Saxophone, organ and drums with DiRubbo on the saxophones (alto, sometimes multiple tracked), Brian Charette on organ and Rudy Royston on drums.
DiRubbo is Connecticut-born, studied with, among others Jackie McLean, and is a regular player at New York clubs like Smalls and the 55 Bar, as well as a teacher; Charette, also from Connecticut, is one of the guys to go to for B3 Hammond action, and is in demand for sessions with the likes of Joni Mitchell and Chaka Khan as well as leading his own jazz groups; Royston, from Texas, is a name known to many fans of Bill Frisell, Javon Jackson, Don Byron, etc, and is the drummer on Frisell’s latest trio disc, Beautiful Dreamers.
Things start explosively with Minor Progress (all the tunes are by DiRubbo ot Charette), with the leader showing off his chops at speed. He multi-tracks his saxophone for the harmonised melody of the title tune, and eases into a gentler jazz waltz time for the lithe Lilt.
You could say this is the classic kind of 21st century New York jazz group, using modern harmonies, some tricky timing, knotty and unusual melody lines, but mixing the new stuff up with enough timeless jazz qualities and enough acknowledgement of the tradition to keep the more conservative listeners happy as well as exciting the new, more adventurous, younger crowd.
Speaking generally the alto/Hammond/drums sound is always an enticing one, and the organ always brings an greasy, funky feel to music that might, with piano, sometimes sound a little cerebral. Not too much risk of that here even without the Hammond grease: DiRubbo keeps his emotions and grooviness in balance with his clever side.
The three dig in hard on Rituals, with DiRubbo moving briefly into screaming, multiphonics mode, then get all supper club-ish on Nouveau. I think that’s what I like most about this disc – it’s not scared to mix the pretty in with the muscular, beauty and the beast, light and shade, the strenuous with the dreamy. It’s also got great focus – these guys know exactly what they want to do and they do it exactly.
Try a bit of it on Mike’s website, just go here.
