Joe Marcinek Band - JM3 (2018)

The organ trio rose to popularity in the ’50s and ’60s, when musicians looked for compact ensembles they could take on the road. The organ was, almost invariably, the venerated Hammond B3 with its accompanying Leslie cabinet. Organ and drums were joined by either a guitarist or a saxophone player. The organist handled the bass, either with bass pedals or the low end of the keyboard. The music was often referred to as soul jazz, an amalgam of jazz with blues, gospel, and R&B intertwined.

The third album from The Joe Marcinek Band is an homage to that glorious style. Marcinek is an outstanding guitarist who can rock and funk in concert with the best of them, but both previous JMB albums, Both Sides (2016) and Slink (2017), leaned much more heavily to the jazz side. JM3 — or JMIII — is 100% soul jazz, and he penned all eight tunes.

For this new project, Marcinek enlisted the help of two titans of today’s scene, Wil Blades and Terence Higgins. Blades, a West Coast mainstay from San Francisco, is the in-demand organist and has various projects going, including duos with Billy Martin and with Scott Amendola and trios with Will Bernard and Stanton Moore. Higgins is a Crescent City exponent, working his drum magic with Dirty Dozen Brass Band and John Scofield’s Piety Street Band in addition to his own band, Swampgrease.

The album’s pedigree made numerous stops. Ari Rios did the recording at Laughing Tiger Studios in San Rafael. Next, Alan Evans (Soulive) mixed it at Iron Wax Studios. It was mastered at Evergroove Studios by Brad Smalling, and Charley Robinson of Iconoclast Design Co. did the cover artwork.

The eight tracks and 50 minutes of this album simply shimmer. It is a wonderful testament to all three players — absolutely equals in this process. By turns, each gentlemen has the opportunity to shine — over and over again.