A very good organ trio is hard to beat. One that takes the tradition into the present-day is especially interesting, to me anyway. Such a trio is Athens' own Music Soup Organ Trio, as you can hear nicely on their album Cut to the Chase (Chicken Coup 7025).
The band consists productively of Evgenia Karlafti on organ (as well as piano, electric piano, and some effective appearances as vocalist), Nestor Dimopoulos on electric guitar, and Vagelis Kotzabasis on drums. For two cuts they are supplemented by the solo worthy trumpet, tenor and trombone of Dimitris Papadopoulos, Dimitri Vassilakis, and Antonis Andreou, respectively.
Nestor writes many of the originals and there are some corkers as well as some ballads. Evgenia gets some compositional credit, too. It's generally good stuff, swinging in intricate ways, funking and laying back.
The drumming is in the pocket, and the guitar and organ work flourishes with taste and chops.
This is a band with its own personality. And it moves the organ trio ahead without a lot of the requisite Jimmy Smith cliches. Good job!
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