JG 3+3 (feat. Dave Stryker & Sylvia Cuenca)

In 2013, Jared Gold was named a rising star on B3 organ by Downbeat magazine, and the New York City–based player now extends his reputation on a national level with his seventh album. Here, he leads noted guitarist Dave Stryker (who also uses Gold in his band) and steady drummer Sylvia Cuenca, plus a horn section of Patrick Cornelius (alto sax), Jason Marshall (baritone sax), and Tatum Greenblatt (trumpet). The horns add a broader sense of harmonic and solo options than the usual B3-trio fare. A fan of the innovative Larry Young and the hard-grooving Don Patterson, Gold has tastes that certainly play to his instrument's strengths: deep midtempo grooves, jabbing solos, long tones. But he stays in the bebop idiom on the originals “Pendulum” and “Fantified,” the horn-section-driven “Spirits,” and the fast and tricky “No Moon at All.” The biggest surprise here is a soulful reading of the lesser-known Michael Jackson ballad “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.” JG3+3 is a fine recording by an excellent band; this will only burnish the still-young organist’s reputation.