I want every listener to feel great when they listen to music. (Quote Tom Dempsey)
Hans Koert
Tom
Dempsey, New York based guitar player, always carries the sound of those Jimmy
Smith’s B3 Hammond ….. I carry it with me everywhere I
go .. with or without the guitar … he
says in an interview with Brent at the criticaljazz.com site.
That music embodies a level of sophistication, integrity, honesty, humility,
positivity, humanity, raw expression and an intent on bringing a good feeling
to the world that is palpable. When I was a kid, he remembers, the first record with a jazz guitar that fascinated me was the 1965 Verve album by the Wynton Kelly trio featuring Wes Montgomery at the guitar ….. This album led me on a
musical journey, as Tom describes it at the liner notes, which introduced him to
the organ played by Jimmy Smith, playing a duet with Wes Montgomery: The
1966 Verve Dynamic Duo album. Dempsey
says to have been inspired by guitarist like Wes Montgomery and Pat Martino,
but also Charlie Christian, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Jim Hall, George Benson,
Tal Farlow …… and a lot more.
Tom Dempsey (source: tomdempseymusic.com)
Since he
moved to New York City, more than 20 years ago, he played with several organ
players in clubs like Augie’s and in
several Harlem clubs down town. His latest album is entitled Saucy, wich refers
to …. my days playing regularly in
Harlem with one specific organist who almost exclusively played in the key of
G. To this day G is one of my favorite
keys on the guitar.
Enjoy this own composition Saucy, which became the title song of this album, in a fragment of a concert at the Columbia University, 2012 .
Tom Dempsey is accompanied by Ron Oswanski at the Hammond B3 organ and Alvin Atkinson on drums. Ron Oswanski debuted last summer with his album December’s song.
Tim Ferguson (not on the record) and Tom Dempsey (source: tomdempseymusic.com)
His album Saucy contains ten tracks, half his own compositions – half standards. Buddy Montgomery’s Bock to Bock ( Monk and Wes’ younger brother), Lee Morgan’s Ceora and the Simon and Carfunkel hit Bridge Over Troubled Water, which remembers him to the Katrina and Sandy hurricanes. Ceora, which debuted on Lee Morgan’s Blue Note album Cornbread ( September 1965), has always been one of my favorites, he says in the liner notes: The rhythmic background of the sounds of Brazil coupled with the sophisticated rhythms, melodic and harmonic attributes if be-bop and hard bop music make for a very interesting marriage of musical textures.
His album Saucy contains ten tracks, half his own compositions – half standards. Buddy Montgomery’s Bock to Bock ( Monk and Wes’ younger brother), Lee Morgan’s Ceora and the Simon and Carfunkel hit Bridge Over Troubled Water, which remembers him to the Katrina and Sandy hurricanes. Ceora, which debuted on Lee Morgan’s Blue Note album Cornbread ( September 1965), has always been one of my favorites, he says in the liner notes: The rhythmic background of the sounds of Brazil coupled with the sophisticated rhythms, melodic and harmonic attributes if be-bop and hard bop music make for a very interesting marriage of musical textures.
(photo courtesy: Hans Koert)
The album ends with Tom Dempsey’s Pat-a-tat-tat, an uptempo composition by Dempsey, written for Pat Martino, a jazz icon he admires … It belongs to my favorites of this album.
Hans KoertThe album ends with Tom Dempsey’s Pat-a-tat-tat, an uptempo composition by Dempsey, written for Pat Martino, a jazz icon he admires … It belongs to my favorites of this album.
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Ron Oswanski is NOT playing Hammond B-3 organ!
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