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Vintage Guitar - October 2010

ORGANISSIMO - Alive and Kickin’!
Dan Forte

... organissimo, from nearby Michigan, cut their Alive & Kickin' (Big O) as part of WKAR-TV's "BackStage Pass" series at Michigan State University. Not to worry; Joe Gloss occupies the guitar chair in fine fashion.

Gloss and B3 player Jim Alfredson have been playing together since '96, with drummer Randy Marsh joining in 2000, and it shows. The threesome upholds jazz's "organ trio" tradition (of Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Shirley Scott, Richard "Groove" Holmes, and others) with finesse and passion in a set ranging from funk and Latin originals to a cover of Frank Zappa's lyrical "Blessed Relief".

The breakdown section of "Señor Buffet" is particularly impressive, with Alfredson laying out while Gloss takes an extended solo with minimal Marsh punctuation. And the trio does the dean of jazz organ proud on their pumping tribute, "Jimmy Smith Goes To Washington".