Nothing like a Hammond B3 to blow away the blues. Here are a couple!
The trio of Claude Schneider/g, Pierre-Luc Vallet/B3 and Peter Schmidlin/dr fill the Swiss jazz club Bird’s Eye with some swinging sounds on this recent release. Schneider has a clean and deft touch on the guitar, and is sleek on “Carrot Cake” and on the intro to the easy grooving “Modern Hotel.” Vallet’s Hammond glows like the sunrise on “Marie” and bounces with delight on “Take the Coltrane” whyile Schmidlin’s brushes sashay with Schneider’s delicate guitar on “Alnico” and drive with the ride cymbal on the latin “Humbolt.” The nice thing about this session is that nothing gets overblown; the solos feel like an organic piece of the puzzle. A rare treat for a trio, particularly in concert. Worth checking out!
B3-er Jeff Jenkins splits the work between himself and Dave Corbus/g and Alwyn Robinson/dr on this team effort of a production. Corbus gets lots of space on his godin guitar, with impressive solos on the funky “Braking Bad” and the boogalooing “Heavy Eddy” while getting moody on “Khalid.” Robinson rides the cymbals on “Sideways” and gets a good back beat on “Earth Dance.” Meanwhile, Jenkins shows a soft touch on “Goodbye Little J” and as fun with the melody of the pop hit “Happy Together” and shows he can create a fog of war with the best of them on “Blues For EJ.” Excellent team effort.
TCB Records
OA2 Records