Album Review: Pat Bianchi, East Coast Roots
“Have you ever heard of Pat Bianchi?” I asked my boyfriend. “Oh yeah, you mean that badass B3 Hammond organist? He’s great,” he replied. I looked at the album in my hand and opened the case to take out the liner notes. The name sounded familiar to me, but I knew I had never heard him – or had I? Since I first saw the cover of the album, I had developed a special affinity for the title of the album, East Coast Roots, as I’m a transplanted east coaster myself. I popped the album into the player and it hasn’t left. This is the kind of jazz I’ve been looking for in Denver. As I listened to the album for the first time, I periodically shook my head in wonderment and confusion – at the flawless musical execution of the performance and questioning the reason why I’d never experienced this brilliant organist live.
East Coast Roots was recorded in 2005 at Mile High Music in Wheat Ridge, CO – with the exception of two songs that were recorded live at Dazzle Restaurant and Lounge- one of the best places in town to hear live jazz. This trio album which also includes Mark Whitfield on guitar and Byron Landham on drums contains songs from such premier jazz masters as John Coltrane (“Straight Street”) and Bill Evans (“Turn Out The Stars”) – as well as a live version of Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern’s “Nobody Else But Me.” The melancholy live rendering of “Theme For Ernie” is perfect with the impeccable use of space by Bianchi and Whitfield in addition to subtle yet precise brush work by Landham. The more buoyant upbeat selections satisfied my desire for straight ahead, no holds barred, hard groove, jazz – with no smooth, uptown veneer for the easy listening crowd. Bianchi’s affable style is spacious and seductive – qualities that any fan of high-quality music will enjoy.
Imagine my delight as I read in the liner notes that Bianchi worked at El Chapultepec in LoDo as the house piano player (that’s where I’ve seen him!) and that he worked with saxophonist Nick Brignola – who I had the pleasure of seeing very often in my college days in Albany, NY. We are fortunate that Pat Bianchi calls Denver home – he plays every Saturday at Chapultepec II, every Tuesday at Herb’s with the B3 Jazz Project and every Sunday at Dazzle. There is now no excuse – go check out Pat Bianchi – I’ll meet you there.
Originally published in the Colorado Music Buzz Magazine
