Organ trios are all the rage once again. This retro throwback has made a comeback in a big way. Joey De Francesco, Pat Bianchi and now Jared Gold are and continue to raise the bar for aspiring players and those that have been on the scene for some time.
Two aspects of Gold’s playing move him to the front of the pack and these include an innate gift of swing as well as a harmonic foundation that allows Gold to express his own musical identity without doing a riff on someone one else. Gold takes his cue from players such as Larry Young and Jack McDuff along with the great Don Patterson to ultimately do a riff on himself. The musical pedigree of Gold can and should be the envy of other players attempting to master his craft. John Abercrombie, Ed Cherry, and Ralph Peterson are but a handful of names one can drop when discussing the contemporary greats Gold has shared a stage with.
With the new release Intuition which is a righteous groove from open to close, Gold is accompanied by the great Dave Stryker on guitar and one of the most under appreciated drummers in the formidable McClenty Hunter on drums. Another side project for Gold has been the manufacture of what can best be described as a portable B3 which is best described in the link below:
http://www.criticaljazz.com/2013/02/new-organ-products-from-b3-phenom-jared.html
An instructional type video is included in the link and this quality piece of gear is a must for the local and or traveling musician. Be sure and check out www.foldingorgan.com. The demands of an off the hook touring schedule were the catalyst that inspired the development of this organ controller and now Gold is marketing these to the public.
Gold performs with his own group, side work with John Abercrombie ( I had the honor of interviewing ) along with Dave Stryker, Oliver Lake, Ralph Bowen and David Gibson. If James Brown was the hardest working man in show business then Gold may be a close second.
Intuition is a groove infused pocket driven jam that is arguably Gold’s finest work to date. Take some Gold originals that sound like “standards” on deck and then toss in some soulful and soul filled covers including “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” and another Carol King classic “You’ve Got A Friend” and you get dangerously close to sonic nirvana ( no pun intended ). The Dave Stryker original “Bedo’s Blues” closes the release and captures the essence of what a organ trio that swings is all about. The Gold original “The Crusher” is an apt description if not one word review of this release. Jared Gold crushes Intuition!
