A year after the delightfully maximal
Butcher Brown Presents Triple Trey (featuring
Tennishu and
R4ND4ZZO BIGB4ND) in 2022, the Richmond, Virginia-based
Butcher Brown return with the 17-track
Solar Music, a spacious, warm exploration of grooves in jazz, funk, hip-hop, dance music, neo-soul, and various combinations therein assisted by a bevy of guests.
Groove is the central focus of everything here. The brief opening interlude "Cozumel" stitches drum loops, samples, chorus vocals, and keyboards together in a blissed-out vamp before the entry of the darker, more dramatic "Espionage." While its two-chord vamp recalls the intro to pop song "Stormy," slamming snares, layered horns, and organ flow across the frame before guest
Charlie Hunter delivers a truly
Hendrixian guitar solo, elevating the proceedings to dramatic psych. (Keyboardist
DJ Harrison and drummer
Corey Fonville are also members of
Hunter's and
Kurt Elling's
SuperBlue.) Genres shift in "I Can Say to You," an elegant neo-soul jam sung by guest
Vanisha Gould aided by a rap from frontman/saxophonist
Marcus Tenney. Rapper
Jay Prince surfs the bumping snares and kick drums from
Fonville's drum kit in "(MOVE) Ride" as brass and reeds punctuate the beat and rap. "Eye Never Knew" boasts the participation of hip-hop/soul/punk star
Pink Siifu (
Livingston Lemorie Matthew) and jazz trumpeter
Keyon Harrold. While
Siifu's reedy, airy delivery whispers in the margins,
Harrold's lilting post-bop trumpet solo adds a textured mercurial swing. Not that
Butcher Brown need help. Check the bumping bassline funk in "No Way Around It" with
Marcus Tenney adding a canny rap and chanted refrain. Saxophone sensation
Braxton Cook joins the nocturnal, soul-hop ballad "DYKWYD" (Do You Know What You're Doing)" adorning
Tenney's slippery, emotional rap with classic R&B and a funk-tinged bass; a silvery electric guitar offers considerable evidence of
BB's ability to meld genres seamlessly. Immediately following is "Happy Hourrr" (sic) a Latin-cum-bossa-tinged instrumental led by
Tenney's swinging tenor and
Fonville's hip-hop beats and breaks. The set's finest performance is
BB's cover of
Roy Ayers' classic "This Side of Sunshine." It retains the elegance and grace of the original and adds a pillowy, sweet, humid touch. The tripping synth lines meet while organ, shuffling drums, and a laid-back syncopated bassline frame a vocal chorus sweetly chanting the refrain as layers of tenor sax and brass float through the backdrop. "It Was Me" layers slamming hip-hop beats inside multi-chromatic jazz charts complete with winding horns and a fiery rap atop an escalating beat that adds Latin funk and samba beats to the mix. Closer "Around for a While" is a fleet, piano-driven number that touches on polished, smooth '80s jazz fusion a la
Webster Lewis and
Spyro Gyra. Despite its considerable musical achievement -- or perhaps because of it --
Solar Music is easily the most well-rounded offering from
Butcher Brown yet. The band offers an aesthetically pleasing collection of songs with exceptional atmospheric vibes in a wide variety of sophisticated musical settings that showcase growth in composition and arrangement with an inspired performance. ~ Thom Jurek
![People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm [25th Anniversary Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0888751578524_p0_v3_s90x140.jpg "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm [25th Anniversary Edition]")
