Compact Disc (CD), 2 x Vinyl LP
Earle Sebastian’s 1994 documentary, Stolen Moments: Red, Hot + Cool, is built around a handful of electrifying live performances filmed at the Supper Club on 46th Street in Manhattan. Pairing living jazz legends like Donald Byrd and Ron Carter onstage with contemporary rap stars like The Pharcyde, The Roots, and Guru of Gangstarr, the film offers a look at the connection between jazz and hip-hop. At one point, Guru is shown seated with Byrd, discussing the interdependent relationship between the two genres. “Hip-hop is a form of music that embraces all the forms of music that came before it, which includes jazz, reggae, rock n’ roll, funk, R&B etc. It brings everything into hip-hop, and hip-hop brings a lot back. It’s a give-and-take thing,” said Guru.
Today, the chasm between hip-hop and jazz is as narrow as it has ever been. Hip-hop musicians have learned to more fluently incorporate jazz instrumentation into rap, while a new generation of jazz musicians have emerged more suitable to adapt to hip-hop sensibilities, having been raised on the music. Since 2009, Richmond, Virginia band Butcher Brown has led the charge for the seamless melding of hip-hop and jazz. For their latest album, Solar Music, Butcher Brown applies the harmonic and melodic sophistication of jazz to the textural and rhythmic conventions of hip-hop with impressive results.
“Cozumel” opens the album on an uplifting and optimistic note, and it’s immediately followed by “Espionage,” which sports a Carole Kaye-style bassline that sounds like it was rescued from some lost David Axelrod session. “I Can Say To You” soars, with a lovely vocal hook from jazz vocalist Vanisha Gould. From there, Butcher Brown ups the energy and tempo with “MOVE (RIDE)” (feat. Jay Prince). The song’s driving, danceable beat is the engine for a message about seizing life while we have it, because “tomorrow isn’t promised.”
While the matter of hip-hop and jazz’s relationship has largely been settled in popular and critical discourse, there is still a world of potential to be tapped by combining the two. Solar Music approaches this once uneasy fusion with taste and skill. By capturing the sound and feel of hip-hop while leaving themselves room to flex their considerable instrumental prowesses, the musicians in Butcher Brown have created something that honors both traditions.
