CORY WEEDS RECASTS HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS FOR HAMMOND ORGAN QUARTET ON HIP TO BE SQUARE — PLAYS HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS (BOOP BOP BING BASH!)
THE CANADIAN SAXOPHONIST, PRODUCER AND LABEL FOUNDER JOINS ORGANIST AND ARRANGER CHRIS HAZELTON, GUITARIST DAVID ROURKE AND DRUMMER RUDY PETSCHAUER
THE 13-TRACK ALBUM PAIRS SIX HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS SONGS WITH ORIGINALS AND SOUL-JAZZ SELECTIONS
AVAILABLE DIGITALLY, ON DELUXE CD AND AS A LIMITED 180-GRAM DOUBLE LP OCTOBER 16 VIA CELLAR MUSIC GROUP
Hip to Be Square — Plays Huey Lewis & The News (Boop Bop Bing Bash!) is the forthcoming new album by saxophonist, producer and Cellar Music Group founder Cory Weeds, due October 16, 2026, via Cellar Music Group. The 13-track release features Weeds on tenor saxophone alongside Hammond B3 organist Chris Hazelton, guitarist David Rourke and drummer Rudy Petschauer. Its opening six tracks recast songs by Huey Lewis & The News through Hazelton’s organ-quartet arrangements; the seven-track Boop Bop Bing Bash! program follows with originals and selections from the soul-jazz repertoire.
The project began in 2013, when Hazelton invited Weeds to the Midwest for several performances and workshops. The pair drove four hours from Kansas City to St. Louis in Hazelton’s father’s van, where one disc had become lodged in the CD player: Huey Lewis & The News’ Greatest Hits. As the songs repeated across the drive, Weeds began hearing how their melodies, rhythms and blues foundations could translate to a Hammond organ quartet.
“There was something in this music that would work in a classic organ-quartet setting,” Weeds recalls. “Reworking popular songs into jazz isn’t exactly a new idea — organist and friend Mike LeDonne has done this brilliantly with tunes by Michael Jackson, Earth, Wind & Fire and The Spinners. Still, I’m pretty sure Huey Lewis & The News wouldn’t appear on any jazz musician’s short list for source material. But I heard something, and so did Chris Hazelton.”
Hazelton began sketching the music, though the project went dormant several times. Another encounter revived it in 2024, when Weeds and Hazelton were touring as members of the James Hunter Six while opening for Bonnie Raitt. During a stop at a Portland, Oregon, record store, an employee bumped into Weeds. He turned around and saw the employee carrying 25 copies of Huey Lewis & The News’ 1983 album Sports.
“That was it,” Weeds says. “The universe had spoken.”
Weeds and Hazelton assembled Rourke and Petschauer and booked a 13-day, 12-show tour. The quartet arrived at its first engagement in Austin, Texas, without having played together as a unit or rehearsed the material. They developed Hazelton’s book across the tour before recording at Afterlife Studios in Vancouver on November 17 and 18, 2025.
Produced by Weeds and Hazelton, the album was recorded by John Raham and mixed by Chris Gestrin. It will be available digitally in 24-bit/96kHz resolution with a booklet, in a deluxe six-panel CD package and as a 180-gram black-vinyl double LP limited to 500 copies. Kevin Gray mastered and cut the vinyl at Cohearent Audio, with pressing by Fidelity Records Pressing.
Hazelton created the six Huey Lewis treatments, while Rourke and Petschauer brought extensive ensemble experience, including Petschauer’s extended tenure with Brother Jack McDuff.
With Cellar Music Group receiving support from FACTOR Canada, Weeds and Hazelton expanded the Huey Lewis material with originals and pieces from the organ-jazz repertoire. Those additions formed the seven-track Boop Bop Bing Bash! portion, moving through boogaloo, swing, bossa and blues while drawing on the quartet’s writing and a broader soul-jazz lineage.
Weeds previously explored popular repertoire with Mike LeDonne on 2017’s Let’s Groove: The Music of Earth, Wind & Fire.
The album also coincides with Cellar Music Group’s 25th anniversary. Since Weeds founded the label in connection with his Vancouver jazz club in 2001, its catalogue has grown to more than 400 releases and earned its first Grammy Award in 2023.
Hazelton recasts the familiar melodies through the feel, swing and blues language of classic soul jazz.
“There are certain songs that instantly transport you somewhere, and for me, ‘I Want a New Drug’ is one of those songs,” Weeds says. “The groove, the swagger, the humor, the unmistakable energy — it already had the DNA of great soul jazz hidden inside it. Instead of trying to recreate the original, we wanted to reimagine it through the lens of organ jazz and hard bop.”
“What surprised me most is how naturally the song transformed,” he continues. “Strip away the ’80s production and you uncover a well-written composition with a deep groove and room for improvisation. The result feels both nostalgic and brand new at the same time — like Huey Lewis wandered into a late-night jazz club.”
“There Arno Answers,” written by Weeds and Hazelton, opens the album’s second program. “It’s a title with a double meaning,” Weeds explains. “Arno is someone in my life who has helped guide me through some very deep waters over the years, but the tune also reflects a period where I found myself carrying more questions than answers.”
“Musically, I wanted to channel that tension into something earthy and direct — a serious organ-boogaloo groove with attitude,” he continues. “Greasy, funky, simple and catchy.”
Rourke’s “Meezy’s Back in Town” suggests a lost 1970s or ’80s sitcom theme. Harold Ousley’s “The People’s Choice” shifts the feel again. As Weeds puts it, “Every organ record needs at least one greasy bossa.”
“Up in Gavin’s Flat” carries a direct connection to Vancouver jazz history. Weeds discovered the composition while searching through a rare 1973 album by Brute Force featuring saxophonist Gavin Walker, a longtime presence in the city’s jazz community.
“Anyone from Vancouver knows that name,” Weeds says. “Gavin lived the entire history of Vancouver jazz — as a player, presenter, interviewer and sometimes simply an audience member. This recording is our homage to him.”
Weeds encountered Billy Gardner’s “Boop Bop Bing Bash!” on George Braith’s Soulstream and responded to its name before hearing the performance. “Before I even heard it, my marketing brain kicked in — that had to be the album title,” he says. “Luckily, the tune itself was right up my alley, so we recorded it.”
Vancouver multi-instrumentalist John Lee contributes the easy-swinging “At Long Last,” followed by Jimmy Owens’ “Get the Money Bluze,” which closes the album with what Weeds calls “just pure fun.”
Weeds credits Hazelton with transforming the initial concept into a complete book, Rourke with bringing open ears and “subtle comedic genius,” and Petschauer with the deep groove shaped by his years with McDuff. “This project may have started as my idea, but it came to life through Chris Hazelton,” Weeds says. “He ran with the concept, delivered on every level and elevated the music beyond what I imagined.”
More than a decade after the drive from Kansas City to St. Louis, the album remains a source of deep satisfaction for Weeds. “It came together in an unexpected way, exceeded every expectation and brought me a lot of joy,” he says. “I hope it does the same for you when you listen.”
Tracklisting
- The Power of Love
- Bad Is Bad
- I Want a New Drug
- Hip to Be Square
- Do You Believe in Love
- If This Is It
- There Arno Answers
- Meezy’s Back in Town
- The People’s Choice
- Up in Gavin’s Flat
- Boop Bop Bing Bash
- At Long Last
- Get the Money Bluze