Back in the 1950s/1960s there seemed to be a wealth of organ trios - Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Billy Preston and a million more. In America you got the impression that every corner bar and juke joint had one. In the UK it began with a trickle, the late Mike Carr, Brian Auger Trinity, Alan Haven and today, in Newcastle, Gerry Richardson.
Over the border in Scotland, PRIME, led by guitarist Kevin MacKenzie, continue the tradition doing what it says on the tin and playing standards. Unlike their forebears the emphasis is on the standards. More melodic and less blues/funk/soul orientated although none of those elements are totally missing - how could they be with a tried and trusty Hammond B3 in the mix?
A B3 vamp till ready intro before Mackenzie makes an impressive entry on Skylark with a solo full of clarity that cuts to the quick. Hough syncopates the pots and pans. Blues to You stays more or less within the bounds of the organ trio format and I'm not complaining. Johnstone may be physically in the UK but mentally he's in Philly. Hough too is 'over there'. Night and Day shows Porter the respect his tune deserves. The solos logical, the feeling genuine - an honest tribute to a great composer.
MacKenzie swings like Rollins on Without a Song it's a killer. However, I can't say the same about the dirge-like People. It's a song I'd be happy without! In fairness the trio make the most of what they're given. Perhaps if it had been shorter, but eight minutes is a long time to wait for an empty kettle to boil.
Back on an even keel with A Sleepin' Bee composed by the unlikely team of Harold Arlen and Truman Capote. It's a gem with both MacKenzie and Johnstone at their most lyrical. Paradoxically, just as People was a hit for Streisand, so was A Sleepin' Bee. Talk about the biter being bit - I'll never walk down Broadway again!
No Moe has that gentle funk which is always appealing when these three swingers go for it like they do here. Johnstone does some showboating that, had it been live, would have had the audience whoopin' and hollerin' like they do when Sunderland beat their local rivals whom I shall not name as they have just lost the two best managers they ever had!
Cy Coleman's When in Rome is usually sung but PRIME prove that sometimes the music tells a story better than the words do. I think that is the case here. We'll be Together Again meanders pleasantly along. Carl Fischer supplied the music and Frankie Laine the words. It was one of the latter's first big hits. In a perfect world this too would be chart topping - in a perfect world.
If you like organ trios who do more than permutate 12 bars this is for you. It's well worth checking out on the various Spotty Face Tube channels - I'm a Bandcamper myself. Lance
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