The Charette-Alfredson Organ Duo featuring two acclaimed, award-winning musicians will play Grand Rapids’ SpeakEZ Lounge on Saturday to wrap up a limited Midwest tour.
‘So Much Fun’: Jim Alfredson of Michigan’s Organissimo teams up with fellow keyboard phenom Brian Charette for a weekend show in Grand Rapids.
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Pairing two Hammond B3 organ players on a single stage for an evening of keyboard wizardry may be unusual, but it’s certainly not unprecedented.
Michigan’s reigning Hammond whiz, Jim Alfredson of Organissimo fame, absolutely relishes a 1970s’ live recording from Boston that features “Giants of the Organ” Groove Holmes and Jimmy McGriff, who “just go at it on a handful of improvised tunes and it’s so much fun. So, any time I have the opportunity to play with another organist, I jump at the chance.”
Rising Star: Brian Charette
That opportunity has arrived.
Alfredson, of Lansing, is teaming up with Grammy-nominated New York City jazz organist and bandleader Brian Charette for a limited, six-show Midwest tour that wraps up at 8 p.m. Saturday at SpeakEZ Lounge, 600 Monroe Ave. NW, in Grand Rapids.
To give folks an idea of what to expect from this rare collaboration, the Charette-Alfredson Organ Duo tour is billed as “four-fisted double Hammond organ madness,” along with some other delicious keyboard insanity.
“We will have lots of synths with us in addition to our Hammond rigs,” says Charette, named a “rising star” in the 2014 Downbeat critics’ poll and best jazz organist in New York by fans participating in this year’s Hot House magazine awards.
“I use a laptop rig with virtual analog synths and I have a bunch of circuit-bent electronics that create unusual industrial atmospheres. Jim has tons of cool analog keyboards. I’m sure he will be packing as well.”
HITTING IT OFF AND GOING ON TOUR
Indeed, Alfredson – by any measure, a virtuoso and true keyboard geek – will also spotlight his “Moog Voyager and Privia PX5s for additional sounds.”
The two Hammond-endorsed artists first met at the 2014 National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show in Los Angeles, where they ended up performing together on stage and really hit it off.
“We had a great response to our collaboration and have been performing together ever since,” Charette says. “We played quite a few big gigs in the last few years at festivals and radio concerts, and are really looking forward to developing our music for a few gigs in a row.”
And while the duo hasn’t firmed up plans for any studio recordings, Alfredson says he hopes “we can make it happen” in the future.
Adds Charette: “I’m sure our collaboration will continue for life and I’m sure we will record at a point.”
The duo already has played gigs this week in Clawson, Mich., Chicago and Lansing, with additional shows in Cleveland on Thursday, Akron on Friday and Grand Rapids on Saturday. Admission to the SpeakEZ show is free. (Listen to audio samples from each organist below.)
Beyond that, Charette and Alfredson both are juggling numerous other solo and band projects.
The award-winning Organissimo, which features Alfredson, drummer Randy Marsh and guitarist Larry Barris, is finishing up a new Beatles tribute album. The versatile Alfredson also plans to unleash a second prog-rock recording, among other things.
“I am also mixing a new Big Apple Blues album, which is a band from New York City that I play with,” says Alfredson. “I am also working on the follow-up to my progressive rock album THEO. And finally, guitarist Larry Barris and I just did a session with the incredible drummer Harvey Mason which will see release sometime next year.”
As for Charette, who’s also the author of “101 Hammond B3 Tips,” the keyboardist plans to record later this year with a New York City trio featuring Henry Hey and Jochen Rueckert, as well as work on another Organ Sextette album.
Both musicians, of course, tour regularly in various configurations, and Alfredson also performs occasionally with Detroit blues/soul singer Laura Rains.
Get more information online at jimalfredson.com and at briancharette.com.
LISTEN: Brian Charette, “Latin From Manhattan”
LISTEN: Jim Alfredson, “McGriff’s Funk”
Copyright 2016, Spins on Music
