The soulful jazz trio formed by organist Jim Alfredson and drummer Randy Marsh will play two star-studded shows to celebrate its birthday. Learn about the band’s history and listen to its music at Local Spins.
Soulful, jazzy, funky, adventurous: Organissimo has been all that and more for 25 years. (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)
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When soulful jazz trio Organissimo plays its anniversary shows in Traverse City and Ann Arbor this weekend, it will mark a quarter-century since the band formed.
Grand Rapids drummer Randy Marsh remembers what started it all. “In October or November of 2000, I got an email from some guy named Jim Alfredson. He was looking for somebody to play drums. My friend (organist) Doug Decker said, ‘You should call him.’”
The Lansing keyboardist says he and his guitarist bandmate were looking to get serious with their music and realized they needed a permanent drummer who could keep up with them.
“In college, I met Joe Gloss and we started playing with various drummers. We decided we needed a great drummer. I was playing in Root Doctor and the drummer recommended Randy,” recalls Alfredson.
Down Through the Years: Organissimo (Courtesy Photos)
Marsh had played with organist Shirley Scott and saxophonist Jimmy Forest and decided to give it a whirl. “He (Alfredson) had a (Hammond) B3 and a Leslie and we jammed in his dad’s basement. I thought, ‘Wow, these guys can play,’” he says.
Alfredson’s response was even simpler: “It was magic from the get-go.”
In the 25 years since that auspicious jam, the band has played around the Midwest, released seven albums, and performed music by the likes of Frank Zappa (“Peaches & Regalia” is a Marsh favorite) and the Fab Four (the album, “B3tles”), but the bulk of the band’s output has been originals by one or more of the members.
That membership has shifted over the years. Alfredson and Marsh have been the constants, but Gloss left the band in 2010 and was replaced by Ralph Tope. Tope then departed two years later, turning the guitar chair over to Larry Barris.
The initial plan for the anniversary shows was to have all three guitarists on board, but Barris had a previous commitment. So, joining Alfredson, Marsh, Gloss and Tope will be percussionist Rob Mulligan and “Saturday Night Live” saxophonist Ron Blake, who was largely responsible for the band’s formation.
“Ron Blake came to Michigan State as a prof when Joe and I were students,” Alfredson says. “He was very inspirational. He asked, ‘Have you got any originals?’ Ron was into it, gave us some pointers. We named a tune after him (“Blake’s Shake”) and he recorded on it.”
They’re joining forces to celebrate the 25th anniversary of grooving, greasy, funky jazz with a show at The Alluvion in Traverse City on Saturday (Nov. 29) and the following night (Nov. 30) at The Blue Llama in Ann Arbor. Advance tickets for The Alluvion concert, $30, are available online here. Tickets are $35 at the door. There’s a $25 cover for the 6 p.m. Sunday show in Ann Arbor; make reservations here.
The set list for the shows will be drawn from all phases of the band’s career. “We’ll do two or three off various albums,” says Marsh.
“We’ll touch on everything we’ve done,” agrees Alfredson. “Maybe we’ll have a couple of my originals, but mostly Organissimo classics.”
ADVENTUROUS AND PUSHING THE ENVELOPE WITH ‘SUPER-TIGHT GROOVES’
Marsh says the title of the band’s first album was based on the antics of two early fans. “There were two young women who would dance to the tunes at the original Founders (Brewing in Grand Rapids),” says Marsh. “One week, they weren’t there. I said, ‘Man I feel like we’re waiting for the boogaloo sisters.’ Jim says, ‘Yeah, that’s the title of our album.’” Indeed, “Waiting For The Boogaloo Sisters” became the group’s first recording.
“In the early days, we were trying to do something different,” says Alfredson. Rather than recreating the style and sound of typical organ trios, they added touches from other genres. “I played a little synth. The first song was in 11/4 – that was from my love of progressive rock. The first two albums I was really proud of. They pushed the envelope.”
The group’s sound morphed over the years, coinciding to a degree with the changes in personnel. “Ralph was a little more traditional. Larry Barris was even more traditional,” says Alfredson.
The Discography: A quarter-century of music.
Through it all remained Alfredson on keyboards and Marsh on drums. “I always thought Randy brought a certain level of maturity even though he’s a goofball,” Alfredson says. “Randy’s adventurous and has a love of various styles.”
Keyboard Magazine once described the trio as walking “the line between complex and accessible, maintaining super-tight grooves throughout.”
As the years churned by, the band saw its sales ebb and flow. So, too, its performances, which included appearances in Detroit, Philadelphia and Indianapolis. The trio performed at numerous festivals, including the Clearwater Jazz Holiday, the Idlewild Music Festival, the Chicago Jazz Festival, the Detroit International Jazz Festival, the Rochester International Jazz Festival, even traveling abroad to the Tel-Aviv Jazz Festival in Israel.
The group’s pace has slowed as the members have been busy working with others. “We haven’t done too many gigs this year. I’ve been busy,” says Alfredson, citing gigs with blues guitarist Larry McCray and his own Family Band, plus Echoes of Pink Floyd, his Pink Floyd tribute band.
Marsh has long been a member of Jeff Haas’s trio, with regular Thursday gigs at Chateau Chantal in the summer and at The Alluvion the rest of the year. He’s also part of Big Fun, the eclectic band with Haas on keyboards, Don Julin on electric mandola, Joe Wilson on dobro and Jack Dryden on electric six-string bass.
Since Organissimo’s founding, other artists have come along that play somewhere in the style of the trio, such as Soulive, players such as Larry Goldings and various jam bands. “I think the music business has changed a lot. It’s harder to get something happening,” he says.
While that may be the case, Alfredson says there’s still plenty of life in the band.
“I definitely want to do another album,” he insists.
VIDEO: Organissimo, “Taxman”
VIDEO: Organissimo, “Way Back Home” (Live at SpeakEZ Lounge)
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