Butcher Brown
's
DJ Harrison
is so open about his inspirations that each one of his varied projects has come across as a celebration of Black music with strong attestation to his place in the lineage. Overt and hidden references are threaded throughout his catalog, from titles like "Erykah's Gun" to his
Street Corner Music
effort
Slyish
, a wildly creative tribute to early-'70s
Sly & the Family Stone
. For his third
Stones Throw
album, the Virginian turns in a funky and unvarnished all-covers set on which he does almost all of the instrumentation. Coming off extensive work on
Kurt Elling
's Grammy-nominated albums
SuperBlue
and
SuperBlue: The Iridescent Spree
, and
's own
Solar Music
,
Harrison
here crafts 11 interpretations that brim with joy. The set is neatly bookended by nods to outsider studio boffins. He begins by applying some grease to
Gary Wilson
's scuttling "You Were Too Good to Be True" (1977) and concludes with
Shuggie Otis
' puttering "Pling!" (1973), adding some dreamy vocalizations that evoke
Deodato
's "Univac Loves You." A couple mid-'70s fusion classics are handled with élan.
Eddie Henderson
's dark Afrofuturist groove "Galaxy" (1975) provides
with a chance to pay tribute to the mind-expanding synthesizer wizardry of
George Duke
; the low end is so full that bass clarinet is not missed.
Stevie Wonder
's supremely knotty "Contusion" (1976) is almost halved, perhaps so
could save himself from collapsing into a heap. A few selections are less expected. Take the lazing "L'Anthropofemme" (1981), West Coast AOR worship originally recorded by one-off French band
Syntaxe
, or
the Beatles
' "Tomorrow Never Knows" (1966), almost entirely fogged out with help from
boss
Peanut Butter Wolf
under his government name. As a singer,
is more about warmth and feel than technical proficiency; his versions of
Donald Fagen
's "IGY" (1982) and
Vince Guaraldi
's "Little Birdie" (1973), cleverly placed back-to-back, impart all the necessary optimism and delight. (There's a layer of humor to analog adherent
covering "IGY" four decades after it became known as one of the earliest all-digital recordings.)
's love shines through each of the selections, and they're pulled apart and reenvisioned in the assembly process, as if the musician is gamely educating not just the audience but himself as well. ~ Andy Kellman