The Vintage Soul revival has largely been fueled by singers who magically recapture the emotional depths of Rock & Roll-era R&B greats like Sam Cooke or Al Green.
But rising star Delvon Lamarr has taken a different route, and it’s wordless.
The Hammond B-3 organ specialist is more Booker T than Otis — he channels his soul brilliantly through instrumental Soul Jazz compositions in his Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, alongside bandmates Jimmy James (guitar) and David McGraw (drums). Formed in Seattle in 2015, the threesome self-released its debut album, Close But No Cigar, the following year.
The full-length — which nods to Soul greats in the grooves, supple playing and song titles, including tracks like “Al Greenery” and “Little Booker T” — was picked up for wider distribution by Colemine Records, the Soul label based in Loveland, Ohio that also runs the popular area brick-and-mortar record shop Plaid Room Records. When Colemine issued the LP in March, it went to No. 1 on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Albums chart; a live seven-song Record Store Day vinyl release put out a few months later landed at No. 10 on the overall Jazz Albums chart.
The band has lots of new material, some of which fans will likely hear at its Cincinnati tour stop this weekend. Recording for a second studio album is expected to begin by the end of the year.
