Tom Dempsey: Saucy

Highly-regarded New York City session guitarist Tom Dempsey's sixth solo endeavor pays homage to the classic organ combo format, topped with a piquant sense of swing. Tuneful and capacious, the guitarist's dark- toned sound nicely parallels with organist Ron Oswanski's warm phrasings, synchronous progressions and sleek solos. Dempsey's Wes Montgomery-like chord solos and soul-jazz riffs are a constant, as the band occasionally raises the pitch on a program, featuring his original works and modern jazz standards. They don't break new ground, but it's largely about a symbiotic group focus, plotted with melodic motifs.

One of the more captivating pieces on the album is the trio's spin on Paul Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," as they entwine a soulful New Orleans groove with dabs of hustle and bustle. Oswanski's perky choruses help steer the familiar melody with an upbeat vibe. Dempsey digs deep with a jazzy solo, gushing with subtle inflections and bluesy note-bending instances as he reengineers the familiar theme, but also adds emphasis and circles around the core harmonic structure. His fluent, home-cooking stylizations ride above drummer Alvin Atkinson's peppery shuffle beats and they finalize the proceedings with a lighthearted funk motif.

The trio doesn't mess around and simply takes care of business while executing a no frills but qualitative spin on the jazz organ trio format, partly due to a host of strong compositions and lithe arrangements.

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