Why the Paris to Philadelphia Groove Still Matters on Break It Through by The Soul Invaders
A Paris Soul Jazz Single Written by a Session Bassist, with Philadelphia in the Credits
Larry Graham slapped the bass strings with a thumb in Sly and the Family Stone, and called it thumpin’ and pluckin’. Alex Kepessy, the Paris session bassist who composed Break It Through for The Soul Invaders, owns a Moon bass built to Graham’s design. Released on 1 August 2026, the single carries that soul jazz and funk lineage from Paris to Philadelphia.
The Soul Invaders’ Break It Through is now in our Funk, P-Funk, Disco-Funk playlist below. Their full run of coverage sits on the band’s artist profile. The single reached this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news desks. Press play first, then keep reading for the lineage behind it.
From Larry Graham’s Thumb to Philadelphia Soul, the Session Lineage Break It Through Carries Into 2026
Soul jazz took shape in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Hard bop players leaned into blues, gospel and rhythm and blues. The organ trio, built around the Hammond, became its classic line-up. Its popular heyday came before jazz fusion arrived at the end of the decade. Then funk moved the weight of the music onto the rhythm section.
Graham’s slap technique widened what a bass guitar could sound like. It drove Sly and the Family Stone first, and later Graham Central Station. Similarly, Paul Jackson, a founding member of the Headhunters, played on Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters and Thrust. Jackson showed how much room a jazz bassist could find inside a funk groove.
Sigma Sound, Echo Shack and the Philadelphia Side of Break It Through
Philadelphia, meanwhile, supplied the studio tradition. Engineer Joseph Tarsia founded Sigma Sound Studios in 1968 at 212 North 12th Street. It became the room most closely tied to Philadelphia soul. Gamble and Huff’s Philadelphia International Records cut many of its records there. So did the session players known as MFSB and the producer Thom Bell. Drummer Earl Young rose with that sound in the early 1970s, and also founded The Trammps of Disco Inferno.
That lineage runs straight into Break It Through. Kepessy has spent 30 years in live and studio sessions, according to the bassist’s SoundBetter profile. The profile’s sounds-like list names Larry Graham and Paul Jackson. Its gear list starts with a 1967 Fender Precision and a 1977 Fender Jazz Bass.
The credits carry the Philadelphia connection too. Erik Scattareggia, one of the five names on the release, runs Echo Shack in Philadelphia. The drum recording space sits in an old church, which Scattareggia and two friends began renting in 2021. In June 2026, the band’s YouTube channel posted a one-minute video from that room. It shows drums for a forthcoming album, Good Old Times, recorded there.
Where The Soul Invaders and Break It Through Sit in French Soul, Beside Electro Deluxe and Ben l’Oncle Soul
The Soul Invaders work out of Paris. The band describes its music as soul jazz, funk and R&B, under the tagline Grooves for your soul. Break It Through is the second of three singles the band has released in 2026. It runs to three minutes and 26 seconds and carries the Soul Records name on its copyright line.
Apple Music credits the composition to Kepessy. The release credits also name Erik Scattareggia, François Faure, Vincent Echard and David Felgeirolles. Musically, the track is groove-heavy, built from soul jazz, funk and classic R&B. In addition, the band’s range runs from energetic, motivating tempos to slower, introspective moods. Their YouTube channel also holds a video from January 2018. So the name was in use well before this year’s singles.
Electro Deluxe, Ben l’Oncle Soul and the French Line of Played Jazz-Funk
Two French acts sit closest. Electro Deluxe formed in late 2001 and mixes jazz, soul, funk and hip-hop. The group presents itself as a band of players who add loops and samples. That sets it apart from machine acts with soloists on top. Its double album Live in Paris (2012) captured a concert at the Alhambra with a big band of around twenty horns. In 2017, the Victoires du Jazz named it band of the year.
Meanwhile, Ben l’Oncle Soul took French soul to Motown Records, which released the singer’s self-titled debut in 2010. The singer has also sung on Electro Deluxe albums. Between them, the two acts show that France has a real audience for soul and jazz-funk played by working bands. Break It Through speaks to that same audience.
So who is it for? Listeners who came to French soul through Ben l’Oncle Soul will find their way in. So will followers of Electro Deluxe’s brass-backed jazz-funk, and anyone who traces a bass line back to Larry Graham. Bass players have an extra reason to listen, because the composer is one of them.
Next comes Good Old Times. Kepessy’s profile already carries a sample titled Good Old Times, credited to The Soul Invaders. Kepessy played bass on it and mixed it, according to the profile. With drums from Philadelphia, the album should put the Paris and Philadelphia sides of the band on one record.
From the BlackSounds.News curator team: “Break It Through fits soul jazz, funk and classic R&B into three and a half minutes. That is the running time the old soul 45 favoured. Keeping a groove record that tight is a session player’s discipline. It is the part of the tradition this band has kept.”
Stream Break It Through on Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal. Follow The Soul Invaders on Spotify, Apple Music, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and the YouTube channel. The band also posts news on its WhatsApp channel.
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