You might not expect someone who teaches jazz guitar studies at the University of Southern Mississippi to have crafted one of the more clever commentaries on post 9/11 America, but here it is: “You might do twenty minutes on the fall of the Iron Curtain / Or prattle on till the cows come home on Cheney and Halliburton,” croons Chris Cortex on the opening track of his third album, Mum Is The Word. “But in matters of religion, and politics and letters,” he goes on, “you all must simply realize /my way is simply better.”

Is he singing with tongue firmly in cheek? Probably. Does it matter? Not in the least. Most of Mum is made up of sprightly covers, standards like “Georgia On My Mind,” reconfigured as a gentle samba, or “Honeysuckle Rose,” stripped down to the very bare essence of country swing, or his nimble, caffeinated take on “Avalon,” not to mention more standard genre workouts like “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “Up A Lazy River,” and “Manha De Carnival.” Cortez’ technique is impressive, and he’s surrounded himself with an ace group of name backups (most notably Sam Bruton on piano).

But the four originals here tend to overshadow his fretboard skills and head for arrangement, mainly because they indulge in the same sort of is-he-kidding character sketches Randy Newman used to do before Disney got to him. In these days of Ward Churchill and the sweeping neo-evangelical movement, it’s a bold move indeed for an educator to pen songs like “Rhythm Method Blues” (“My wife was brought up Catholic / she never says nope / I blame all my problems on his highness the Pope”). In fact, the title track addresses the New Conversational Normal directly: “Watch your wife’s expression, and remember who’s boss.” Is he kidding? You’ll have fun finding out.