Encore (Concord Jazz)
Butcher Brown
Released June 4, 2021
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
AllMusic Favorite Jazz Albums 2020
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nTwhUVvbIx5RCl4caCNlPQHwFW_ysb_lg
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/4g0lXhnrip7njhqaY787O9?si=xHqunUo7Trm4Sn4EF-GHrg
About:
Butcher Brown, celebrated for their explosive live performances opening for such acts as Kamasi Washington, Galactic, Turkuaz and Lettuce, are excited to announce the release of their aptly titled new EP, ENCORE, on Concord Jazz.
The five tracks featured on ENCORE were recorded during the same time as their critically-acclaimed major label debut, #KingButch. The band says, “ENCORE is full of musical gems from the #KingButch sessions. With these songs, we go further into some of the directions that we tapped for the album.”
The release of the Richmond, Virginia-based quintet’s new EP follows their stunning NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, which has reached over 243k views on YouTube.
Butcher Brown is five groove merchants delivering a heady home-brew of jams and jazz, rhymes and beats—a funky, musical mix that makes one question why great music needs to be labeled as this category or that. The hybrid moniker “jazz/hip-hop” only begins to cover it. Their balance of raw energy and smooth sophistication, edgy improvisation with a generous dose of Southern roots reveals how equal opportunity they are in employing a wide range of musical styles, and how authentically they’ve absorbed it all.
Individually, they are: producer/keyboardist DJ Harrison; drummer Corey Fonville; bassist Andrew Randazzo; trumpeter/saxophonist/MC Marcus “Tennishu” Tenney; and guitarist Morgan Burrs.Starting in 2013, Butcher Brown began to release a series of recordings on their own imprint, and other independent labels as well, helping to spread the word of the group’s groove-driven consistency. On September 18, 2020, Butcher Brown released their full album
#KingButch, a major label debut on Concord Records, on the Concord Jazz imprint. Their eighth album was the culmination of twelve years of dedicated focus, and commitment. ESPN’s Monday Night Football recently showcased a new pre-kickoff hype song for the 2020 NFL season, “Rip It Up (feat. Butcher Brown).” The modernized single from the 1956 #1 hit prominently features Little Richard and adds Butcher Brown, who recreated the instrumentals while also adding background vocals.
Track Listing:
1. Fonkadelica (Morgan Burrs / Corey Fonville / Devonne Harris / Andrew Randazzo / Marcus Tenney) 00:46
2. #KingButch (Morgan Burrs / Corey Fonville / Devonne Harris / Andrew Randazzo / Marcus Tenney) 02:25
3. Broad Rock (Devonne Harris / Marcus Tenney) 03:58
4. Cabbage (DFC) (Devonne Harris) 04:38
5. Gum in My Mouth (Devonne Harris / Marcus Tenney) 02:39
6. Frontline (Intro) (Andrew Randazzo) 00:43
7. Frontline (Andrew Randazzo) 04:52
8. 1992 (Morgan Burrs) 02:50
9. Love Lock (Reggie Lucas / James Mtume) 04:15
10. Hopscotch (Marcus Tenney) 01:08
11. Tidal Wave (William Jeffery) 03:32
12. For the City (Morgan Burrs / Corey Fonville / Devonne Harris / Andrew Randazzo / Marcus Tenney / Frank Walton) 03:47
13. IDK (Devonne Harris / Marcus Tenney) 06:17
Personnel:
DJ Harrison: keyboards, production
Corey Fonville: drums
Andrew Randazzo: bass
Marcus “Tennishu” Tenney: trumpet, saxophone, vocals
Morgan Burrs: guitar
Produced by Chris Dunn and Butcher Brown
Engineer: DJ Harrison
Mixing: Adrian Olsen
Masterinf: aul Blakemore
Photography: Jacob Blickenstaff
Cover Art: Lou beach
Review:
There are many reasons to love Richmond, Virginia’s Butcher Brown: their ability to generate a mood, their ever-present chops, their melding of ideas into squishy jams that constantly endeavor to eschew genre conventions. Yet over the course of the past eight years, one could give them props for their consistency, in their albums and their numerous EPs. Encore is yet another in a line of releases, these being five songs left over from the sessions that made 2020’s #KingButch, from the quintet that melds the spirits of jazz, funk and hip-hop into what is just a vibe. Everything that was the sprawling delight of #KingButch is encapsulated in these five tracks. “For My Love” is a smooth hit that gets up in ya’, Marcus Tenney’s saxophone acting as an instrument with every bit of those entendres. “Truck Fump” is a straight-up jam from Andrew Randazzo’s bass line and Morgan Burrs’ guitar on out, with Corey Fonville killing it on the kit all the way through, as usual. Everything that DJ Harrison has crafted has worked with its own particular flair that one could easily expect the same here. It would make sense there were more gems left over from their last album, because Butcher Brown has consistently made gems.
Anthony Dean-Harris (DownBeat)
