Whenever someone tries to fuse brass-band music with anything else, the brass band sound usually overwhelms, as if it’s just too cocky to move onto other turf. Trombonist Big Sam Williams was part of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band during that group’s not-entirely-successful flirtation with funk. But with Funky Nation he’s found the right mix, with players who can handle the jumps between funk, brass and free-form blowing; and with compositions strong enough to hold it together.

George Clinton’s crew in its prime is the obvious reference point, but with a difference. While P-Funk’s arrangements often seemed like happy accidents, here you get the impression that Williams worked everything out. When to put the second-line sound upfront, when to let the band funk out, when to have guitarist Casey Robinson insert some Eddie Hazel-style metallizing. The shifting sounds keep lift this well above run-of-the-mill funk, as does the surprising brevity of the tunes, with twelve in 50 minutes It makes a good teaser for the band’s live shows, even if there are times (especially on the frantic “Dozenland”) when it feels like you’ve joined a hot jam already in progress.

Williams does make a puzzling move on the sequencing, though. A handful pf tracks feature infectious chant-along vocals, but those are clumped together toward the end, while the purely instrumental tracks are clustered at the beginning. The one full-fledged vocal in the title track—not the famous Nick Lowe song (which Williams has played on tour with Elvis Costello) but a fresh unity anthem sung by guest Ivan Neville. That one’s saved for the finale when it should have been upfront as the best statement of what Funky Nation is all about.