The Du-Rites have only been in existence for a few years, but the musical life of the NYC funk duo has been anything but quiet. Comprised of multi-instrumentalists Jay Mumford (aka J-Zone) on drums and keys and Pablo Martin on guitar, bass and synthesizer, the pair has already cranked out two albums, a handful of 7” singles and worked with a wide range of musical greats – ranging from Eddie Palmieri; to Ghostface Killah; to Robert Glasper; to Bobbito Garcia – proving they can groove with anyone. Through it all, Jay and Pablo have honed their composing and playing chops to go into uncharted territory for their third LP, Gamma Ray Jones.

Inspired by the musical scores of the iconic cop shows of the 1960s and ‘70s, Gamma Ray Jones is the musical backdrop for a lost 1972 TV series that never made it past the cutting room floor at NBC. With the rival crime-fighting shows of the day brawling for airtime (Mannix, McCloud, Banacek, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, The Mod Squad, The Rockford Files, etc.), Gamma Ray Jones proved too real, too violent and too expensive to produce, prompting the network to cease production on the series after the pilot episode, Get This Turkey Outta Here!, was filmed. The fact that the star of the show was none other than NYC’s own street justice warrior, Pedro “Gamma Ray” Jones, Hollywood execs didn’t want the smoke. The pilot sat in a film reel vault for 46 years with one glaring omission – the music. Enter: The Du-Rites.

Scoring the lost pilot with the utmost attention to detail, Jay and Pablo go from synth-driven big city overtures (“Gamma Ray Jones Theme”); to cold-blooded funk (“The Mean Machine”); to jazz and Latin-tinged soul (“Big Shirley’s Place,” “Amsterdam Ave.”); to cinematic, orchestral movements (“Go Down Swinging”). There’s even a chase scene (“Showdown!”), proving The Du-Rites not only studied the songbook for cop show funk (written by legendary composers Lalo Schifrin, Quincy Jones, Dave Grusin, Mike Post, etc.) – they spent many a night watching the shows in syndication.

Where 2016’s debut album brought funky grooves and vamps by the pound and 2017’s Greasy Listening brought a raggedy live nightclub band into your living room, Gamma Ray Jones is The Du-Rites musical backdrop for 20” long cars, Mateus wine, sport jackets, 10 minute fist-fight scenes and all that was gritty about New York City in the 1970s.