Deep Blue Organ Trio: Deep Blue Bruise

The Deep Blue Organ Trio, featuring guitarist Bobby Broom and organist Chris Foreman, is a tightly knit Chitown unit that is adept at putting an old-school soul-jazz spin on popular nonjazz repertoire on Deep Blue Bruise (Delmark). They turn in a slamming shuffle-swing rendition of Prince’s “Raspberry Beret” and swing in a relaxed midtempo mode on the Earth Wind & Fire tune “Can’t Hide Love.” They also interpret the dramatic Sinatra showcase “It Was a Very Good Year” as a slow, melancholy, minor-key blues, and put a hip slant on the Doors’ “Light My Fire.” Guitarist Broom, a killer soloist, plays it more restrained here, saving up his most potent blowing of the session for his own swinging title track, for a jaunty uptempo rendition of “Willow Weep for Me” and a brisk reading of Joe Henderson’s “Granted” (which sounds like a Grant Green tribute). Greg Rockingham again proves to be one of the steadiest and most reliably swinging drummers around; a supportive pocket-player who knows when to hold it down and when to interact. Organist Foreman is the real find here. His insistently swinging, blues-drenched solo lines are dripping with churchified soul and show a fertile imagination. He also demonstrates a firm command of the bass pedals and an ultrahip sense of comping behind Broom’s solos. While Foreman may already be a Chicago legend, he’s relatively unknown outside the Midwest. With his superb showing on the Deep Blue Organ Trio’s debut, Foreman stands to advance to the front ranks of the elite B3 burners on today’s scene.

Originally Published January 1, 2005