Organissimo - Alive & Kickin'

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 76:16
Size: 174.6 MB
Styles: Organ jazz
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[ 7:25] 1. Stomp Yo' Feets
[ 7:13] 2. Señor Buffe
[ 5:15] 3. Smokin' Section
[ 6:54] 4. If Not Now, When
[ 7:20] 5. Jimmy Smith Goes To Washington
[ 6:01] 6. Clap Yo' Hands
[10:42] 7. Groovadelphia
[ 7:03] 8. Blessed Relief
[18:19] 9. Pumpkin Pie

Jim Alfredson: HammondSuzuki XK3/XK System, Leslie 3300, synthesizers; Joe Gloss: guitar; Randy Marsh: drums.

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 jamming sound.

Most of Alive & Kickin' was recorded at MSU, with two additional tracks recorded at one of Organissimo's favorite nightspots in Grand Rapids, MI. Even so, music from Louisiana—more specifically, from New Orleans—plays a prominent part in the opening "Stomp Yo' Feets," which combines with the subsequent "Clap Yo' Hands" to create complementary party jams of sophisticatedly syncopated Crescent City organ funk. "Clap Yo' Hands" also serves to bridge the tail-whipping trilogy that closes this this set. "Jimmy Smith Goes to Washington" kicks it off: Alfredson's organ sound testifies to the power of gospel truth, and then paints this groove in bright splashes and waves of color using every shade in his pallet and every corner of his canvas; Gloss' guitar bridges that funky gap between soul and bebop, and Marsh tumbles through his own unaccompanied breaks. In "Clap Yo' Hands," Marsh pounds out a torrid go-go beat behind the organ break to further drive the trio to their final soul-jazz destination, "Grooveadelphia." ~Chris Slawecki

Alive & Kickin' mc
Alive & Kickin' zippy

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Organissimo - B3tles (A Soulful Tribute To The Fab Four)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:45
Size: 155.1 MB
Styles: Acid jazz
Year: 2017
Art: Front

[5:08] 1. Taxman
[6:12] 2. Dig A Pony
[6:06] 3. And I Love Her
[5:40] 4. All You Need Is Love
[5:24] 5. Can't Buy Me Love
[5:20] 6. I Will
[6:56] 7. Dear Prudence
[4:37] 8. Come Together
[6:00] 9. The Long And Winding Road
[4:18] 10. If I Fell
[5:59] 11. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
[5:59] 12. Within You Without You

Jim Alfredson; Hammond organ, Wurlitzer Electric piano; synthesizers; Lawrence Barris: guitar; Randy Marsh: drums; Bill Vits: percussion (1, 3, 5, 9, 12); Mike List: tabla (12).

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 later, Organissimo goes all in, with B3tles, a CD full of Beatles tunes in a cool, soul jazz mode. Jim Alfredson hold down the B3 chair, and adds the Wurlitzer and some synthesizer sounds to arsenal. He is joined by guitarist Lawrence Barris and drummer Randy Marsh, on a set that reinterprets these familiar tunes, sometimes injecting them with soul, sometimes taking them in unexpected directions.

The CD's cover art harkens to the cover of the Beatles first great album, their artistic breakthrough, Revolver (Capitol Records, 1966). With that it mind, the music starts fittingly with the Organissimo's version of George Harrison's "Taxman," the song that opened Revolver. Funky it is. The same for "Dig A Pony," a tune that seems made for the organ trio treatment. "Come Together"—that probably should have Chuck Berry added to Lennon McCartney tag for a songwriting credit, so you know it's got some hard-edged, Chess Records soul to it—sounds like a song the previously-mentioned Grant Green/Larry Young teaming should have tackled on a second recorded nod to the Beatles. But they couldn't have done it better or with more of a bluesy funk than Organissimo does.

"The Long And Winding Road" is lighter, more pop-ish in feel, buoyant and effervescent. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," the George Harrison gem, takes things away from the soul atmosphere, slowing down the original's tempo, giving the song a beautiful, aching-in-the-bones sadness, leading into the set's closer, "Within You Without You," George Harrison's first full-on foray into Indian music. Organissimo's take is propulsive over dense drones, dense rhythms, and it sounds marvelously modern, on this outstanding and dynamic re-investigation of some classic Beatles tunes. ~Dan McClenaghan

B3tles (A Soulful Tribute To The Fab Four) mc
B3tles (A Soulful Tribute To The Fab Four) zippy

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Organissimo - Live At The Speakez

Size: 127,6 MB
Time: 55:17
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz Soul, Hammond Organ
Art: Front

01. Mister Walker (Live) ( 9:39)
02. Never Knew Love Like This Before (Live) ( 8:27)
03. Jan Jan (Live) (10:01)
04. Could It Be I'm Falling In Love (Live) ( 7:15)
05. Quem Diz Que Sabe (Live) ( 8:42)
06. Daddy James (Live) (11:12)

Since 2012, the SpeakEZ Lounge in Grand Rapids has hosted a Jazz Jam every Sunday night. The emcee and house drummer for the jam is none other than organissimo's Randy Marsh, so naturally organissimo performs there often.

Over the last few years, the band has documented these performances using a professional multi-track recording system. Originally these recordings were meant for organissimo's crowdfunding patrons as a bonus 'thank you' for their support. But in listening to the performances, the band decided they should be heard by more people.

Live At The SpeakEZ is in many ways a throwback to the days of the jazz clubs that dotted mid-century cities across America. It's where soul jazz and Hammond organ based jazz was nurtured and thrived, bringing jazz to the people at the local bar. In many ways, Live At The SpeakEZ is a continuation of recordings like Groove Holmes' Living Soul (recorded live at Count Basie's club in NYC), Johnny 'Hammond' Smith's Black Coffee (recorded live at the Monterey Club in New Haven, CT), and Jimmy Smith's Groovin' At Small's Paradise (recorded at the club of the same name in NYC). It captures organissimo in the moment, playing for the people, feeding off the energy of the audience, and just having a good time. And that's what music should be about!

Live At The Speakez

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