An organ trio is a rare band combination in this day and age. However, there are some out there that still exist featuring Hammond organ, guitar, and drums, and one such band appeared in a performance at The Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant, Tuesday night. Larry Goldings on Hammond organ, Peter Bernstein on guitar, and Bill Stewart on drums. They blended original compositions with interpretations of standards from the world of jazz particularly one notable highlight being a memorable cover of Thelonius Monk's "In Walked Bud" written as a tribute to another jazz piano great, Bud Powell. The set list at a show like this, with a trio, is secondary to the talent of the players really being able to meld together and that is what makes trio bands great.
In a trio, musicians are really able to bring space into the music as an element and allow a listener to be sent on a journey because there aren't so many instruments or so many voices that things get lost in a sea of instrumentation. The organist, so, Larry Goldings, in this case, is playing bass lines and lead phrases at the same time, thanks to the magic of the bass pedalboard common to many Hammond organs. Some have them and some don't. It is based on a player's skill level or preference whether they might learn the bass pedals. But all of that aside, Larry Goldings has to be one of the best jazz organists today, in the modern lexicon.
Goldings, Bernstein and Stewart, have been playing and recording together for 30 years and in that length of time, a band is able to form and hit a pocket for knowing how to swing, how to groove or whatever you may want to call it. They did all of this and more and the fans in attendance at The Dakota for the one show, the group played, loved it. The Hammond organ is capable of so many timbres and textures of sound through not only the player's touch on the keys, but also their ability to manipulate the drawbars that work just the same as stops on a pipe organ, and how to manipulate the speed (fast or slow) of the Leslie speaker that amplifies the organ and gives the Hammond it's distinctive tone.
Peter Bernstein on guitar had a fluidity in his playing to match Goldings' touch on the organ and also showed his clear influence by some of the other great modern jazz guitarists of this current era in a tone he was using on the instrument, his tone being his own interpretation of some other well-known jazz players that have been on the scene and in similar trio groups, but at the same time, being cultivated certainly through his work with Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart in this trio for the past three decades. As for Bill Stewart, well, he hit the pocket right off the bat being able to syncopate and swing the tunes in a way only he can.
All in all, a very entertaining evening of instrumental improvised jazz jams for the crowd who came to the Dakota to hear and witness it. Go check out yesterday's video post of the band, and you will certainly find out what I mean. A very cool gig.
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