As last minute replacements go, John Medeski is undoubtedly an ideal name to have on call. But when Medeski subbed for Robert Walter in Stanton Moore's trio at a festival date, guitarist Will Bernard heard not only an adept substitute, but a sonic combination he wanted to explore further.

"It's an interesting mixture for me to hear those guys play together," Bernard explained over the phone from his Brooklyn home. "Stanton has a pretty aggressive rock feel that's obviously very mixed up with New Orleans traditions, which is very different from when you hear Medeski with Billy Martin. So I knew most of the songs would have a pretty heavy groove to them - we weren't going to do a lot of light, jazzy stuff. Medeski is super-versatile, with a great array of sounds that he can draw upon, but there's a certain unpredictability to his playing that I wanted to bring out."

On Blue Plate Special, Bernard's second CD for Palmetto Records, Bernard combines those elements, along with bassist Andy Hess, to create a set that specializes in the heavy funk grooves for which he's best known but that also veers off into the lounge exotica of "Gen Pop" and the hybrid of garage surf and ska that comprises "Gonzo." The album ends with a heartfelt, heads-uplifted rendition of "How Great Thou Art", suggested by Moore, whose grandmother sang the spiritual to him as a child in New Orleans.

Emerging from separate coasts with completely different sidemen, Blue Plate Special and its predecessor, the aptly named Party Hats, are entirely different records, the former's laid-back soul countered by the harder-edged, more urgent pulse of the latter. But the two share a common vibe, a collective spirit of united group effort. While he shies away from labels, Bernard prefers the term "soul-jazz" to any of the various other tags that could conceivably be applied to his music.

"I'm always a guy who doesn't want to be tagged and pinpointed because I have so many different stylistic interests," he insisted. "But I like the term 'soul-jazz' because it implies that it's more feeling-oriented music than something like 'fusion'."

Bernard's discography is filled with collaborations and group projects, including T. J. Kirk, the Monk/Rahsaan/JB tribute band he formed with Charlie Hunter, and his own Motherbug, influenced by '60s/'70s horn-rock. Time and a new address have somewhat cleared that slate, but Bernard looks forward to developing the collaborations he's undertaken and forming new ones. He continues to perform with Moore's trio, lead his own varied groups, and is looking forward to collaborating with Ben Sidran and longtime friend Peter Apfelbaum. He's also hoping to further explore the edgier direction taken in his 2004 trio CD Directions To my House, with bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Ches Smith.

The same desire to expand his palette led Bernard to relocate from the Bay Area to New York in the fall of 2007. "I'd been wanting to come out here a long time," he explained, "but was always figuring out some kind of excuse not to. But, a lot of the people I've played music with in the Bay Area live here now, so it was finally time to come out. I want to work on my horizons, to find outlets to do different types of music."

One of the first outlets he found after the move was the artist-run label and collective Brooklyn Jazz Underground. Bernard co-founded a quartet with bassist Andrew Emer, pianist Benny Lackner, and drummer Mark Ferber. The four-headed unit is a departure from Bernard's own groups, where his affinity for groove creeps in subtly at most, replaced by a freer, airy soundscape with plenty of room to explore.