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“B-3 Summit”

Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio with Fred Wesley
James Carter Organ Trio

Friday, November 3 • 8pm & 10:30pm

Great American Music Hall
  • venue info
  • $40 VIP GA
  • $25 GA
    • "The good Doctor Smith...can claim to be the current innovator, tastemaker and genuine link between past and present." — BBC

    Program Notes

    Heavy drafts of groove, swing, and funk will steam up the gilded rafters of the Great American Music Hall for tonight’s ninth edition of SFJAZZ’s signature B-3 summit. The classic organ sounds that are the foundation of soul jazz are represented by two generations of immensely talented musicians.

    The relationship between Dr. Lonnie Smith and the storied Hammond B-3 organ is like that of the chicken and the egg: it’s impossible to imagine one without the other. Since he was named DownBeat’s “Organist of the Year” in 1969, the turban-clad Smith has been a stalwart on the jazz and funk scene. His early work with George Benson set the standard for soul jazz, and his solo albums, like this year’s Jungle Soul, find the good doctor tackling a wide range of tracks, from the classic soul-jazz work up “Freedom Jazz Dance” to Thelonious Monk’s immortal “Bemsha Swing.”

     

    Smith’s special guest this evening, Fred Wesley, packs a heavy load of funk history with him wherever he roams. As music director, composer, and arranger of James Brown’s band in the late ’60s and early ’70s he created many of the classic funk sounds that have become the backbone of hip hop. But Wesley is also a respected improviser who played with the Count Basie Orchestra, Maceo Parker, and led his own well-regarded soul-jazz group.   

     

    A blistering saxophone has long added a healthy dash of spice to the classic organ trio. James Carter, a prodigious talent on anything with a reed, returned to his Detroit roots on his trio albums Live at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge and Out of Nowhere. His trio features Richard “Groove” Holmes and Jimmy Smith protégé Gerard Gibbs on the B-3.

    Personnel:
    Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio featuring Fred Wesley
    • Dr. Lonnie Smith, organ
    • Allison Miller, drums
    • Peter Bernstein, guitar
    • Fred Wesley, trombone

    James Carter Organ Trio
    • James Carter, saxophones
    • Gerard Gibbs, hammond B-3 organ
    • Leonard King, drums