Open Ears
December 2001

Open Ears
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By Laurence Donohue-Greene

With the resurgent interest in the Hammond B-3 and organ grooves in general, several homecomings of sorts have welcomed back numerous veteran groove masters who have obviously been around, though not as prominently displayed until recently. Big John Patton, Mel Rhyne, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Jimmy McGriff, and Reuben Wilson are all belatedly reaping the rewards of their hard earned groove travels vicariously through sampling trends and the recent generation of organ donning newcomers: Larry Goldings, John Medeski, and Joey DeFrancesco, amongst others—all who have helped in the re-popularization of soul-jazz, so-called “Acid Jazz”, and the organ grind in general.

Now in his mid-sixties, the Richard “Groove” Holmes-influenced organist Reuben Wilson has but a dozen sessions under his belt as a leader. His first five sessions were recorded for and released by Blue Note when he first came on the scene in the late 60’s, all of which mind you have been long out of print. It is unfortunately and disgracefully difficult to get your hands and ears on Wilson’s groovy sounds from before the rash of mid 90’s recordings he did as a leader, though there is a 6-track re-issue compilation entitled Blue Breakbeats, which compiles selections from Wilson’s three pre-1970 Blue Note sessions (On Broadway, Love Bug, and the recommended Blue Mode). Wilson, who played with Grant Green, Lee Morgan, Sam Rivers, Roy Haynes, and Idris Muhammed amongst many others, actually retired from music altogether back in the early 80’s before recently having returned to the circuit.

Well that was then and this is now. Wilson has recorded near a half a dozen sessions as a leader since 1996 after going two decades without a single release, from his 1974 Cisco Kid to his 1996 return to recording with Live at SOB’s. His name is much more common to see in New York’s Village Voice than it ever previously was. Though he wasn’t originally scheduled to perform in late October at the Iridium’s new Midtown location in Manhattan, he gladly took up the last minute billing for the ailing Lee Konitz, and in doing so inherited the alto saxophonist’s playmates for the week—guitarist Marc Ribot and drummer/percussionist Joey Baron. Fortunately for those concerned, which included myself, Konitz had been given a false reading from a standard heart test that had been taken at his doctor’s. He consequently had to cancel several of his gigs around that time, including his Iridium dates before he found out it was actually a false alarm.

Ribot and Baron basically had come to the Iridium with totally different playing mindsets. From the sparse and airy chordal cool and minimalist playing accompaniment anticipated behind saxophonist Konitz, they were in a moment’s notice asked to help in creating extended rhythm driven organ grooves behind another legend, organist Wilson. Bearded Baron, sporting a grizzly stubble, also flaunted his ever-funky roots, showing once again that he is one of the most diverse drummer/percussionists regardless of his surroundings. Whether it’s John Zorn’s Masada, Derek Bailey’s Company, Tony Bennett, Laurie Anderson, Dizzy, Art Pepper, Tim Berne, Anthony Coleman, Don Byron, or, as in this case, Reuben Wilson—Baron can morph into any role called upon. Carrying on the tradition as Downtown’s version of the late “Smilin” Billy Higgins, Baron’s crisp ride cymbals, snare rolls, and snare stick snaps are done with the utmost joy and musical taste, and with a grin that would make Higgins damn proud.

Throughout the evening, Baron reflected his admiration and respect for the so-called all-time “king” of Acid jazz drummers, Idris Muhammed, who actually recorded on Wilson’s 1969 Love Bug session. The trio’s rendition of the Wilson timepiece was given a top-notch treatment as the threesome immaculately paid tribute as if it were an actual “Love Bug” reunion, horn-less as it may have been (trumpeter Lee Morgan and saxophonist George Coleman being the original horn men on the original Wilson recording session). Several Baron solos even had Wilson playing “air organ” with his hands just above the keys, basically running in place while sitting at the Hammond B-3 in admiration of his inherited batteries-included drumming wonder-kind.

Along with Ribot on guitar, not only did Wilson have one of the greatest Downtown haling guitar-drum tandems, but evidently one of the strongest organ trio pairings he could have hoped for, which was even comparable to one of his greatest associations in Grant Green and Idris Muhammed. Ribot’s blues lines are literally up there with any other organ trio guitarist that immediately comes to mind, even the original mid 50’s Jimmy Smith guitar sideman, the great Thornell Schwartz. The Isley Brother’s light but catchy ballad theme of “For The Love of You” was given an element of urgency through Ribot’s sliding chords, and his almost Tal Farlow-like treatment at times brought the fairly poppy theme a rootsy groove. Ribot literally encompassed a history of organ trio guitarists, including George Benson ala Jimmy Smith’s and Benson’s down home “Some of My Best Friends Are The Blues”. His obvious Grant Green chops were also exploited, especially for the occasion of the trio’s rendition of Green’s “Grantstand”, the title track of Green’s classic 1961 Blue Note session (which featured Jack McDuff and Yusef Lateef).

The encore, Jimmy Smith’s organ staple “Back At The Chicken Shack”, the title track to Smith’s 1960 Blue Note session with guitarist Kenny Burrell, rounded out the evening of feel good music. It was as good as Hammond driven music gets— Wilson, Ribot, and Baron were on all cylinders from beginning to end. It was music you almost didn’t mind hearing beer bottles being clanked to, not to mention the complementing rumbling undercurrent of audience conversation, customers and cashiers, all which usually otherwise serve as distractions to the music but were, in this case, welcomed ambience effects for the occasion.

Towards the end of the evening, Baron effortlessly soloed in accompaniment of Ribot, whose intensely funky guitar solo pulled all the stops literally reaching out from under the groove itself. Wilson unquestionably exclaimed to his new partners and audience, “They were cookin’…Were they cookin’!” There was no question to that understatement, as you were cookin’, too, Mr. Wilson!

Keep your ears open to the music…

Upcoming shows at the Iridium Jazz Club include: David Murray’s Octet (12/11-12/16), and the McCoy Tyner Trio with George Mraz and Al Foster performing the music of Coltrane (12/25-12/30)