Organ Trios (or maybe quartets) that you enjoy following?

[Tusker]

I guess I could have asked which B3 players you are following these days, but it seems that trios bring out a certain style of playing, covering a gamut from funk to jazz to rock, but with a certain flair. Sometimes the flair comes from the interplay between the three (or four) doesn't it?

 

I saw a B3 trio in NOLA over the summer and have been hooked ever since. They had trombone instead of guitar and the flavor was unique.

 

I'd love to see Jim Alfredson and Darren Heinrich for sure. I am wondering who else is touring that you would find interesting.

 

Who are you hoping will come through your town?

 

 

[D. Gauss]

These guys usually play as a keys/drums/tuba trio (the trombone player here usually plays tuba through a bass amp as a trio), but this was for a drum clinic/festival so the band is a wee bit bigger since the budget was bigger. Older clip as there's not a ton of footage out there.  I've had the pleasure of playing with the core guys a few times and it is absolutely insane. Since it's a drum clinic, give it a minute or two before it gets going:

 

 

[CrossRhodes]

My favorites of the current players:
 

 

 

I'm really learning a lot from Tony Monaco as well and appreciate all of the knowledge he shares:
 

 

[JamPro]

SoulLive - one of my favs

 

[mate stubb]

Stanton Moore Trio

MMW of course

Larry Goldings

[JulianJ]

Check out the Nigel Price Organ Trio with Ross Stanley on Hammond…..

 

[SamuelBLupowitz]

Glad to see some love for Sam Fribush, a relatively recent discovery for me whose playing I've been enthralled by.

 

Since Soulive (who I've been listening to a ton of lately) and Stanton Moore have both been mentioned, worth checking out the Krasno-Moore Project, featuring Eric Krasno on guitar (from Soulive, Lettuce, many others), Stanton Moore on drums (from Galactic and his own aforementioned trio), and a younger organist named Eric Finland. It's a little more traditional in its overall sound than Soulive, and their one release, Book of Queens, is all arrangements of songs made famous by female vocalists, from Nina Simone to Billie Eilish.

 

 

 

(Anyone know how Eric Finland gets the Hammond bass sounding so unbelievably fat, by the way? Looks like he's splitting it off into a bass amp somehow, but it also doesn't hurt how in the pocket with Moore's kick drum he is.)

 

Anyway, I know there are a handful of forumites with their own organ trios; I'll circle back here after my group Pocket Bandits makes its first record in early 2024!

[Adan]

Will Blades is (or was, when I last checked) San Francisco based organ player who has played with a lot of better known players but hasn't really bubbled up into his own version of fame, or what passes for fame in this genre.  There's so few organ trios, we have to appreciate all of them.

 

 

[stoken6]

+1 Delvon Lamarr 

 

Cheers, Mike.

[wd8dky]

Niacin (John Novello) 

[NewImprov]

Here's a few of my recent favorite organ trio/quartets, from the more experimental end of the music spectrum.

 

Elephant9, from Norway, with Stale Storlokken on Hammond and other keys is one of my current favorite bands, blending prog rock, psychedelic rock and free improv into a pretty unique sound.

 

Hedvig Mollestad's Weejuns, also with Storlokken on Hammond, is one of my favorite albums of this year so far.

 

John Zorn's Simulacrum Trio, with John Medeski, Matt Hollenberg(gtr) and Kenny Grohowski(drums). I pretty much everything Medeski does, but his work with Zorn in this band and the Chaos Magick band really push him into some new spaces. It may not be for everyone, but I love this stuff!

 

[retrokeys]

Barbara Dennerlein.

 

[ProfD]

Another Soulive listener here. 😎

 

 

[SamuelBLupowitz]

 

Since there's so much Soulive love on this thread, worth sharing a performance.

 

 

Neal Evans is always the coolest guy in the room, and he does things with his left hand that I struggle to play on an actual bass guitar. I am noticing that he's not using his typical rig with a third controller board for bass between the Hammond and the Clav -- it looks like he's playing on the lower manual of the organ, but I'm definitely hearing his more typical VST bass sound in the mix. As a bassist/keyboardist who is currently playing a lot of key bass, I'm always looking for ways to get the bass sounds feeling a little punchier and more fluid.

 

Also since "organ quartets" were the other category mentioned in the thread title, it's worth shouting out a couple of the influential classics: Booker T and the MG's, and The Meters!

 

 

[wd8dky]

17 hours ago, wd8dky said:

Niacin (John Novello) 

 

[Noah DC]

I've been knee-deep in this sort of music for the last few years. I'll just add a few groups currently operating that folks really need to check out.

 

First, based on some discussion on another thread, I picked up a copy of @Jim Alfredson 's new record, Family Business. Christ, this album is so good. Not just blowing smoke his way here on the forums! I've had this thing on repeat in my car the last couple months. Funky, swinging, thoughtful. It's got this beautiful moody track in the middle of it called "Verna." Buy this record, people!

 

Second, partly through Jim's recommendation on the forum and partly through my own experience here in DC proper, I've been digging into the music of Bill Heid. This guy is the real deal. And miraculously, he lives and plays out constantly around my city. Soulful, bluesy playing (and singing) but then runs wild bebop lines at the drop of a hat. Hard to explain his talent, just make sure you listen to his albums. I recently picked up a copy of the new one, Dealin' Wit' It (recorded by Jim Alfredson, I think?) . And I've bought Bandcamp high-end downloads of his classics from back in the day like Air Mobile, Dark Secrets, and Bop Rascal. If you're ever coming through DC, hit me up and I'll tip you off to where and when he is playing around town - I see him live every chance I get.

 

Third, some folks have mentioned Will Blades, who (by the way) has been putting up free organ tutorials on his IG account the last couple years. Just last week, he released a new album called Roll the Tape as a member of the Adam Deitch Quartet. Check this beast of a record out when you get a chance.

 

Finally, if I can be so bold as to do some log-rolling here, I've been working in a soul-jazz organ quartet over the past year called Bad Luck Gold. We started it inspired by all this music we're talking about. Those records by Jim and BIll Heid are really the way I'd love our music to sound one day. But meantime, we tracked an album, and the first two singles from the six-song album came out this month - one original called "Harold Black" and a cover of a Charles Earland tune called "Here Comes Charlie." We're nowhere near the level of the rest of the cats mentioned in this thread, but we're having a blast trying to get there. Most of the gear used for recording - my Mojo 61, Speakeasy stereo preamp rack, Leslie 145 - I came to know more about via time spent on the forum. Check us out if you're in the DC area - we've been gigging a lot the past year.

 

 

[Paul Harrison]

- Larry Goldings (organ) with Peter Bernstein (guitar) and Bill Stewart (drums)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8A0V60teBI

 

- Larry Goldings (organ) with John Scofield (guitar) and Greg Hutchinson (drums)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-CNMqLc1g4

 

- Dan Hemmer (organ) with Michael Blicher (sax, flute) and Steve Gadd (drums)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89L9-HJFG2I

[mpn_user7629]

i liked this 

 

 

[brenner13]

Dang! This is thread makes me so happy. Thanks to all for their knowledge and insight. 

[jazzpiano88]

Another vote for Tony M:

 

 

[jazzpiano88]

Not strictly a trio, but this has blown my mind for the last 30 years every time I revisit.  Take a listen to the trading of licks in the last couple of minutes and it's just unbelievable!

 

 

[Piktor]

In  world where Joey Defrancesco set the bar impossibly high, I appreciate artists who have been able to carve their own strong musical identity. Strong compositional skills certainly help when they set out to do that. Of course, the aforementioned Larry Goldings is one such artist. 

I see that a couple of my other favourite organist/composers have not been mentioned yet and deserve some wider recognition: Brian Charette and composer/keyboardist Florian Ross from Germany.  While Ross is primarily a pianist, he has some Hammond trio recordings that I really enjoy. 
 

While I still love the greasy, rockin’, funky, and soulful Hammond playing that first drew me to the instrument as a teenager, I appreciate when artists offer us some new approaches to playing and writing for the organ. 

[Piktor]

16 hours ago, jazzpiano88 said:

Not strictly a trio, but this has blown my mind for the last 30 years every time I revisit.  Take a listen to the trading of licks in the last couple of minutes and it's just unbelievable!

 

 

Licks A’Plenty indeed! I heartily agree. Strangely, I have a green double album with these two without this (hilarious) cover photo. 

[Tusker]

On 11/15/2023 at 2:25 PM, Noah DC said:

First, based on some discussion on another thread, I picked up a copy of @Jim Alfredson 's new record, Family Business. Christ, this album is so good.

 

Found it on Apple Music Noah. Brilliant stuff. Thanks! 

On 11/16/2023 at 10:01 AM, brenner13 said:

Dang! This is thread makes me so happy. Thanks to all for their knowledge and insight. 

 

+ 1000 Thank you. ❤️

[Matthiola]

 

 

[Matthiola]

 

[Matthiola]

 

[Matthiola]

 

[Matthiola]

 

[Matthiola]

Just posted some of the bands I follow or have seen live. Organ/guitar/drums trio is easily my favorite line-up.