Jazz Articles about Charlie Apicella

Charlie Apicella: Groove Machine

by Don Phipps
June 17, 2019

On Groove Machine, Charlie Apicalla & Iron City serves up a gumbo of styles that run from New Orleans blues and Chicago funk to Motown and New York bop. The combination makes for a “groovy" listening experience—road music that will keep the head nodding and the mind trucking. Apicella penned five of the eight numbers on the album. The other three writing credits go to Lou Donaldson, organist Radam Schwartz, and Willis Jackson. Apicella's standout guitar work glides ...

Charlie Apicella & Iron City: Big Boss

by Dan Bilawsky
June 15, 2014

Thank god for groove music. In an era when needless complexity often dominates, it's nice to encounter a throwback record that's built on feel-good rhythms and soulful declarations. That's what Big Boss is all about. Sparks (Carlo, 2009) set things in motion for this band, as guitarist-leader Charlie Apicella planted his flag in soul jazz territory by delivering direct-and-honest originals and covering the music of organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, guitarist Grant Green, and saxophonist Lou Donaldson; The ...

Charlie Apicella & Iron City: The Business

by Edward Blanco
September 23, 2011

Guitarist Charlie Apicella & Iron City get down to the gritty business of delivering variations of funk and soul jazz on The Business, a well-crafted, vibrant grind of guitar-organ sounds supported by percussion and saxophone voices in an exciting quintet format. Though Apicella's playing style has been compared to that of Wes Montgomery, he also has an affinity for the music of Grant Green, featuring one of the late guitarist's compositions on The Business. Produced by veteran jazz guitarist Dave ...

Iron City: The Business

by Glenn Astarita
July 23, 2011

Guitarist Charlie Apicella and his band mates mix it up nicely with these originals and jazz standards, disavowing a rough-hewn presence and sporting a piquant mode of execution. The artists morph a somewhat traditional blue collar approach to the classic organ-combo into a contemporized product. The band may not 't reinvent the genre, but the diverse and largely up-tempo track mix rounds out a balanced approach, spanning blues, funk, Latin and swing. One of the album highlights is ...

Charlie Apicella & Iron City: The Business

by Greg Simmons
July 16, 2011

Charlie Apicella and Iron City have funk, groove, and insistent swing on The Business. Nominally a guitar/organ/drums trio, this date adds the tenor saxophonist Stephen Riley and conguero Mayra Casales, to fill out the sound. Apicella exhibits a sturdy competence on guitar, with an emphasis on getting all the basics right--never resorting to flame-throwing arpeggios, and with a great sound. This record owes a lot to some of the great proto-funk and soul bands of the 1960s. In ...

Iron City: Put the Flavor On It

by Hrayr Attarian
July 15, 2009

How is it that a record can sound so pleasant but at the same time disappoint? That is the case with Iron City's Put the Flavor On It.

Iron City is an organ trio led by guitarist Charlie Apicella and presumably named after the legendary album by Grant Green, John Patton and Ben Dixon. Although this may bring to mind the guitar/organ/drum trios led by Green himself, Jimmy Smith, and other hard bop giants, the music Put the Flavor On ...