#KingButch

by Butcher Brown

Overview

Concord signees Butcher Brown are not new jacks. The Richmond, Virginia band have been operating since the early 2010s like a manifestation of a Questlove fever dream. Instrumentalists who are fluent to a scholarly extent in jazz-funk, and reconstitute the form with a hip-hop perspective, they can also play firebolt fusion with punk intensity. At the same time, they're tough to pin down, having grown a discography of releases for their own Jellowstone, Ropeadope, and Gearbox that includes straight-to-tape and direct-to-disc sessions, a live date, a beat tape, a Fela Kuti tribute, and even a couple standard studio albums. For their major-label debut, they consolidate their known powers and reveal new ones. The quintet, heretofore almost exclusively instrumental, furnish a tense verse from fellow RVA native Fly Anakin with taut boom-bap. More conspicuous on that track, "For the City," is the gruff and vitalizing voice of trumpeter/saxophonist Marcus Tenney, who fronts every few cuts like a guide for the listeners and a hype man for his brothers, not too proud to declare his fellow musicians "the best band in the world." Tenney's vocal intensity peaks in "Hopscotch," where he pulls double duty on trumpet. The cyclonic fury of that interlude leads poetically to an update of "Tidal Wave," the fusion classic drummer William Jeffrey wrote for saxophonist Ronnie Laws (sampled to greatest effect on Black Moon's "Who Got da Props?"). Another late-'70s jazz nugget that gets a muscular makeover is James Mtume and Reggie Lucas' "Love Lock," recorded by Mtume the group and by Flora Purim; on the original, Lucas refrained from his dive-bombing guitar attack, but Morgan Burrs' work here sounds inspired by it. Butcher Brown can't help but sprinkle the originals with references, too. The sleigh bells and DJ Harrison's piano in "Fonkadelica," for instance, might be deliberate nods to Eric B. & Rakim and Dr. Dre, but they come off like improvisational collage and add up to something fresh. The musicians are at their best here when the interplay is free-spirited and seemingly most communicative, as on "Cabbage (DFC)" and "Frontline," both of which take unexpected turns. The electric solo taken by Harrison on the horizon-seeking former is pure joy. ~ Andy Kellman

Product Details

Release Date:	09/18/2020
Label:	Concord Jazz
UPC:	0888072166356

Tracks

1. Fonkadelica
2. #KingButch
3. Broad Rock
4. Cabbage (DFC)
5. Gum in My Mouth
6. Frontline (Intro)
7. Frontline
8. 1992
9. Love Lock
10. Hopscotch
11. Tidal Wave
12. For the City
13. IDK

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Butcher Brown   Primary Artist
Fly Anakin   Primary Artist,Vocals,Featured Artist
Morgan Burrs   Synthesizer,Handclapping,Guitar (Bass),Bass,Guitar,Clapping
Tennishu   Drums,Vocals,Trumpet,Clapping,Sax (Tenor),Handclapping
Randozzo   Bass,Vocals,Key Bass,Handclapping,Bass (Upright)
DJ Harrison   Drums,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Clapping,Keyboards,Moog Bass,Percussion,Synthesizer,Handclapping,Fender Rhodes,Moog Synthesizer,Synthesizer Strings
Corey Fonville   Drums,Clapping,Sampling,Percussion,Handclapping
Andrew Randazzo   Bass,Cello,Vocals,Clapping,Keyboards,Double Bass,Guitar (Bass)

Technical Credits

Morgan Burrs   Group Member,Arranger,Composer,Programming
Chris Dunn   Producer,Recording Producer
Frank Walton   Composer
James Mtume   Composer
Tommy Steele   Art Direction,Package Design
Reggie Lucas   Composer
Paul Blakemore   Mastering
Adrian Olsen   Mixing
DJ Harrison   Arranger,Engineer,Recording,Group Member
Tennishu   Arranger,Group Member
Randozzo   Group Member
Lou Beach   Cover Art
Carrie Smith   Art Direction
Jacob Blickenstaff   Photography
Marcus Tenney   Composer
William Jeffery   Composer
Corey Fonville   Composer,Group Member
Andrew Randazzo   Arranger,Composer
Devonne Harris   Composer
Butcher Brown   Arranger,Producer,Liner Notes,Recording Producer