Chicago Tribune Review of HotHouse Gig

[birdmonk]

Greetings Group!

Below is the text and a link to Howard Reich's over all VERY POSITIVE review in today's Chicago Tribune of the HotHouse gig. The headline and the compliments strike me as backhanded (the word 'less" does imply something is lacking, no?) but Reich is the kind of critic (not my personal favorite) who writes in a style that to this reader comes across like some all-knowing oracle and has a more 1st-person voice than I prefer to read. When I review something I recount what happens at the event or on the CD from a point of view that doesn't come across as being above the music. He doesn't come right out and use the pronoun "I" but too much of "him" in what he writes for my personal taste (it's about the music isn't it?).

But at least he not only got the little "o" right but GOT THE COPY EDITORS TO LEAVE IT THAT WAY ALL THROUGH THE ARTICLE!!! No small achievement.

But, then again, there are ways to say things.

Why write it this way: "His [Jim's] right-hand work, in particular, offers ample fluidity, yet even his fast-flying passagework is more impressive for its melodic ingenuity than its speed or technical prowess."

When it can be written this way: His....yet even the speed or technical prowess of his fast-flying passagework is overshadowed by its melodic ingenuity."

Much more positive way of saying the same thing.

But why complain. When we started the promotion of "This Is The Place," Jim said one of his goals -- and one clearly shared by any Midwestern band on its way "up" -- was to get a gig in Chicago. Today there have been 2 in 2 months. And a strong review in The Trib with plenty of lines that can be excerpted for PR purposes is nothing to sneeze at!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/search/...0,1327800.story

LESS IS MORE WITH ORGANISSIMO

By Howard Reich

Tribune arts critic

One way or another, every jazz organist must come to terms with the legacy of Jimmy Smith, who died in February at age 79 but remains the measure by which his successors are judged.

Some, such as the formidable Joey DeFrancesco, aspire to comparable levels of virtuosity and often attain it.

Others, such as Jim Alfredson, who anchors a Michigan-based trio called organissimo, build on Smith's breakthroughs in harmony and color while avoiding comparisons to the master's brilliant technique.

Alfredson and organissimo, in other words, draw an audience's attention with the vivid character of their compositions and the unerring precision of their ensemble playing, not the flash and bravura of the leader's keyboard work. Because Alfredson and his colleagues share a less-is-more musical philosophy, they can be remarkably effective as a unit, as was the case Wednesday night at HotHouse.

When Alfredson, guitarist Joe Gloss and drummer Randy Marsh are in top form, the listener nearly forgets that three distinct voices are at play.

As Alfredson pumps swelling chords, Marsh produces sharply staccato backbeats and Gloss articulates sleekly crafted melody lines. Even during solos, the musicians assist each other with uncommon sensitivity, a space in an Alfredson cadenza punctuated with a quick combination from Marsh's drum kit.

That's not to say, however, that Alfredson can't get around the keys of his Hammond B-3 organ. His right-hand work, in particular, offers ample fluidity, yet even his fast-flying passagework is more impressive for its melodic ingenuity than its speed or technical prowess.

Combine Alfredson's knack for choosing just the right color and tone in any given composition with his colleagues' ability to match his gestures, and you have one of the most promising organ trios in jazz.

Though an original tune such as "Stomp Yo' Feets" easily might have emerged as a caricature of New Orleans street beats, it transcended that cliché thanks to Marsh's ultra-economical rhythms and Alfredson's inventive solos. Drawing upon a broad vocabulary of keyboard devices—from two-handed glissandos to telegraphic chords to buoyant wah-wah effects—Alfredson proved as entertaining as the Crescent City musicians the tune saluted.

The band's best work came in "Mellow Mood," which Smith and Wes Montgomery famously recorded in the mid-1960s. Creating the darkest timbres, subtlest voicings and most insinuating phrases of the evening, organissimo lived up to the tune's name.

If the band was less creative in the standard "Tenderly," if drummer Marsh played harmonica to minimal effect, these moments were the exceptions in an otherwise beguiling show.

hreich@tribune.com

Copyright © 2005, The Chicago Tribune

[Jim Alfredson]

Thank you, Mitchell. You've gone far above and beyond and we really appreciate all your help!

[GregN]

Looks like some great stuff for the press kit! Great job fellas!! You should be proud.

g

[gslade]

Glad to see more people catching on

not like he is telling us anything new

[randissimo]

Thank you, Mitchell. You've gone far above and beyond and we really appreciate all your help!

Thanks again for your help Mitchell.. You da man!