You lookin' for a top-notch new jazz record that isn't going to change your life? Look no further than the Benny Golson Funky Quintet. With five familiar covers and one snappy blues number, That's Funky is enjoyable head-boppin' music that only an asshole wouldn't like.

This is not head-jazz or avant-jazz or anything too ground-breaking, but that isn't to say that this five-piece are anything other than solid professionals. Golson, a graduate of Art Blakey's Jazz Messenger school, is one of the few founding fathers of hard-bop still standing. Joining him on trumpet for this album is the recently departed Nat Adderley. Rounding out the group is an extraordinary pianist named Monty Alexander, and two young turks named Ray Drummond (bass) and Marvin Smith (drums) from the current Tonight Show band lineup.

This is not a funk album in the common parlance. The mothership will not land during its spin, nor will the roof get torn off the sucka. This is straight-ahead hard-bop with a little extra oomph in the rhythm. Props go entirely to Drummond and Smith here, laying down some hard beats. Alexander capitalizes on this with some particularly soulful piano flourishes.

The album opens with a sweet version of Kurt Weill's "Mack The Knife" that is true to jazz standard, but just funky enough to raise the eyebrows of Sex Mob fans. This is followed by the Bobby Timmons classic "Moanin'," which Golson first played with Blakey back in the Blue Note days. Although a group of penguins farting out this chart would probably sound good enough to swing to, this is the weakest, most stagey track on "That's Funky." I attribute this to a rushed tempo, and perhaps the fact that Golson and Adderly may be a little burnt out on this one by now.

Not the case with "Sidewinder," Lee Morgan's anthem of hard-bop. Monty Alexander could never beat Barry Harris' original dedicated piano rhythm, so he stakes his own claim with complimentary chords. It's a good move. Smith drops his funk drumming pattern, however, and sticks closer to the script. Drummond on bass, though, lopes his way through it, finding the more modern way to get funky than Bob Cranshaw's original.

After a southern-style blues original, we tackle Nat Adderly's "Work Song." Jumping in fast, it's amazing to think that Adderly would pass away just a few months after this recording. He does not play forcefully, but he is not stretching to reach the remarks he wants. He more slithery than his earlier brash performances, but the recording does not suffer because of it.

Strangely, the record continues with another version of "Mack The Knife," then concludes with the Golson penned classic "Blues March," also popularized during his tenure with Art Blakey. Smith peppers the rhythm full of opportunity, and Drummond makes this march one with a shimmy to its step.

And Golson through all this? A spry tenor player. Like Adderly, his performances here are a little light on pizzaz as compared to earlier work outs. This is no doubt due to age. Which is what makes "That's Funky," and its reliance on rhythm, such a wise project for these elder statesmen. If you put a gun to my head and asked me if there was a tenor with more chops out there right now, I think we both know what I'd say. But we must always listen to what the artform's creators have to say. So long as Golson can blow into his reed, the result will be welcome.