Tony Adamo's exuberant jazzy take on Tower of Power's funk classic 'What is Hip?" gives it a more sinewy vibe, elasticizing the vocals and the bass, while crackling up the song's more timpanic elements. This exuberantly self-assured remake recalls the Acid Jazz insouciance of the early 90s while harkening back to the Big Band era and the Vegas-y stylings of suave masters of self-confidence such as Tom Jones and Al Jarreau. Adamo has a brash self-assuredness and a sense of showmanship that's neither unearned nor in your face. You can almost picture him taking a drag from an unfiltered or sipping from a martini in between some of his spoken-word lines. And the arrangements are crisp, solid and spicy--punctuating Adamo's vocals and his been-there sung-that attitude.

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