This is the third album from the habit wearing Greg Lewis under the guise Organ Monk, but the name isn’t a reference to his love of a certain style of clothing, but rather is a dedication to Thelonious, who has inspired him so much. Greg plays a beautifully rich Hammond B3 Organ, and he has been joined in this particular endeavour by Ron Jackson (guitar), Riley Mullins (trumpet), Reggie Woods (tenor saxophone) and Jeremy Bean Clemons (drums). As the name of the album implies, all of the songs contained within are well-known within jazz circles, most of which were recorded by Monk himself, but here taken to a new level as the musicians bounce ideas off each other and in and around the theme.
I know I don’t listen to nearly as much jazz as I should, and know even less, but Howard Mandel has provided in-depth notes to each song within the digipak, as well as details on each of the musicians involved, so much so that it really helps the listener. What I can say is that here are a group of jazz musicians who all know what they are doing, and the result is that no-one is left behind and they gel in only the way that great jazz musicians can, improvising and going where the music takes them. There are times when this is simply beautiful, with a gentleness of sound that belies description, and the others just drop away to provide the prefect accompaniment as someone else hits the groove. They may all be playing, or just one, and while it may be Greg’s band he feels no need to be at the forefront and is happy to either provide a backing line or not play at all, if that is what the passage needs.
Mature, majestic, jazz rarely gets much better than this.
www.greglewismusic.com
