New Orleans native Stanton Moore [ tickets ] likes to wear a lot of hats. When not funking things up with Galactic or Garage a Trois, he sits in with everybody from Corrosion of Conformity, to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, to Street Sweeper (featuring Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and The Coup's Boots Riley).

So, when the drummer decides to do a solo album, the results are always interesting.

"Emphasis! (On Parenthesis)" is the follow-up to 2006's "III," and reunites Moore with guitarist Will Bernard and keyboardist Robert Walter--and nobody else. The stripped-down lineup gives everybody room to spice up the jams, with inspired results.

"(Late Night at the) Maple Leaf" is loosely based on an improvisation that Moore shared with Walter and bassist George Porter at the New Orleans club of same name, and it's obvious within the first eight bars that there is a deeper level of comfort amongst the keyboard-guitar-drums trio. All three take turns dancing around the form: Walter is playful, Bernard is swinging in a rockabilly-on-'roids style, and Moore's phrasings are crisp and commanding. Just when you've been suckered into relaxing to the funk feel, at 5:28, the group goes into shuffle mode, then hops back to funk for the finish. A terrific tone-setter for the album.

It's not a one-trick pony, though. "(Proper) Gander" has a Zeppelin "Kashmir"-heavy groove, "Thanks! (Again)" has a tight James Brown funk feel, and the urban "Wissions (of Vu)," with Walter's toy piano, is begging to be sampled for a hip-hop track. To wit: the tune was actually composed from a trio improvisation while wearing headphones and listening to a favorite track by Wu Tang Clan. Talk about reverse engineering.

The bottom line is the three mesh in a rootsy way that can't be denied, and fans of organ-driven funk and R&B will get a kick out of this.