Billy Martin & Wil Blades

Billy Martin & Wil Blades wanna make you Shimmy. On their debut recording, the organ/drums duo waste no time getting right down to it. They go old school in the tradition of those essential organ-groove sides by the likes of Charles Earland, Brother Jack McDuff and Groove Holmes. Martin, the drummer for the legendary Medeski, Martin & Wood, and Blades, a much buzzed about young organist from the San Francisco live music scene, first came together for a low-key, one-off late night set during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2011. The music that evening was so completely deep down in the pocket that the pair knew instantly there would be more shows together in their future. A West Coast tour was arranged for later in the year, which played to packed houses from Washington to California. In the middle of the run, Martin and Blades ducked into a Berkeley recording studio to capture what would become Shimmy. The electricity between the drummer and organist runs high voltage through tunes like “Brother Bru,” “Toe Thumb” and “Les & Eddie.” Speaking of Les and Eddie, Billy and Wil turn out a blazing rendition of Eddie Harris’ “Means Greens,” as well as updating the traditional spiritual “Down By The Riverside.”