This is an somewhat unusual jazz trio, consisting of guitar, drums and Hammond organ replacing the acoustic bass. Brad Shepik plays guitar like a blend of John Scofield and Bill Frisell in a mellow mood, accompanied by Gary Versace on the Hammond and Tom Rainey on drums. The songs are all original compositions, and feature a set of mid tempo numbers, interspersed with ballads and slow waltzes.

The influence of Bill Frisell is mostly felt on the slow tracks, particularly "Five and Dime." "Batur" has a rather exotic feel about it, and the piece reminded me somewhat pf Santana during his "Devadip" days. The last track "Tides" sounded a bit free form but other than that most of the songs were fairly "straight ahead."

The guitar sound is fairly clean, with a solid tone and just a hint of flare. The Hammond also comes through reasonably cleanly, sounding neither too murky nor too piercing.

All in all a very listenable album. Despite the playing time of almost an hour, I wished it would go on longer.

Pink Floyd’s Dark of the Moon is surely one of the top iconic rock recordings of all time, especially with audiophiles. We’re nearly all familiar with the wide range of progressive music and sound, the hard-nosed and gloomy lyrics, and the sound effects which have been used as audio equipment tests - the heartbeats, the ticking, the sounds of money. Jazz has evolved greatly in recent years, turning to a wider variety of music for recasting in a jazz mold. Remember it was only in the 1950s that jazz versions of Broadway musicals began being heard. Classical themes were often used by swing bands in the 1930s, but the classical/jazz mix had taken on a new complexity and depth lately. A few rock albums have been given jazz treatments, but I feel this one may well become recognized as the best to date.

Sam Yahel is one of the leaders of the younger B-3 players on the scene today; he has been touted in Down Beat as a Talent Deserving of Recognition for the past four years. In his recent Origin CD, Truth and Beauty, Yahel draws on Brazilian, African and Cuban elements, and feels the B-3 is the perfect instrument for that since you can get really rhythmic and percussive on it. Some of the tracks of the Chesky SACD, such as The Great Gig in the Sky, partake of this world music influence. Seamus Blake’s name was new to me, but he does a masterly, lyrical job of providing the main melodic theme of most of the tunes. Producer Chip Stern has crossfaded the nine tracks into one another, as did The Dark Side. The tunes are arranged in a sort of musical arc that apes that of the original. Sam doesn’t make his B-3 the dominant voice in the mix, as you might expect, but sets up the musical environment for the other players to do their thing. Money is a winner, and my favorite track was Us and Them, with a Brazilian sort of rhythm to it. Stern’s liner notes are good reading, and I appreciate the layout diagram of the four instruments and the location of the SoundField mike, like they still do on some Japanese releases but not often on U.S. CDs. The drum set sounds completely natural and impactful in spite of not having a dozen mikes stuck into it at close range like most recording layouts.

Tracklist:
01. "Breathe"
02. "On the Run (Part1)"
03. "Time"
04. "Any Colour you like"
05. "The great Gig in the Sky"
06. "Money"
07. "Us and Them"
08. "Brain Damage"
09. "On the Run (Part 2)"