PAUL MORAN - Smokin’ B3: Volume 2, Still Smokin`
Prudential Records PRR-0038
Paul Moran (Hammond organ, trumpet & flugelhorn) Nigel Price & Jim Mullen (guitars) Laurence Cottle (electric bass) Mez Clough & Adam Roman (drums) Michael Osbourne & Jeff Scantlebury (percussion) Recorded in London, no dates given.
The Hammond B3 organ combo in various formations was a money spinning staple of the Blue Note catalogue in the fifties and sixties and judging by the number of contemporary custodians of the style currently performing and issuing recordings, it still appears to be in rude health. The Hammond sound is of course timeless and I find it hard to believe that anyone can fail to thrill to its ability to project enormous power and soulful seductiveness. The musicians we have on hand here in this second volume from Paul Moran are all expert practioners, well versed in the genre, with Jim Mullen and Nigel Price having lead their own estimable organ trios and the others. like the leader himself, moving easily between jazz and rock and pop modes.
Moran, a highly sought after session musician with a staggeringly impressive C/V, including being Van Morrison’s musical director, fronts two bands, a quintet featuring the added attraction of Laurence Cottle’s electric bass and a quartet with Jim Mullen on guitar. The playlist which comprises a couple of soul music classics, standards and blues, opens with a greasy version of Lennon & McCartney’s `Come Together` and continues with a self-penned up tempo blues number which features the leader’s overdubbed trumpet. There is much to like and I particularly enjoyed their silky version of the Chi-Lites hit, `Have You Seen Her` and a ripping take on Lee Dorsey’s `Working in a Coal Mine` with its infectious boog-a loo beat. Other delights come in the form of `Blueberry Hill`, a feature for Jim Mullen’s soft toned guitar, that was part of the repertoire of his own organ combo, and an incendiary version of Adderley’s `Work Song` with rippling tremolos of the Jimmy Smith variety
.
Throughout, Moran achieves a sound that is thoroughly idiomatic and replicates the Blue Note sound with complete authenticity utilising the full range of his instrument to produce bubbling bass lines, searing sheets of white noise and ethereal Theremin like `music of the spheres` as in the set’s one ballad, a Moran original called `Moments`. Naturally enough, his is the dominant voice but also worthy of note are the contrasting guitar styles of Mullen and Price, the former being more bop oriented and latter steeped in blues and rock, picking up his acoustic for some flamenco style embellishments to Jobim’s Brazilian chart topper. Laurence Cottle aerates the heavy funk laden atmosphere with several melodically pleasing electric guitar solos and both drummers lay down the metronome steady back beats that this highly mobile music demands. Lovers of the genre will take great delight in this set as will those seeking a respite from more cerebral forms of jazz, relishing the high voltage, foot tapping fun whilst converts will rush off in search of Volume 1.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Prudential Records PRR-0038
Paul Moran (Hammond organ, trumpet & flugelhorn) Nigel Price & Jim Mullen (guitars) Laurence Cottle (electric bass) Mez Clough & Adam Roman (drums) Michael Osbourne & Jeff Scantlebury (percussion) Recorded in London, no dates given.
The Hammond B3 organ combo in various formations was a money spinning staple of the Blue Note catalogue in the fifties and sixties and judging by the number of contemporary custodians of the style currently performing and issuing recordings, it still appears to be in rude health. The Hammond sound is of course timeless and I find it hard to believe that anyone can fail to thrill to its ability to project enormous power and soulful seductiveness. The musicians we have on hand here in this second volume from Paul Moran are all expert practioners, well versed in the genre, with Jim Mullen and Nigel Price having lead their own estimable organ trios and the others. like the leader himself, moving easily between jazz and rock and pop modes.
Moran, a highly sought after session musician with a staggeringly impressive C/V, including being Van Morrison’s musical director, fronts two bands, a quintet featuring the added attraction of Laurence Cottle’s electric bass and a quartet with Jim Mullen on guitar. The playlist which comprises a couple of soul music classics, standards and blues, opens with a greasy version of Lennon & McCartney’s `Come Together` and continues with a self-penned up tempo blues number which features the leader’s overdubbed trumpet. There is much to like and I particularly enjoyed their silky version of the Chi-Lites hit, `Have You Seen Her` and a ripping take on Lee Dorsey’s `Working in a Coal Mine` with its infectious boog-a loo beat. Other delights come in the form of `Blueberry Hill`, a feature for Jim Mullen’s soft toned guitar, that was part of the repertoire of his own organ combo, and an incendiary version of Adderley’s `Work Song` with rippling tremolos of the Jimmy Smith variety
.
Throughout, Moran achieves a sound that is thoroughly idiomatic and replicates the Blue Note sound with complete authenticity utilising the full range of his instrument to produce bubbling bass lines, searing sheets of white noise and ethereal Theremin like `music of the spheres` as in the set’s one ballad, a Moran original called `Moments`. Naturally enough, his is the dominant voice but also worthy of note are the contrasting guitar styles of Mullen and Price, the former being more bop oriented and latter steeped in blues and rock, picking up his acoustic for some flamenco style embellishments to Jobim’s Brazilian chart topper. Laurence Cottle aerates the heavy funk laden atmosphere with several melodically pleasing electric guitar solos and both drummers lay down the metronome steady back beats that this highly mobile music demands. Lovers of the genre will take great delight in this set as will those seeking a respite from more cerebral forms of jazz, relishing the high voltage, foot tapping fun whilst converts will rush off in search of Volume 1.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
