Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio with Special Guest Karl Denson at Jazz Alley October 15, 2026

The venerable organ trio: it’s a sound that works, with the warmth of the organ and the treble of the guitar, the blend between the two instruments something magical, uncanny. That’s the move made by DL3, plus a healthy dose of reverb. So much reverb! Jazz Alley drenched in reverb. Almost indulgent, but why not? Both instruments with vintage analog spring reverb, classic.

A lot of tunes from Lamarr’s first record, “Cold As Ice.” Almost all tunes played with vamps, vamp-o-rific kind of night, the guitar not comping, but playing the same lick over and over, James Brown style, hypnotic. Tunes often at a mediumish tempo, so that players could stretch out, play around their favorite scales and licks, non-stop, occasionally pop into 32nd note runs admist the stock 16th note lines. Felt like coulda been at the Sea Monster Lounge hearing Joe Doria with Andy Coe, or Danny Godinez with Ron Weinstein: the formula was in effect.

Delvon went crazy on the organ, doing all the organ tricks, pedaling on a fifth or the root, sustained for minutes, to get that classic gospel tension. His solos full of blazing lines and big chords, climaxes that didn’t exactly build, but just kept going, he wouldn’t let them come down. It’s that organ sound. Delvon making fun of himself after one long solo calling it “The Coltrane Effect” when Miles Davis called Trane out for not being able to stop playing.

The whole vibe definitely harkening back to Dr. Lonnie Smith (with George Benson), Larry Young (with Grant Green), or Jimmy Smith (with Kenny Burrell).

Sax player Karl Denson joined for a handful of tunes, blew crisp phrases. He played some jazz flute and also played some cowbell during other folks’ solos. Will Ferrell?

Drummer took a crazy solo at the end of the set, gettin the crowd into it. Even the band seemed blown away, the guitarist filming it on his cellphone as it happened. If you wanna hear a vintage organ trio and a young drummer go off, definitely catch their show Fri–Sun.