Richmond-based five-piece collective Butcher Brown share a new song “Unbelievable” from their forthcoming big band album Butcher Brown Presents Triple Trey featuring Tennishu and R4ND4ZZO BIGB4ND, which is out September 16 via Concord Jazz.
The new track comprises a dynamic jazz reimagining of the Notorious B.I.G song of the same name and is accompanied by a rousing visual of the band performing the song live. “Unbelievable” follows the previously released single “Liquid Light,” which arrived alongside an animated video and standalone track “BLACK MAN,” featuring fellow Richmond rapper and songwriter Michael Millions which XXL included in their Best New Hip Hop Songs of the Week list. You can check the track out below.
Speaking of “Unbelievable”, Marcus “Tennishu” Tenney shares: “This is one of my favorites from B.I.G.‘s catalog. This record to me is an example of what makes rap music special. This beat by DJ Premier is one of the greatest beats of all time and the way that the lyrics lay inside of the sections of the beat made it lock into a classic as soon as I heard it.”
The new album was originally written and produced by the band’s MC and multi- instrumentalist Tennishu as a hip hop album, but has since evolved into Butcher Brown’s own eclectic ode to big band jazz, their first foray into this format. Butcher Brown Presents Triple Trey is both trail-blazing in its approach to classic jazz, bringing the band and the R4ND4ZZO BIGB4ND to lay down a collage of jazz suites for a hip-hop album, and simultaneously mashing together elements of the soul, funk, and rock influences that has formed the band’s musical identity.
The band are fresh off a collaborative set with Pink Siifu at Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago earlier this month, and will be playing the sold out Blue Note Jazz Festival in Napa Valley this weekend and Afropunk Fest in Brooklyn in September.
Vinyl of the new project will be available on November 11 in standard black and “Opaque Blue” as a limited pressing of 2000. The 12” Vinyl includes a 7” with two bonus tracks “Guitarmy” and “Peace.” The album’s cover art was created by famed designer Lou Beach (designer of Weather Report’s 1977 classic, Heavy Weather and Butcher Brown’s most recent album #KingButch).
The new project marks Butcher Brown’s first body of work since they graced NPR’s Tiny Desk (At Home) series with a performance straight from a Richmond rooftop last year, and collaborated with Alex Isley on a cover of Patrice Rushen’s “Remind Me.” Following a tour run supporting Kamasi Washington in 2019, Butcher Brown released their eighth album #KingButch in 2020, which features the stand-out track “Tidal Wave,” and received praise from the likes of Bandcamp, OkayPlayer and NPR, which described the album as “a great marriage of hip-hop and jazz.”
Pre-order Butcher Brown Presents Triple Trey featuring Tennishu and R4ND4ZZO BIGB4ND.