Greg Lewis Organ Monk: Uwo in the Black

Greg Lewis and his Organ Monk project/ensemble return for more with Uwo in the Black (self-released). It's the music of Thelonious Monk...for Greg Lewis' organ quartet, you dig? And in the process Lewis puts in some of his own numbers, which works. "In the Black--My Nephew" is a rather touching ballad, for example.

So the band is Lewis of course on organ, Ronald Jackson on guitar, Reginald R. Woods on tenor and Nasheet Waits on drums. They are loose and up for it on this session, filled with the spirit and letting loose. And they tackle some of the less traveled Monk-ways with "Skippy," "Teo," "Bright Mississippi" and "Ugly Beauty."

Everyone is on the bean and Nasheet kicks it up a couple of notches for Lewis to soar over. So we can bask in the radiating heat. This is Organ Monk at its best. And that's really something to hear!