I lift my own personal blues moratorium on occasion, and one such occasion is when the principal instrument is organ, not guitar. Due in part to the proclivities of the instrument itself and in part to the kind of ear training more common among keyboardists than among six-stringers, organ blues tend to be a touch more harmonically expansive and adventurous than most standard-issue guitar blues with their well-worn patterns and lick library, and that touch is often all that is required to open my ears once again to the verities of the blues.
Keyboardist Jeremy Baum has been a highly visible and in-demand regional-and-beyond sideman for a long time now, flexing his fine touch, great ears and multigenre fluencies in some pretty top-shelf blues, Latin and jazz settings. Like so many courted and coveted sidemen, Baum leads his own band as well, when he can, finding time about once a decade to record his own material with his sidemen of choice. 2003’s Lost River Jams was a funky, spacious set, foregrounding Baum’s tasteful Hammond and piano-playing. Owing more to the brainy, Monkish lines of a Larry Golding than to the non-stop blowing of Joey DeFrancesco, Baum keeps things fresh with jazz, Latin and gospel colors sprinkled throughout this fine trio-plus-friends blues session.
Baum has reconvened a trio – this time with guitarist Chris Vitarello and drummer Chris Reddan – for the soon-to-be released CD The Eel. It is this trio that Baum brings to the Liberty Lounge in Rhinebeck on Saturday, November 23 at 9:30 p.m. The Eel isn’t out yet, but the band will no doubt be offering a sneak peak of what to expect.
The Liberty Lounge is located at 6417 Montgomery Street in Rhinebeck. For more information, call (845) 876-1760 or visit www.libertyrhinebeck.com.
Jeremy Baum Trio, Saturday, November 23, 9:30 p.m., Liberty Lounge, 6417 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, (845) 876-1760 or visit www.libertyrhinebeck.com.
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