Buckshot Blues

The ghost of the late (and lamented) organist Akiko Tsuruga hangs over this otherwise joyful and powerfully swinging album. Tsuruga died at age 58 last year, after a brief illness; she and Kovalcheck, along with bassist Jon Hamar and legendary drummer Jeff Hamilton, had been playing and recording together as a quartet. The remaining trio, under Kovalcheck's leadership, is now back with a wonderful release that includes a touching, Kovalcheck-penned tribute tune. The program consists primarily of originals, which carry with them a whiff of the prairie — in fact, the tune "The Prairie's Edge" contains a strong hint of early Western swing, while the title track is more than a little evocative of Chicago blues. I hear elements of Bill Frisell in Kovalcheck's playing, though more in his note and chord choices than in his tone, which is much more traditionally straight-ahead than Frisell's. What they share is an obvious love of what we've come to call "Americana" — the harmonies of traditional and country music, yoked to jazz structures in an exciting way. Everyone plays magnificently on this outstanding album.