9. Oliver Lake Organ Quartet: What I Heard (Passin Thru, 2013)
If anyone could be said to have picked up the mantle of Larry Young’s late-’60s organ experiments, it would be Oliver Lake’s Organ Quartet, with Jared Gold on the keys. Of course, with an artist of Lake’s scope, it could never be that simple. What I Heard is shot through with a creeping noir-ish mood, as well as fits of the expected weirdness (“Cyan,” “Human Voice”) and a wee bit of Latin seasoning (“Palma”). But in keeping with Lake’s musical spectrum, the soul and blues traditions are alive and well from beginning to end. And the last few tracks—the trio of “Lucky One,” “Etc,” and “Thank You”—genuinely suggest a progression from the dark modalities of Young and Unity.
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