilian influence gets more obvious with 'Marinheiro' and 'non-radio edit' single 'Start Like This' - there's some nice lines on this from the rap and "Mr Trumpet Man" makes it  totally engaging and by now you're loving this album - it's only a shame that the Jack Kerouac beat poetry improv theory of 'typebeat' didn't get expanded into more Thundercat influenced Dub Lab - perhaps one for another day as these guys are so talented they could so do that genre!

Release party: 22.11.25. 20:00: JAMBAL ‚quickly becoming one of the most exciting voices in the grand duchy’s new wave of underground music and youth culture’ Stued Theater Gréiwemaacher Res. stuedtheater@gmail.com

BUY LINK / PRE-ORDER: https://ffm.to/men-of-average-nature-9782

Artist: Jambal 

Title:  Men Of Average Nature

Release date: 21st November, 2025  

Label : Independent

Catalog Number : TBC

Format : Digital  / Bandcamp

Compositions - Ben Bley, Arthur Clees, Mateus Wojda, Rolan Eberhardt, Luca Garofalo
Vocals, Lyrics - Matteo Griz Wolff
Trumpet, Synth - Ben Bley
Vibraphone, Piano, add. Percussion - Arthur Clees
Electric Guitar - Mateus Wojda
Electric Bass - Rolan Eberhardt
Drums, add. Percussion - Luca Garofalo
Recording - Charles Stoltz
Mixing - Charles Stoltz
Mastering - Miklós Kovács & Marci Fenyvesi