PAT BIANCHI, COLIN STRANAHAN, TROY ROBERTS THREE
PAT BIANCHI, COLIN STRANAHAN, TROY ROBERTS
THREE
Independent Label
Pat Bianchi, organ; Colin Stranahan, drums; Troy Roberts, tenor saxophone.
Anyone who knows me well knows that this journalist loves a jazz organ trio! Pat Bianchi is carrying the torch for organ jazz in a magnificent way. His trio opens with “Love for Sale” as they powerhouse off this disc, employing an up-tempo arrangement of this popular standard. What a wonderful way to start my day! Troy Roberts on tenor saxophone sometimes harmonizes with the organ lines, other times lays down his own masterful solos. At the tail of this tune, Colin Stranahan steps forward on drums, sharing his distinctive style and mad technique. This is a smokin’ hot threesome and their excitement is contagious. They swing the tune, “When Sunny Gets Blue” and I am on cloud nine.
Award winning Troy Roberts comes from a remote location of Perth in Western Australia. On this arrangement, Roberts’ saxophone is drenched in the blues, dancing atop Stranahan’s drums in a very soulful way. When Pat Bianchi marches to the front to perform his organ solo, my foot cannot stop patting. This trio really ‘swings.’
“With a saxophonist, there’s a lot more room to go different places. There’s a lot more harmonic freedom. I can play more lopsided phrases, or take things in and out harmonically,” Bianchi explains his choice of using Troy Roberts over a guitar player.
Pat Bianchi is a Grammy nominated New York based organist who has played with iconic jazz names like Ralph Peterson Jr., Pat Martino, Lou Donaldson, Chuck Loeb, Red Holloway, Joe Lock & Mark Whitfield. He started his musical journey playing the organ at age seven. By age eleven, Bianchi was hired to play his first professional gig. His parents enrolled him at the Eastman School of Music’s preparatory program for piano and music theory at a grade school level. He was on his way!
Bianchi has released nine albums as a bandleader. In February of 2024, he will release this new CD titled simply, “Three.” Berklee College of Music students are lucky to have him as a jazz organ professor. You can also enjoy Bianchi’s Sirius XM Radio show titled, “Organized” that of course features an ear-full of great jazz organ players.
Every tune on this album will entertain, inspire, and impress you. Pat Bianchi proudly carries the legacy of the organ trio into the twenty-first century, like an Olympic legend running with the opening ceremony torch. This album is ‘Fire.’
Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil
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