Butcher Brown
Solar Music
CONCORD JAZZ
Ten genre-jumbling albums in as many years—including their snorting cover of Little Richard’s “Rip It Up” that made it as the Monday Night Football theme in 2020—doesn’t even begin to explain what Butcher Brown is capable of. However, Solar Music, the latest offering from the Richmond-based quintet, makes a strong case for their potential, showing off as it does their love of warm, funky jazz (Roy Ayers’ “This Side of Sunshine” is handsomely baked here) and unpredictable fusion-electro. And while they’ve always alluded to hip-hop in their instrumental breaks, the ensemble makes good on their promise by welcoming alt-rap giants Pink Siifu, Jay Prince, and Nappy Nina into the fold.
Calling Solar Music Butcher Brown’s best, most expansive album yet is a bold statement, as 2020’s #KingButch was equally worthy of the title. But from its warm, open-air experiments into theatrically arching chord changes and winnowing drum loops (minute-long opener “Cozumel” into the duskier “Espionage”) to the sleek, chic ’80s fusion feel of “Around for a While,” the team of guitarist Morgan Burrs, percussionist Corey Fonville, bassist Andrew Randazzo, keyboardist DJ Harrison, and multi-instrumentalist/producer Marcus Tenney is making their time in the Solar sun count.
Once you throw in more chorale voicings than usual with the help of the record’s assemblage of pert rappers, the sax-heavy jazz noir balladry of “DYKWYD,” the bossa-nova-meets-breakbeats of “Happy Hourrr,” and the chromatic drama of “It Was Me (Car Chase)” give the proceedings the air of a drunken block party and a stoners’ set of jam sessions.
