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Guitar great Bobby Broom knows exactly when he first fell in love with the jazz organ. At age ten he put on one of his father’s albums, Charles Earland’s “Black Talk!” “I was just into music,” he says. But after playing Earland’s now-classic 1969 album, he was sold. Bobby’s organ trio Organi-Sation, with organist Ben Paterson and drummer Kobie Watkins, debuted on record in 2018 but had been a working band for much longer. Part of their new album, “Jamalot,” features live performances going back to 2014 when the trio was opening for Steely Dan. The rest is from an appearance at Joe and Wayne Segal’s Jazz Showcase in Chicago in 2019.
Dubbed “The King of Swing” in his native Singapore, Jeremy Monteiro is renowned as one of the premier jazz pianists in all of Asia. He’s recorded many of his album in the U.S., and he is now releasing his 48th project, “The New Jersey Sessions.” Monteiro is not only a superb pianist and composer in a range of styles, he is also an educator and mentor to young musicians. He shares top billing on the new disc with his star student, the young Singaporean saxophonist Sean Hong Wei. Sax great Houston Person also makes a guest appearance.
Also this week, the Scott/Grant 5, co-led by guitarist Andrew Scott and trombonist Kelsley Grant, blends touches of cool, bossa nova and bebop in the mix on “Horizon Song”; “Birdwatching” is a product of saxophonist Tim Lin’s long study of Charlie Parker and serves as an ode to Bird and his songs; and Jane Scheckter sings with a wisdom and ease that only a lifetime of experience can bring on her fifth release, “I’ll Take Romance.”