Butcher Brown Preview Self-Styled ‘Solar Music’ With ‘I Can Say To You’

Eclectic quintet Butcher Brown will release the new album Solar Music on October 6 via Concord Jazz. The lead track “I Can Say To You,” featuring vocalist Vanisha Gould, is available now.|

The Richmond, VA band are in a rich vein of creativity, with the new set arriving just over a year after their last, the September 2022 release Butcher Brown Presents Triple Trey featuring Tennishu and R4ND4ZZO BIGB4ND. The new album will be available on CD, in a 2LP edition, and digitally.

The record’s title is a phrase that the band themselves use to describe their hard-to-categorize sound. The publicity notes reflect that “Solar Music demonstrates the band’s dynamic approach to the jazz format and incorporating their own rich lineage of musical influences from their upbringing in Richmond, fusing elements of soul, funk, rock, and hip-hop, into music that is universal.” The album features guest appearances from Pink Siifu, Charlie Hunter, Braxton Cook, Jay Prince, Nappy Nina, Keyon Harrold, Michael Millions and more.

The band members note: “Solar Music is everything under the sun. We get asked so often what type of genre we fall into, and at the end of the day, we play all of our influences. It’s not genre specific…it’s all types, and this album is a true representation of that. Solar Music is for everybody.”

Following the busy live schedule around last year’s album, which included a sellout Blue Note Jazz Festival show in Napa Valley, a collaborative set with Pink Siifu at Pitchfork, and a concert at Afropunk Fest in Brooklyn, their 2023 calendar is also busy, notably with festival appearances. These include the Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival on Sunday (18) with other artists including Bell Biv Devoe, Kamasi Washington, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, and Samara Joy; Newport Jazz Festival (August 4); and Telluride Jazz Festival, which takes place August 11-13.

Pre-order Solar Music, which is released on October 6.