Soul Message Band Live at the Blue LLama

 

Soul Message Band
Live at the Blue LLama
Live at Blue LLama Records

The Blue LLama Jazz Club, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, launches a new record label, Live at Blue LLama Records. The label will feature live recordings from past performances at the club and studio releases from artists who are frequent performers. The label's initial release is from the superb Chicago jazz organ trio, Soul Message Band. Soul Message Band consists of Hammond B3 organist Chris Foreman, drummer Greg Rockingham, and guitarist Lee Rothenberg. This recording is the group's first live album and features a program in the vein of Jimmy Smith and Richard 'Groove' Holmes.

Foreman and Rockingham have been playing together for a substantial period. With guitarist Bobby Bloom, they constituted the Deep Blue Organ Trio. The two and guitarist Henry Johnson backed the late saxophonist Red Holloway on a 2009 Delmark album. For Delmark, the Soul Message Band, including alto saxophonist Greg Ward, produced the spectacular 2019 recording, "Soulful Days." While Ward is absent on this road recording, this trio is more than capable of making cooking organ jazz.

It is a pretty straightforward set of music opening with Grant Green's "Matador." Foreman opens it with some greasy, bluesy notes before the trio kicks things up a notch and plays tribute to Green in their heated performance with Rothenberg laying down the melody, then a scintillating solo with Foreman laying down his backing while Rockingham swings hard. After the sterling guitar solo, Foreman takes things further and displaying why he is among the greatest living B-3 players. A smoldering, greasy chicken-fried rendition of Jimmy Smith's "Midnight Special" follows as Foreman again pulls out all the stops on this classic organ jazz blues.

An extended interpretation of Louis Bellson's "Easy Time" is followed by an early in the morning groove of Slide Hampton's "Frame For The Blues." A driving rendition of Stanley Turrentine's "Minor Chant" showcases more dazzling playing from Rothenberg and Foreman as well as superb ensemble work. It is a first-rate close to an outstanding recording that is a must-listen for organ jazz lovers.

I received a download to review from a publicist. Here is a video of the Soul Message Band in performance at Andy's Jazz Club in Chicago.

Soul Message Band Soulful Days

Soul Message Band
Soulful Days
Delmark Records

While at the Chicago Blues Festival, a photographer-blues deejay I knew mentioned he was going to catch The Joel Paterson Trio in part because of organist Chris Foreman being part of the trio. I made sure to see a portion of their Festival set to see Foreman, one of the most outstanding Hammond B-3 players in the world. He did not fail to astonish. I was aware of Foreman from his playing as part of the Deep Blue Organ Trio on a Delmark album as well as his playing on a Red Holloway Delmark album. All these albums include drummer Greg Rockingham, and the other member of the Deep Blue Organ Trio is famed guitarist Bobby Broom. Other members of this band include guitarist Lee Rothenberg and Greg Ward on alto sax. Geof Bradford on tenor sax replaces Ward on two of the 9 performances, and both saxophones are heard on one track.

There is some spectacular music to be heard here starting with the strutting blues groove of Rothenberg's "Sir Charles," named for Barkley and then organist Earland. Ward displays a sharp bluesy tone, while Rothenberg shows his facility and taste in constructing his solo. Foreman quickly exhibits why he is among the top practitioners of the Hammond B-3 on the planet, Of course, Foreman and Rockingham have been playing so long together that one should not be surprised how tight the groove they lay down is.

The material range from the blues to hard bop and a standard tossed in. There is Cal Massey's reflective "These Are Soulful Days," with Bradford featured, a terrific rendition of Wayne Shorter's hard bop classic from his Art Blakey days, "Hammer Head," with both saxophones heard with the band's feel evoking Jimmy Smith's classic album "The Sermon." In fact, there is a rousing rendition of Smith's hot blues, "J.O.S." from that album. If not possessing a heavy vibrato like Ben Webster, Bradford is marvelous on a reflective performance of Rodgers and Hart "Little Girl Blue."

A rendition of Freddie Hubbard's "Thermo," another song first done by Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Ward leads off with sparks flying before Foreman takes over with his deep-fried organ grease. It is a marvelous close to this terrific album.

I received my review copy from Delmark. This review appeared in the July-August 2019 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 385). Here is a video of the Soul Message Band performing, and backing a vocalist Hinda Hoffman.

Red Holloway Go Red Go!

Red Holloway

Go Red Go!

Delmark Records

Delmark has just issued the label’s debut recording by the veteran tenor saxophonist, Red Holloway, “Go Red Go!” A contemporary of Von Freeman and the late Johnny Griffin at Chicago’s fabled Du Sable High, he came up under the tutelage of Captain Walter Dyett who advised his students to practice outside to develop their sound. Particularly important influences on Holloway were Ben Webster and Sonny Stitt, leading to his big, rich tone and fleet agility which certainly did not inhibit his ability to straddle the blues and jazz worlds growing up. He played on some classic Chicago blues sessions as well as jazz dates. His career has run the gamut to backing Charles Brown in the studio in the late sixties (with Charles calling out Red by name on a choice tenor solo) to the 1989 “Locksmith Blues,” date for Concord co-led with Clark Terry. 

“Go Red Go!” finds him blowing with vitality backed by organist Chris Foreman and his trio (guitarist Henry Johnson and drummer Greg Rockingham). Its a buoyant swinging date opening with a lively “Love Walked In.” Legendary guitarist George Freeman takes over the chair for Holloway's late night blues, “I Like It Funky.” The title track is a retitled rendition of an Arnett Cobb sax sender as he takes off at rug-burning tempo, followed by the more romantic feeling of the standard “Deep Purple,” a prime vehicle to display his sensuous ballad playing with his vibrato evoking Webster. 

Holloway also provides his own take on “Stardust,” one of the ballads Webster was most associated with. Sonny Rollins classic calypso “St. Thomas,” is an unusual choice perhaps but Foreman’s solid unison playing and chording underneath his dancing solo adds to its charm and Johnson takes a nice solo here as well. There are strong interpretations of “Bags Groove,” and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s bossa nova classic, “Wave." Guitarist Freeman rejoins him for the delightful reworking of Roosevelt Sykes', “Keep Your Hands Off Yourself,” that closes this album as he enthusiastically delivers the vocal with Foreman anchoring the performance and getting greasy during his solo that precedes the solos by Holloway and Freeman. Holloway used to play with Sykes. 

Holloway may not be a great singer, but the entire performance is simply too much fun and ends a finger-snapping, toe-tapping recording of first-rate jazz for lovers of tenor sax and organ jazz. He ain’t getting older, he’s just aging marvelously.

I received this review copy from Delmark, but am uncertain whether this 2009 review was ever published. (Correction, It was published in the July 2009 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 318)). Here is Red Holloway from a decade singing and playing "Cleanhead Blues."  

Red Holloway Was a Hard Swinging Saxophonist

Delmark has just issued the label’s debut recording by the veteran tenor saxophonist, Red Holloway, Go Red Go! A contemporary of Von Freeman and the late Johnny Griffin at Chicago’s fabled Du Sable High, he came up under the tutelage of Captain Walter Dyett who advised his students to practice outside to develop their sound. Particularly important influences on Holloway were Ben Webster and Sonny Stitt, leading to his big, rich tone and fleet agility which certainly did not inhibit his ability to straddle the blues and jazz worlds growing up. He played on a number of classic Chicago blues sessions as well as jazz dates. His career has run the gamut to backing Charles Brown in the studio in the late sixties (with Charles calling out Red by name on a choice tenor solo) to the 1989 Locksmith Blues, recording for Concord that was co-led with Clark Terry.

Go Red Go! finds him blowing with vitality backed by organist Chris Foreman and his trio (guitarist Henry Johnson and drummer Greg Rockingham). Its a swinging buoyant date opening with a lively Love Walked In. Legendary guitarist George Freeman takes over the chair for Holloway's late night blues, I Like It Funky. The title track is a retitled rendition of an Arnett Cobb sax sender as he takes off at rugburning tempo, followed by the more romantic feeling of the standard Deep Purple, a prime vehicle to display his sensuous ballad playing with his vibrato evoking Webster with a fair amount of vibrato in his sound.

Holloway also provides his own take on Stardust, one of ballads Webster was most associated with. Sonny Rollins classic calypso St. Thomas, is an unusual choice perhaps but Foreman’s solid unison playing and chording underneath his dancing solo adds to its charm and Johnson takes a nice solo here as well. There are strong interpretations of Bags Groove, and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s bossa nova classic,“Wave. Guitarist Freeman rejoins him for the delightful reworking of blues legend’s Roosevelt Sykes’ Keep Your Hands Off Yourself, that closes this album as he enthusiastically delivers the vocal with Foreman anchoring the performance and getting greasy during his solo that precedes the solos by Holloway and Freeman. Holloway may not be a great singer, but the entire performance is simply too much fun and ends a finger snapping, toe tapping recording of first rate jazz for lovers of tenor sax and organ jazz. he ain’t getting older, he’s just aging marvelously.

Red Holloway passed away on February 25, 2012. He would have been 85 in May and he had a career that spanned several decades. This review originally appeared in the July 2009 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 318) and I received a review copy from Delmark. Here is some Red Holloway in performance. 

Deep Blue Organ Trio's Wonderful Musical Tribute

Composed of organist Chris Foreman, guitarist Bobby Broom and drummer Greg Rockingham, the Deep Blue Organ Trio has established itself with its live performances and recordings, first for Delmark and more recently the Seattle based Origin label. The trio’s 4th recording (on Origin) is devoted to the music of Stevie Wonder, Wonderful! Broom I am aware from his own recordings as well as his time with Sonny Rollins Band. I was not aware that he had spent five years playing with Dr. John. Neither organist Foreman nor drummer Rockingham were familiar to me although Foreman has recorded with Albert Collins for Alligator.

Tribute albums always leave themselves open to comparison with the originals and a listener’s expectations of how a song should be interpreted sometimes affects how one views the tribute performances. In this respect, there are times I find the Deep Blue Trio a bit mellower than I would prefer such as the My Cherie Amour, with its very slow tempo. At the same time one can appreciate Foreman’s chicken fried, blues-drenched and church-based playing along with Broom’s tasty, thoughtful playing with his judicious use of sustain in between his considered single note runs, as Rockingham deftly moves the performance. A song like the shuffle Jesus States of America, which I was not familiar with, benefits from Foreman's driving organ as Broom chords behind.

I was not aware that the Rufus with Chaka Khan hit Tell Me Something Good, was a Wonder composition, but certainly  enjoyed Foreman’s opening and his comping under Broom’s solo. One of my favorite Wonder songs is You Haven’t Done Nuthin’, which has Foreman opening. He states and embellishes Wonder’s intricate melody, then provides a cushion for Broom single note runs, followed by his own strutting solo. Broom is a terrific guitarist but Foreman was to this listener a revelation. Based on this small sample of his music, he is among today’s premier organists. Add Rockingham’s supple drumming, and the Deep Blue Organ Trio’s Wonderful stands not simply as a terrific tribute to Stevie Wonder, but also a marvelous organ trio record. It will have me checking out the trio’s earlier releases.


I received my review copy from a publicist.