Cold as Weiss
is the third studio long-player from Seattle's resident groove machine, the
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio
(aka
DLO3
). Its title reflects the addition of funky Reno, NV drummer
Dan Weiss
(
Sextones
) to the lineup. Though not the only organ combo on the scene,
lean harder on rootsy jazz-funk and psychedelic soul-jazz than their peers. They offer no excuses for making feel-good music that resonates with listeners: 2021's
I Told You So
went to number one on the contemporary jazz charts and landed inside the Top Five on the jazz albums list, too.
Opening single "Pull Your Pants Up" is not titled for a generalized urban equivalent of "hey kid, get off my lawn," but is actually a call for guitarist
Jimmy James
to do just that on the bandstand. The tight, funky vamp offered by the guitarist is met with the punchy melody from
Lamarr
.
Weiss
' left-hand drumming lies deep in the pocket, adding syncopated breaks as the groove gets steamier. "Don't Worry 'Bout What I Do" is meaner and leaner. The groove crisscrosses the fingerpopping vibe of
Booker T. & the MG's
with the grittier psychedelic funk of
the Meters
' "Cissy Strut."
James
' wiry playing balances rock, blues, and
JB's
-esque groove atop
's swelling B-3 pulse as
struts and swaggers across snare, hi-hat, and ride cymbal. The cover of
Leon Ware
's 1972
Michael Jackson
vehicle "I Wanna Be Where You Are" frames the melody inside a transcendent groove.
's bassline guides the band, and his cascading solo reaches for the stars.
meets him with cracking tom-toms and
paints the swirling backdrop with spiky lyric fills. "Big TT's Blues" directly follows
Brother Jack McDuff
's fakebook.
moves across the Hammond's massive keyboard, pulling stops, hitting pedals, and wrangling the deep blues in both his progression and solo.
meets him head on to engage in vamp-laden fury with biting solo statements, while
swings like mad. "Keep On Keepin' On" offers a Latin-funk groove filled with conversational instrumental exchanges between organ and guitar as
becomes the guide wheel they turn on. "Slip "N' Slide," co-written by
with
Delvon Dumas
and
Jabrille Williams
, is an uplifted gospel jam saturated in sunshine soul. Closer "This Is Who I Is" engages dark, syncopated, psychedelic jazz-funk. As
lays down a spooky, melodic progression with a truckload of vibrato,
' snare and kick drum add depth, dimension, and swing.
puts his wah-wah pedal and whammy bar into overdrive, adding shard-like single-string runs, massive chordal fills, and razor-sharp
Grant Green
-esque vamps. The choruses are delivered in joyously emphatic unison. If there is a complaint about
, it's that at 40 minutes, it's a tad short, because no one wants this dance party to end. (If you do, please check your pulse, you may have expired.) ~ Thom Jurek