Funkwrench Blues Paints a Trailblazing Path in Jazz Fusion on New Album 'THIS IS THE ONE! (raison d'être)'

On June 12, 2026, Funkwrench Blues is back with their new album, 'THIS IS THE ONE (raison d'être).'

The album is now available for purchase and streaming, via Need To Know, across music platforms worldwide. Co-produced by Brian Brinkerhoff and Frank Swart, the fresh new Funkwrench Blues produced their latest record with Brian Brinkerhoff and Frank Swart, and have put out a fusion of jazz, blues, funk, and rock that's bursting with energy and creative concepts. "Raison d'être," when translated to English, describes one's “purpose” or “reason of being”, which follows the album's themes of

self-discovery, finding one’s confidence, and living unapologetically as yourself.

In jazz fusion, collaboration and interplay between musicians is key. This happens when you build a strong community of musicians, and Funkwrench Blues excels in this area. The album cover pays tribute to Julie Swart, the wife of Funkwrench’s creator - a deliberate artistic statement about the playful promise of commercial success. Frank Swart has nothing left to prove, but he still plenty to express, and in this new record he does so entirely through mesmerizing instrumentals.

On 'THIS IS THE ONE! (raison d'être),' Frank Swart blends his astounding musical chops into each song, accompanied by a rotating roster of accomplished musicians - including Warren Wolf, Hamid Drake, Nduduzo Makhathini, David Fiuczynski, Ronald Bruner Jr. and many others. Each of the album's eight tracks are a journey through space and time, showing the incredible results when you bring talented musicians together and let them play off each other.

'THIS IS THE ONE! (raison d'être)' Tracklisting:

1. Possibilities

2. Sammy’s Bump

3. No Right

4. That’s The Thing, Man

5. Starship

6. LTD

7. Lullaby (Manic Impressions)

8. Precious and Impermanent

Growing up in Boston, Frank Swart took in nearly every genre of music - from big band jazz and Broadway to the Beatles, Motown, Hendrix, and the Coltranes. At thirteen he got a bass, practiced incessantly, and built his own basement studio, which he called Hell, and where he recorded the first demos for The Pixies, also running late-night sessions with Flea, Joe Bowie, and Mark Sandman. The incredible collaborations continued - three bands in a single WBCN Rock 'n' Roll Rumble, Morphine sessions that to this day are still waiting to be discovered in a vault, and then on to San Francisco, Nashville, and over a decade of session and touring work with Norah Jones, the Indigo Girls, John Hiatt, Patty Griffin, and Buddy Miller. All the while, commercial breakthrough was waiting as he built this busy career.

After open-heart surgery, anxiety and depression came back into focus, and sharpened Swart's resolve. After returning to San Francisco in 2017, Swart launched his Need To Know label and created Funkwrench Blues - a massive catalog of over 200 recordings, featuring huge names like John Hammond, Sonny Landreth, Vieux Farka Touré, Fred Wesley, Tommy Castro, along with many more. He pulled 100,00-plus Spotify listeners for the 2023 album Soundtrack for a Film Without Pictures, along with incredible critical acclaim. Mischief in the Musitorium pushed things even further, and now in June of 2026, 'THIS IS THE ONE! (raison d'être)' is here with Warren Wolf, Hamid Drake, Nduduzo Makhathini, David Fiuczynski, and Ronald Bruner Jr. - the creation of an artist with nothing left to prove, but everything still left to say.

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