The Inner-City All Stars recorded their album Gotta Move On in three days, but getting their studio time was years in the making.

The front of the CD, released in January, includes this sentence in small print: Outstanding achievement is not the result of moderate effort.

Courtesy photo

The Inner-City All Stars recently recorded its first album. The group is versatile enough to bring on the funk at college campuses or let loose with call-and-response at festivals.

The album makes a sturdy example of how this brass group bounces among the styles of jazz, funk, hip-hop and rap in its own family-friendly way.

The All-Stars, organized in 2002 and named “Best Band” this year by the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities, performs not just at colleges but also high schools, elementary schools, military bases, festivals and as a support band for touring headliners.

They have played nearly 35 shows since February.

But once the recording support came along, in part through Lake Dallas producer Nichelson Entertainment, the group was finally able to spotlight itself on disc.

“It was pretty easy, because we had been playing those songs over three or four years,” said bandleader and manager Calvin Sexton, a 2003 graduate of the University of North Texas. “We just never had the opportunity to record them.”

The All-Stars has a fluctuating membership of six to eight. Aside from vocalist and trombone player Sexton, perhaps the most consistent member is David Seip on tuba and vocals, a member since 2006.

Seip explained that the other members join the band and then leave to work with other groups.

“It’s just a matter of what they are able to dedicate to us in terms of time,” Seip said.

When asked about how the group modulates their show song list, Sexton said they choose the best style that reflects where the show is, and Seip concurs, citing show length and audience demand.

“When we get called out to arts shows, they are usually longer, and they are wanting to hear everything,” Seip said. “For universities, they concentrate on hip-hop or a funk kind of party music. When we go to New Orleans, a lot of times, we play [the party music] because it sets us apart from the other brass bands that play in [traditional] style.”

There isn’t anything aggressive about the All Stars; in fact, they have been paired with Brave Combo.

“That’s partially by design and partially because that’s what we like to do,” Seip said. “We’re not a hard-core group. We’re very much about having a good time. But also, by design, we can go pretty much everywhere, play at a school, or at a show or at a club. People enjoy it, regardless of the situation.”

With the first album released, Seip said, he looks forward to the next. It may be a live concert recording, a style he admits is very close to what the band is about.

“That whole situation is what we’ve been doing for years now. We’re still a young group, relatively speaking. Every time we do something, things get a little more refined, a little closer to what we want to be in our heads,” he said. “And I think we get a little better vision of what we would like to do in the future. That’s what I like about being in the group.”

On the Web: Inner-City All Stars: www.innercityallstars.com