Soul of John Black w/ Bryan Cherry Band

As a side man and session player, John Bigham has played with Everlast, Eminem, Miles Davis and, most prominently, Fishbone, with whom he toured for the better part of a decade. Bigham’s recordings with his own project The Soul of John Black are predictably polished, then, but enjoyment of them will depend on the listeners’ tolerance for Bigham’s thickly laid-on hip-hop bluesman persona, “a cool motherfunker” intent to “lay some game.” Those who can get past it will enjoy some genuinely inspired updates on the old Sly and the Family Stone funk-rock formula, while those who can’t can easily be forgiven. The Soul of John Black plays tonight as part of the Turner Hall Ballroom’s free “No Buck Show” series.