Out of the Pacific Northwest, Barney McClure is an organist of a different stripe and his trio is much more in the traditional pocket which should delight hard core mainline Hammond heads. Apparent in McClure's annotation is his high regard and respect for guitarist Mike Denny. A recent arrival to the trio, Denny teaches at the University of Oregon and at a local community college yet still manages to find time to gig steadily around the area. He composed half of the dozen tunes with the other six belonging to the leader. Denny doesn't use a lot of effects, instead preferring to let his instrument sound pretty much what it was meant to sound like. And he is deeply rooted in the great Charlie Christian guitar tradition. Joining them on all but the bluesy title tune is young drummer Kevin Congleton, also a Eugene resident, and the congas of McClure's friend, Freddy Anthonys, on a pair of cuts. One gets a fairly good idea what is in store from the first number, "SchizoBlues," with its complex, fast unison line which rapidly evolve into a blazing four/four burn that leaves plenty of room to stretch out. Although heavily laced with medium tempo Blues riffs, the tunelist is broken up with a samba and other Latin flavorings, two moody ballads in "Who I Am" and "Solemnity," and a swaying waltz ("Turnabout").
If you can't get enough of the classic format Jazz organ trio, you need to check out the Barney McClure Trio.