Jazz Articles

Organissimo: B3tles: A Soulful Tribute To The Fab Four

by C. Andrew Hovan
May 8, 2017

When one thinks of jazz cities responsible for contributing some of the music's most important artists, Detroit is always a name that pops up at the top of the list. A short list of icons who hail from the city would have to include Ron Carter, the Jones Brothers, James Carter, Pepper Adams, Louis Hayes, and many more. Truth be told, Michigan in general is a fertile area for budding musicians of all persuasions and many fine college programs contribute ...

Organissimo: B3tles: A Soulful Tribute To The Fab Four

by Dan McClenaghan
April 6, 2017

Guitarist Grant Green was one of the early birds on this: turning Beatles tunes into soulful jazz workouts, with his I Want to Hold Your Hand (Blue Note, 1965), featuring Hammond organ master Larry Young on the B3, recorded a little over a year after the Fab Four's musical invasion of America. But it was mostly a jazz standards/Great American Songbook outing, with only the opener/title tune nodding to the--ultimately--most influential of pop music groups. Now, fifty years ...

Greg Nagy: Stranded

by C. Michael Bailey
June 3, 2015

First, of course, is the voice. Tonally-even voices are boring. That explains the appeal of voices like Louis Armstrong's (pitch-perfect gravel in a coffee can); Richard Manuel's (pleading voice of a dying man); Levon Helm's (Scotch-Irish Delta dirt) and Neil Young's (dry ice on the range). Greg Nagy has a voice like that. It is beautifully shaped out of Detroit grit, tobacco, and haze. Nagy's voice is informed equally by every Motown act he heard in his 1960's youth as ...

Gene Ludwig: Love Notes of Cole Porter

by Dan McClenaghan
March 12, 2011

The Hammond B3 organ combo has always seemed like a working man's jazz group. Drums/guitar/organ groups, often with a saxophone, was a brand of music brought to popularity in the mid-fifties by Jimmy Smith, with interest in the B3 soul jazz sound exploding in the sixties with the work of Jimmy McGriff and Jack McDuff, and the establishment of organ rooms in centers of working class cities like Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, Newark, and Gene Ludwig's home turf, Pittsburgh.

Gene Ludwig: Love Notes Of Cole Porter

by Dan Bilawsky
March 10, 2011

The release of Gene Ludwig's Love Notes Of Cole Porter is a bittersweet event. While this collection of music shines a spotlight on one of the great, under-recognized organ talents in the world of jazz, it also marks the final recording from this mainstay of the Pittsburgh jazz scene. Ludwig passed away suddenly in the summer of 2010, leaving behind his loving wife Pattye, a rich legacy and solid reputation within the jazz community, and an unreleased collection of Cole ...

Gene Ludwig: Love Notes Of Cole Porter

by Justin Vargo
March 4, 2011

Gene LudwigLove Notes Of Cole PorterBig O Records2011 Nearly two years prior to his untimely death in July of 2010, Pittsburgh organist Gene Ludwig recorded this tribute to composer Cole Porter. Thanks to the efforts of Ludwig's wife and the folks at Big O Records, Ludwig's final recording is now seeing the light of day. Coming off of the stellar Duff's Blues (18th & Vine, 2008), a date featuring Bill Warfield's ...

Organissimo: Alive & Kickin'

by Chris M. Slawecki
December 9, 2010

The title of Organissimo's first live recording, Alive & Kickin', is a great description of how a guitar/organ trio live record should sound. Just about everything on this set comes homegrown by this Michigan trio: organ player Jim Alfredson met guitarist Joe Gloss in a Michigan State University (MSU) jazz class; the duo eventually became a trio completed by drummer Randy Marsh, whose experience playing for organists Jimmy Smith and Shirley Scott proved invaluable to the band's soulful yet freestyle ...

Greg Nagy: Walk that Fine Thin Line

by Clifford Allen
July 11, 2009

It's not necessarily obvious to think of Michigan's “thumb" as being a hotbed of blues music. Sure, Detroit has produced a large share of jazz, R&B and Doo-Wop groups, and the state was home to the frantic blues-fueled rock of the Stooges and the MC5, but despite its proximity to Chicago, Michigan's lower third doesn't exude “blues." Don't tell that to Greg Nagy, guitarist in Lansing's Root Doctor who steps out on his own with Walk that Fine Thin Line, ...

organissimo: Groovadelphia

by Jay Deshpande
January 23, 2009

For a testament to what a trio can accomplish when they spend years working together, look no farther than organissimo. Over the course of nearly a decade, organist Jim Alfredson, guitarist Joe Gloss and drummer Randy Marsh have developed strong group instincts and a knowing way of approaching every groove. As a result, Groovadelphia can keep heads bopping for quite some time.

“Senor Buffet" shows off the best of the band. Marsh drives an exciting Latin groove into a swing ...

Organissimo: This Is The Place

by Stephen Latessa
September 27, 2005

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Organissimo has struck a chord with the music buying public. Pouring the hot butter richness of a Hammond B3 over a funky backbeat with a side of tart and tasty guitar, the group's sound is damn near irresistible. With This Is The Place, the trio has overcome the dreaded sophomore slump by maintaining and consolidating the success of Waiting For The Boogaloo Sisters...

The slow gospel stroll of “Brother Ray is ...