I Told You So

Album review

In 2015, Seattle-based Hammond B-3 organist Delvon Lamarr was challenged by wife and partner Amy Novo to put together a career-making band; she'd take care of the business end so he could make music. 2018's self-financed live-in-studio debut, Close But No Cigar, and its Colemine follow-up, Live at KEXP, both hit the upper rungs of the national contemporary jazz charts. The band took their heady mix of jazz-funk, blues, R&B, and rock on the road across the U.S. and Europe, playing electrifying, booty-quaking shows that brought down houses and festival stages across the globe. Press comparisons usually reference soul-jazz records released by Blue Note, Cadet, and Verve during the 1960s, but DVO3's sound is louder, meaner, and leaner, more akin to hard-grooving records by Detroit's Lyman Woodard Organization and Funk Brother Dennis Coffey, the Beastie Boys' In Sound from Way Out!, or Bill Heid's nasty This Is My Rifle (another Detroit record). I Told You So, the band's second Colemine outing, includes mainstays Lamarr on Hammond B-3 and Jimmy James on guitar. It's their first with newly recruited drummer Dan Weiss (Sextones), who replaced Doug Port. Opener "Hole in One" weds break-heavy drum funk to biting, meaty, lo-fi blues and roots rock vamps from James. Lamarr's soaring swells and solo meet Weiss' syncopated snare in a groove that just won't quit. "Call Your Mom" draws inspiration from the Meters' "Cissy Strut" with nasty rimshot breaks, left-hand bumps from Lamarr, and six-string work from James, who weds deep blues-funk and hard bop. "Girly Face" is bright, summery, lyrical soul-jazz laden with gorgeous chords from Lamarr on organ, and Steve Cropper-esque riffing from James amid cracking snares. "From the Streets" is darker and more dramatic. The elemental groove is sinister thanks to Lamarr's keyed bassline; then given dimension and tension through James' edgy psychedelia. In "Fo Sho," reverb-drenched surf guitar is answered by Lamarr's funky Latin grooves and Weiss' deep soul drumming. On "Aces," a hypnotic funk riff from James meets gospel and soul-jazz flights by the organist. Weiss anchors them to the earth with dynamic snare breaks. The reading of George Michael's "Careless Whisper" touches the emotions in Lamarr's meticulous articulation of the melody that gets rhythmically and harmonically extended by his bandmates. Closer "I Don't Know" cooks with meaty chords and basslines from Lamarr, as James tunnels down into swaggering soul and jump blues; Weiss rides the moody groove then punches it up with his kick drum, hi-hat, and snare, and carries it to the fade. The greasy approach here contrasts with DVO3's first two albums. I Told You So is grittier, edgier, more confident, and focused on staying in the moment; it's kinetic in its adventurous chance-taking yet surrenders none of the good-time feel, groove consciousness, or energy. Hands down, it's their best outing yet.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo