A pair of Seattle-grown modern jazz outfits return to the KNKX studios for live sessions next week. One group is marking a departure from the Northwest, the other is celebrating a holiday return.
Tuesday at 12:15 on 88.5, the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio plays their second KNKX studio session. Delvon and his wife Amy are moving with the Hammond organ and their doggie mascot Little Booker T to Austin, Texas, in the new year.
The group has been on a tear, and very busy on tour through the U.S. and Europe since their last visit. Their debut album Close But No Cigar got a vinyl repress from Colemine Records, and a live album recorded with our friends down the street at KEXP has kept the DLO3 riding high.
Before the operation relocates to the Lone Star State, along with Tuesday's session, the DLO3 will celebrate New Years Eve at the Triple Door. Then, one last party/jam session at the Highland Park Improvement Club in West Seattle Jan. 13. Delvon and Amy pack up the van and hit the road the next day.
Join us for a fond farewell, and keep your ears on The New Cool for news on their (hopefully) frequent return engagements.
For the Seattle-born trio Tyrant Lizard, next week's studio session is a homecoming. Thursday marks two years since guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi's move to New York City, where bassist Carmen Rothwell had already set up a new home base. Remaining in Seattle, trumpeter Raymond Larsen has been busy back home in various groups. As they promised, the distance couldn't stop this Tyrant Lizard.
Larsen dropped off the new CD Story Time a few months ago, and they don't sound like they're separated by 3,000 miles. The same deliberate, beautiful compositional interaction emerges, blending jazz with folksy Americana... "chamber twang"?
I hear more confidence from the three young musicians, and more accomplished songwriting. Rothwell anchors the group with rock solid steadiness, Belisle-Chi floats on waves of echo effects, and Larsen adds a sense of majesty.
Notably, Tyrant Lizard takes on a pair of covers on Story Time. Randy Newman's "I Will Go Sailing No More" is stately, delicate, beautiful and dramatic, but they make the song their own. "Tonight You Belong To Me," an oldie most know from Steve Martin's duet with Bernadette Peters in the 70s comedy The Jerk, is much closer to the source material.
I'm excited to catch up with the trio in the KNKX studios Thursday at 12:15 p.m., and you'll find a full set from the band at the Royal Room to celebrate the CD release that night.
Connect to many more outstanding studio sessions here, and don't miss the fun on 88.5 FM next week! Until then, I'll catch you on the air Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. on The New Cool.
The New Cool airs Saturdays from 3 to 5 p.m., hosted by Abe Beeson and produced by KNKX Public Radio in Seattle, Washington.
