Opening with an old-fashioned jazz-funk workout called “Funkasaurus,” Shawn Needham’s debut album as a leader comes out of the gate sounding like a throwback to the early-’80s days of Material and the Golden Palominos, a late form of jazz fusion that if anything has dated even less well than the better-known ’70s stuff. It’s an inauspicious opening that’s quickly righted by the upbeat swing of “Cheesecake,” but then Needham throws in an out of place chorus of semi-metallic distortion that stops the tune cold. Fusing jazz and rock is a tricky business, one reason why so many have made such a hash of it over the decades, and Needham doesn’t seem to have his aesthetic in place just yet. But the best tunes on Black Sheep, like the album highlight “Camille’s Tune,” work because Needham and his band (a three-piece rhythm section and tenor saxophonist Eric Crystal, who gets plenty of solo opportunities) strike just the right balance between the aggressive rhythmic attack of good rock and the melodic complexity of good jazz. The opening minute of “It’s Been Said” is an even better example, an atmospheric, slow-burning intro that eventually modulates into a heavily processed solo somewhere between Wes Montgomery and Duane Eddy. Despite the occasional misstep, Needham is clearly a talented guitarist and a decent composer (save for one tune, Wayne Krantz’s “Whippersnapper,” Black Sheep is all originals), and his debut album bodes well for his future. – Stewart Mason