Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
Changing of the Guard at Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
On October 23, Ted Nash – having toured the world playing alto, soprano and tenor saxophone, clarinet and bass…
In addition to producing, DJ Harrison plays keys and bass in Butcher Brown and on his solo projects.
(Photo: Joey Wharton)Every scene has a vibe, and in Richmond, Virginia, that includes community and connection.
“Richmond is a big small town. Everyone knows everyone,” said DJ Harrison, multi-instrumentalist, engineer and founding member of Butcher Brown, the five-piece Richmond band that opened for Kamasi Washington during his 2018 tour and collaborated with Nicholas Payton for his 2014 release Numbers.
In September, the groove-buoyed and genre-subversive outfit issued #KingButch (Concord Jazz), which followed up Camden Session, the band’s 2018 direct-to-disc release. The warmth that effervesces across both albums, and each of Harrison’s projects, reflects the human-to-human connection he’s pursued since he began experimenting with sound during FruityLoops “sample battles” in high school. Among melodious horn lines, backbone-slip grooves and the lyrical vision of Marcus “Tennishu” Tenney—the band’s trumpeter and saxophonist—Butcher Brown creates a sonic narrative between improvisation and pulse.
“You can’t really describe it,” Harrison said. “You feel it. Whether it’s with other people, without bandmates, with listeners, we’re all trying to establish that deeper connection.”
In June, Harrison collaborated with another Richmond rising star, singer and composer Kenneka Cook, whom he’s known for years from the scene. He became one of several artists to remix a track from her 2018 release Moonchild. “DJ has always been one of my favorite RVA artists, whether he’s playing in bands, producing songs for his solo projects or for other artists,” said Cook. “When the remix idea was brewing, I wanted [him] to be part of it.”
Alone at Jellowstone, his home studio and the Butcher Brown “control center,” Harrison spoke over the phone about the lineage of the music and charting his own path through sound.
The following has been edited for length and clarity.
You have this fascination with physical media. How have those formats influenced your voice as a producer?
From a young age, I was interested in how to make records—how songs are written and how they’re recorded. I’ve always tried to figure out every detail down to the core of what’s happening. I grew up around physical media and thought that’s what music was: cassettes sound like this, vinyl sounds like this. I just figured creating that aesthetic is part of being a musician. Even working digitally, I still carry that aesthetic.
So, as many artists transcribed solos, you tried to transcribe sound?
Yeah, I’d ask my parents about these black circles, and they’d say, “This is an album; the people on the front are the band; [band members have] different roles,” and so on. Instrumentation, engineering, songwriting—I’ve always wanted to learn how to put records together.
Is that fascination why you’ve learned so many instruments in addition to learning production?
Totally. It’s wanting to figure out what it is about my favorite music that’s pulling me towards it—even down to the packaging. But now, since I’m older and I’ve done all the experimentation, I’m like, “Can I dissect, on a deeper level, how it’s all happening?”
As Ted Nash, left, departs the alto saxophone chair for LCJO, Alexa Tarantino steps in as the band’s first female full-time member.
Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
On October 23, Ted Nash – having toured the world playing alto, soprano and tenor saxophone, clarinet and bass…
Larry Appelbaum with Wayne Shorter in 2012.
Feb 25, 2025 10:49 AM
Larry Appelbaum, a distinguished audio engineer, jazz journalist, historian and broadcaster, died Feb. 21, 2025, in…
“This is one of the great gifts that Coltrane gave us — he gave us a key to the cosmos in this recording,” says John McLaughlin.
Mar 18, 2025 3:00 PM
In his original liner notes to A Love Supreme, John Coltrane wrote: “Yes, it is true — ‘seek and ye shall…
The Blue Note Jazz Festival New York kicks off May 27 with a James Moody 100th Birthday Celebration at Sony Hall.
Apr 8, 2025 1:23 PM
Blue Note Entertainment Group has unveiled the lineup for the 14th annual Blue Note Jazz Festival New York, featuring…
“You’ve got to trust that inner child, keep exploring, even though people think it’s wrong,” says Fortner.
Feb 25, 2025 11:20 AM
Every week at the Village Vanguard fosters its own sound. No one really knows how the music might evolve by Sunday, but…