Search - Lester Ny Organ Ensemble Bowie :: Funky T / Cool T

Lester Bowie's early-1990s organ-based sextet was a smash, taking the Art Ensemble of Chicago cofounder's interest in '60s-era soul jazz and urban R&B into a great conversation with churchy organ textures and calibrated horn solos. The trio of horns includes Bowie, tenor saxophonist James Carter, and trombonist Steve Turre, each of whom offers a distinct mood to the collective. Turre's solos blossom into flowing currents that get mixed with Bowie's bumpier brass and Carter's gravelly tenor to create antiphony with Amina Claudine Myers's Hammond B-3 and the twin percussions of Famoudou Don Moye and Phillip Wilson. This is mood music on the one hand and then distilled, smoldering energy on the other--all of it crafted with Bowie's genre-agnostic touch. --Andrew Bartlett