The Jim Mullen Organ Trio Feat. Stan Sulzmann - Smokescreen

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:14
Size: 136,1 MB
Art: Front

(6:56)  1. Consolidation
(6:58)  2. Stairway to the Stars
(5:15)  3. It Never Entered My Mind
(5:56)  4. Walk on By
(4:58)  5. When I Grow Up
(5:07)  6. Smokescreen
(5:08)  7. Aja
(4:28)  8. Cornelius
(5:03)  9. The White Cockade
(4:34) 10. Buzzard Count
(4:48) 11. Chances Are

It's hard to find even the most spartan abstract-music fan who isn't a closet admirer of Hammond organ jazz. The gospel-powered style popularised by Jimmy Smith in the 1960s still crosses generations. (The Hammond's gospel roots go back to the era when not all churches had organs, but the Hammond had wheels, allowing preachers to drive them to the service). Jim Mullen, the great Scottish funk and jazz guitarist, runs a mellow, lightly-swinging, more idiomatically wide-ranging version, with the elegantly boppish Mike Gorman doing the organ honours - and saxophonist Stan Sulzmann is a welcome guest on three tracks. The Scottish traditional The White Cockade works unexpectedly well with Sulzmann's soprano. And Mullen's silky sound, and a slow account of Stairway to the Stars makes the best of the guitarist's singing tone Mullen has the remarkable knack of sometimes making his instrument suggest Ray Charles's voice. 

Mullen's springy rhythmic sense and Gorman's twisting lines also make a classy job of It Never Entered My Mind. The only catch is that the music has a restrained, lounge-jazzy feel occasionally, and you wish for a burst or two of vulgar, old-fashioned Hammond-bashing hyperbole. But this is a popular UK touring band, faithfully presented. ~ John Fordham  http://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/dec/15/jazz3

Personnel:  Jim Mullen – guitar; Mike Gorman - Hammond organ; Matt Skelton – drums; Stan Sulzmann - sax

Smokescreen

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