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sinceileftyoublog · 3 years

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Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio Interview: Fo Sho

Photo by Francis A Willey

BY JORDAN MAINZER

No album from 2021 so far has me anticipating the return of live music more than Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio’s (DLO3, for the insiders) I Told You So (Colemine Records). The band’s second full-length expands upon their first LP Close But No Cigar in all the best ways: propulsive grooves, soulful moods, and an active imagination. Opener “Hole In One” introduces all the elements--funky, prickly guitar lines, confident drumming, and soulful organ--before first single and second track “Call Your Mom” and third track “Girly Face” reveal a gentler kind of sway without losing any of the sharpness. After “From The Streets” slows things down even more with a lurching rhythm and trailing reverb, the album turns it up a notch again with “Fo Sho” and “Aces”, upbeat struts with guitar and drum solos. In between that and the Stax-inspired closer “I Don’t Know” are perhaps the album’s two best tracks: a remarkably faithful, emotive cover of George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” and “Right Place, Right Time”, a solo-laden jam that begins with spontaneous studio chatter embracing the chaos of live recording. Moreover, the album contains all the elements of and is almost structured like a terrific live set, with ample virtuosic dynamism and ideal pacing.

The band on I Told You So is founding members Lamarr, on organ, and Jimmy James, on guitar, with drummer Grant Schroff (The Polyrhythmics) filling in for what was at the time a permanent drummer to be named later. (Schroff went on a European tour with DLO3 right before the recording of this album, so they decided to go with him.) Since then, drummer Dan Weiss has entered the fold; he joined as a permanent drummer last year and even toured a little bit in Canada and Montana before COVID-19 abruptly ended the tour. But while the drummers have rotated, it’s James’ guitar and especially Lamarr’s organ that have remained the foundation of DLO3, one that gives me confidence they could switch drummers every time and still one-up themselves.

I spoke with Lamarr earlier this year from his home in Spokane, WA about the various releases under the DLO3 belt (two albums and singles/live releases) as well as working virtually with a new drummer, Colemine Records, and Chick Corea (who passed away right before our conversation). Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: What about I Told You So is unique as compared to anything else you’ve ever released under this trio?

Delvon Lamarr: We have more musical influences in I Told You So. The reason why Close But No Cigar felt kind of reserved--we weren’t getting too deep into it--was because it was unplanned. We didn’t even have music to record at the time. But this one features more diverse musical influences of ours. “From The Streets” has that hip hop, Ohio Players feel. “Careless Whisper”--you never hear an an organ trio play that. It digs deeper into our musical knowledge.

SILY: What was the process for composing and arranging these tracks? How much improvisation was there?

DL: It’s like 90% improvisational. Pre-pandemic, we toured a lot, so we hardly ever had a chance to get in a room and write music. Plus, we all live pretty far away from each other. We basically write music during soundchecks, and when we’re on the road, we come up with these ideas and put them together. Usually, we write these melodies, and things like that, but outside of the melody, the solo areas are pretty much gloves off. Whatever happens happens. One of the things we’re known for is intertwining music with other music, different genres of music within the one song. It keeps the music fresh and keeps people engaged. It’s a free for all for most of it. [laughs]

SILY: There’s a good balance on here of songs where everyone has equal weight versus songs really led by one person or instrument. Was it important for you to achieve that balance across the whole album, or did it just end up naturally like that?

DL: It’s just how it ended up. When we write music, we pretty much write grooves. Take “Call Your Mom”: That whole song was built around Jimmy’s guitar riff, so that is the melody. When we wrote that, we actually wrote it on the road during soundcheck. I think it just naturally happens. Whatever instrument we think sounds good, we’ll play that melody.

SILY: Has Dan been learning the tracks?

DL: Oh yeah. We’ve been writing music together. Right now, we multi-track our ideas or sing it into a phone and try to build it that way. A lot of these new tunes we haven’t actually played, because we can’t get in the same room, so we just go for it, man.

SILY: What about “Call Your Mom” and “Careless Whisper” made you want to release them as singles?

DL: That was a decision between my wife [and manager Amy Novo] and Colemine Records. I probably would’ve chosen��“Call Your Mom”, too. It has a certain feel and groove to it, man. [laughs] “Careless Whisper” is funny, too, because I wasn’t even gonna record that tune. My wife really likes when we play it--she requests it at the end of shows. She convinced us to record that. I was like, “Nobody wants to hear ‘Careless Whisper’ by an organ trio.” She said, “Dude, just do it, it’s gonna be really good.” We did it, and I was wrong. The reception from that tune has been pretty amazing, actually. I thank her. She’s the reason we recorded it.

SILY: You play a lot of covers live--on the KEXP release, you did “Move On Up”, and last year, you released a cover of “Inner City Blues”. What’s your general approach to covers: Be faithful, or put your own spin on it?

DL: The spin of playing a cover tune just happens naturally. Take “Careless Whisper”: We try to play it like the recording, like the original. I work on phrasing the melodies like George Michael sings it. The way we end up doing that automatically puts a certain feel to it that naturally happens. I feel that way about all of them, even when we do “Move On Up”. I play the melody like Curtis Mayfield sang it. I try to get all of his nuances.

SILY: “Fo Sho” was released on the same single as “Inner City Blues”. Why didn’t you include “Inner City Blues” on the record? Is two covers too many?

DL: Not at all. Close But No Cigar had 4 covers on it.

SILY: That’s true.

DL: We just had a lot of original music we wanted to get out. I Told You So is part of a session that had 27-28 songs recorded. We have another album or two, or an album and a couple 45s worth of music just in that recording alone. We’ve done more recording since then, so we have more music in the can right now. We just wanted to get original tunes out. We did record some more covers that will be out later on, either as 45s or something else.

SILY: The record’s really crisp, but on “From The Streets”, the trailing reverb of the guitar is a hazy contrast to the rest of the album. Can you talk about that track?

DL: The history of that track--basically, I grew up in the streets. I was a rough child. [laughs] I had that music in my head that reminded me of my childhood of running the streets. When we recorded that, you never really hear an organist in an organ trio play a bass line. I don’t play chords in that tune at all. A lot of that magic is Jimmy James. He doesn’t use guitar effects. I actually recently got him to use a wah in a show, and it took him five years to do that. He’s straight guitar and amp. He’s always been that guitar player. That tone, that sound, that reverb is just him and his amp.

SILY: Was that actual studio chatter at the beginning of “Right Place Right Time”?

DL: [laughs] I was wondering when somebody was gonna ask me about that. The song we recorded before, we played the whole thing start to finish, absolutely perfect, without a single flaw. Grant, maybe the last four or five seconds, completely bites it. We were playing, and he forgot to do a break right at the end and kept playing, so it was an unusable take, so he screamed, “Fuuuuuuuuck! Fuuuuuuck!” That’s what we were referencing at the front of it. Jimmy James was like, “Remember that time you were like, ‘Fuuuuuuuuck,’ and then I started copying Jimmy.” It was pretty funny. We listened back to it, and my wife was like, “We gotta leave that in there.”

SILY: Is there an extra guitar on that track?

DL: There is. The guitar player from the Polyrhythmics, Ben Bloom. It’s funny how that worked, because he came to see Jason [Gray], our studio engineer, and I asked him whether he had his guitar with him, and he did, so I said, “Grab it, let’s record something!” He said, “I got about 20 minutes, I gotta be somewhere.” I just started messing around with this bass line, and everything started falling into place. We did two takes of that song. Over about 15 minutes, we wrote that entire song and recorded it. At first, it was just one quick bass line, like a short bass line that I had the idea for, and we started building on it. Ben came in, put his magic on it, and it was a wrap, man. I love that solo, too. It’s dope.

SILY: What’s the story behind the record title?

DL: When our original drummer left the band, people were worried about the sound of Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, because he had such a distinct style of playing. People assumed we’d sound different. I kept telling people, “As long as the music is good, people are gonna like it. It might feel different, but it’s gonna feel good and sound good.” That’s why I called the album I Told You So. Because it sounds good!

SILY: What about the album art?

DL: People are always wondering what I’m doing on the front of that album. I was shadowboxing--I used to be a boxer in my youth. We were taking photos in Cincinnati, and it was one of the photos everybody liked.

SILY: What does it mean to you to be on a label like Colemine Records, diverse in terms of genres but a wholly old school vibe.

DL: Our relationship is really good. They’re cool cats, man. It’s truly an honor to be a part of what they do. Since we’ve been with that label, I’ve met a lot of the artists on that label. It’s a gift to be a part of what they do. One of the big reasons I really like them is that it’s managed by two brothers that run it who are just normal dudes. They ain’t corporate. I talk to them like we talk to each other. It’s like family. I really respect these guys and what they do. It’s amazing being a part of what they do.

SILY: For sure.

DL: That’s “Fo Sho”. Just kidding.

SILY: Are you planning on doing any live streams or socially distant shows down the line, or are you waiting for things to calm down more?

DL: We’ve done a few live streams so far. We have more coming up. We’re working on some stuff. A lot of the tours we had scheduled last year got rescheduled to this year, so we’re seeing what happens, but right now, we’re still trying to book shows and see if it can be done safely. If it ain’t gonna be safe, we’re not gonna do it. We’re just hanging in there still, trying to keep things on the books.

SILY: What else is next for the Trio?

DL: We’re working on a new project that we’re gonna call DLO3 and Friends. Basically, Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio is gonna be the basis for the band but we’re gonna incorporate musicians we’ve met on the road all over the world that we’ve liked and start collaborating with people. We just went in the studio a couple weeks ago and laid the foundation. It’s comin!

SILY: Anything you’ve been listening to, watching, or reading lately that’s caught your attention?

DL: I’ve been back in my old school traditional swinging jazz, Kenny Dorham, Johnny Griffin, Coltrane, Miles, all those guys. I was originally a straight up swinging bebop player and haven’t been able to do that in a while.

SILY: Speaking of Miles, did you hear that Chick Corea passed away?

DL: I did. That was a pretty sad moment. We have the same booking agent. I never got to meet him. I was hoping to.

SILY: Do you have a favorite piece or recording of his?

DL: Yes. The Blue Mitchell album The Thing To Do. I remember listening to it; Chick was burning on it. One of the other things I realized on that album was how high pitched Al Foster’s toms are. But yeah: huge loss for the scene.

SILY: Anything else I didn’t ask about you want to say?

DL: Support your local record stores. There may or may not still be our limited pink vinyl at your local store, since those were only sold at record stores. Support your local record stores and local music.

I Told You So by Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio

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momentsinsong · 4 years

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Moments In Song No. 025 - Lindsay Stewart Davis

Lindsay’s always looking for something a little extra. Something that’ll stand out from the pack. Whether it be the music she listens to, or the art she creates, normal just won’t cut it. Her playlist is filled with songs that bring out the extra bit of happiness that motivates us to do something great. We talk to the Neon and Interdisciplinary Artist about almost dying at a Tyler, the Creator concert, her bagpipe playing Dad, and finding inspiration during quarantine.

Listen to Lindsay’s playlist on Apple Music and Spotify.

Words and photos by Julian.

Julian: After my first couple of listens, the general theme I got from your playlist was that it seemed very happy. Like you were in a good space. Even if all of the songs didn’t have an uptempo feel to them, they still sounded happy, whether it be through the lyrics or the feel of the track.

Lindsay: I feel like a lot of the songs are older songs that I can’t shake. They’ve always been in my rotation. They’re songs that I’ll put on when I’m in my studio or creating, and they make me feel really happy. When I was making the playlist, I was going through a lot of songs and I wasn’t sure about a few of them, but I played them in the car yesterday and I could see myself dancing and smiling and I was like, “Ok these are the ones.”

That’s how I felt. As soon as that first one, the Solange song kicked in I was like, “Oh this feels good.”

That’s my favorite Solange song! I feel like that’s the first time I really got into Solange and I was just so enamored by her voice. I feel like a lot of newer Solange loses touch with that one song [Losing You]. It’s pretty old, it’s from a few albums ago, but it also shows her evolution.

Was that intentional? Putting that as the first song? Or did it just happen?

I just love that song. It’s one of my favorites. I think so yeah.

I ask because I know some people are very intentional about the order of the songs on their playlist.

“Desirée” by Blood Orange and “Losing You” by Solange were songs I played together a lot. It was around the same time period that I started listening to both songs, and so that’s kind of why I paired them together as the first two songs. I really love Blood Orange and “Desirée” really reminds me of going out and dancing with my friends in Chicago and having a really good time with them. There’s a moment in the song where it cuts away from the music and talks about how women are treated in a way and I just remember me and my friends getting really serious and looking at each other and voicing that over [Laughs]. I just love both of those songs and they remind me of really happy memories in my life.

You mentioned how these are songs you would play in the studio. Would you say you use music as a means of inspiration, motivation, and influence?

I think I use music as a form of distraction. It lets me release everything that’s going on in my life and focus in on the moment. That gets my head thinking of things I’m enjoying at the time and so that way I can let go of what's going on in the world and then use that in my creative practice. It kind of like pushes that happiness that you mentioned earlier to come out through my work. I can forget about what’s going on in the world and bring my focus back into my work.

What other songs on your playlist would you say bring out that feeling of happiness in you?

I definitely think the Tyler, the Creator song. “Cherry Bomb” is like my favorite album by him. A lot of people don’t think that but that’s also when I saw him play live. That whole album brings me back into a creative space because I can really tell he’s being so experimental, and it’s so different from any of his other stuff. I also think it’s his last ode to him being in this angry, dark place, and moving to a new happier moment, which is really inspirational to me. I like the dark metalish sound of “Cherry Bomb,” but this song [“Find Your Wings”] brings the first glimpse of the sounds on his future albums. I just think it’s such a beautiful song.

Was the first time you saw him live? Was that here?

Yeah I saw him at Ram’s Head.

I went to that same show!

I almost died at that concert. I almost got trampled.

Yeah, I’ve seen him like 5 times now and I remember the first time I was legit scared. I had never been to a concert like that before.

[Laughs] People were MOSHING. I was kind of scared too I’m not even going to lie, but I was so excited to be scared.

Same! The first time I saw him was 2011 or 2012. It was an Odd Future show, not just Tyler. And it was at this one spot that’s closed down now, but it was a really small space and we were all packed in there. Syd came out and did a DJ set and as soon as that first song started playing people went crazy. I was scared. I was like, “I’m about to die tonight. This is really it.”

I was on the verge of being trampled and I remember thinking in that moment that nobody gave a shit about me, and then somebody reached down and grabbed me.

Oh you actually fell?

Yeah a few of us fell and people were still going not realizing what had happened. But then there were people there who were actually trying to help us.

Wow that’s wild.

Yeah...memories [Laughs].

So back to the playlist…

I put that Steve Lacy song in too because it reminds me of my time in Chicago, which was a really creative moment in my life. I was going to put in a few other songs like that on the playlist but I stopped because I didn’t want to get too deep in the Chicago bag. I had to put songs by Xavier Gibson and Cadeem Lamarr in there because both of them bring a lot of happiness into my life right now. “Drive Me Crazy” by Xavier is one of the only songs I feel like is really about letting go. It’s vulnerable and happy at the same time.

Yeah that kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier about these songs being “happy songs,” even if they don’t traditionally sound like it. “Losing You” has a happy beat but she’s saying some sad stuff.

I feel like a lot of it is vulnerability, which is also something I’m working on in my life, but I think it really comes out in my music.

Yeah and the same thing with “Drive Me Crazy,” it’s uptempo and makes you feel good, and has lines that make you laugh but then there’s also lines like, “If you want to cry in the club this your theme song.” But you also have genuinely feel good songs like “Find Your Wings,” and the Homeshake song. What kind of stuff were you into when you first really started listening to music?

I actually grew up playing the saxophone so I grew up listening to a lot of Jazz. It was a lot of Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, and that kind of brought warm happy fuzzy feelings. I didn’t know their “rough around the edges story” until I was older, but as a kid listening to Jazz I loved the saxophone and the level of improv involved with it. I think that has transitioned into me collecting records, and has kind of inspired my music taste today. Jazz and Classical music has taught me a lot of history and what has gone into music, and I think that paves the way for what I listen to now.

Did you come from a very musical family?

My dad plays the bagpipes, which is so weird. In middle school I was known as the girl whose dad played the bagpipes which was so embarrassing. Now I think it’s cool though, but it was really embarrassing back then. He was part of a band and I would go see them on the weekends, it was a weird time. But that got me into wanting to learn an instrument, so that’s when I started learning saxophone. I haven’t played in a really long time but I think that has influenced a lot of who I am today. My dad also played a lot of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and a lot of other 80’s and 90’s music. That kind of transitioned into Alternative Rock which we would listen to together. We would listen to stuff like Passion Pit, he was actually the one who introduced me to them. Then that led to us sharing a bunch of music back and forth which was really cool. And Dr. Dog! We had a big Dr. Dog phase. We would go see concerts together, it was fun.

So from there how did your taste in music branch out to other genres?

After getting into Alt and Indie music for a while, that then transferred into things getting a little more edgy and I started to listen to more and more Rap. My brother listened to Rap when I was a kid so he would start pushing Rap onto me but I was a little too young to get it, but as I got older I could grasp it a little more.

Who are some artists from that Alt/Indie phase that stand out to you and really love? What about that era stood out to you?

I don’t know if I have a favorite, but I really love the band Dirty Projectors. They’ve had projects with Bjork, who is super weird too, but it’s super experimental. Another one is Foster the People’s album “Torches,” which is also really experimental. It was cliche but I really liked The xx because I really liked the heavy beats and experimentation in their music. I think that is continuous in what I look for in music. I want it to be pushing some sort of boundary of what’s new. I haven’t really come across anything new that’s made me feel the same way as some of those albums that I listened to as a kid just discovering music, so I feel like I’m always looking for that new best thing.

It’s funny that you were able to get that Indie/Alternative/Rock side from your dad, but at the same time your brother is playing Hip-Hop around you. When you made the move to Chicago did you take that taste in music and make it your own?

I took those tastes to Chicago and then a lot my art school friends laid down the foundation for me to find new artists as well. A lot of my friends turned into DJs or were practicing to become DJs and I feel like that continued to introduce me to new music.

When you went to Chicago for school, was it for Art?

Yeah I went for Fine Arts. I went for painting because my grandma is a painter, and my entire dad’s side of the family is made up of either painters, woodworkers, or something else creative, so I thought that I wanted to be a painter. But when I got there it felt like painting wasn’t really pushing boundaries. I feel like painting is such an old school media, and it hasn't been until recently that I’ve felt like I’ve found ways to push it further. So I then started to get into more woodworking, and looking at Art as a way to present social justice issues, and eventually I started learning how to use and make neon. That’s really been my main focus for the past 3 or 4 years, and now I feel like I’ve been able to tie in painting and neon, so it’s kind of come full circle.

So has using neon allowed you to push your own artistic boundaries forward?

It’s pushed the boundaries for me, but it’s also brought forward a really historical and antique way of Art that’s been forgotten. I feel like LED and the futuristic stuff that’s being created now is kind of taking over, so I’ve kind of looked at it as a way to bring an old school medium back to the present and give it some weight.

You mentioned earlier that you took a break from all your work with neon, but you’ve recently started back up again. What motivated you?

COVID honestly made me feel like I needed to take a break to get back in touch with myself. For a while I kind of just lost my inspiration. The world was kind of…..I don’t want to say “going to shit,” but it was losing it’s magic. But I feel like now I’m able to use creative mediums to get that out so I don’t have to feel so upset and sad. That’s kind of another reason why I chose happy songs for my playlist. When I play that music in the studio it helps me bring that happy feeling into the space and not let the outside world affect me.

I felt the same way. When this whole thing first started I thought I was going to be able to practice DJing a lot more and make a whole bunch of stuff….

And were you?

No [Laughs].

I wasn’t either.

I don’t know what it was. It didn’t feel the same. That fire that used to be there wasn’t there.

Right before COVID happened I had so many pieces in the studio that were for upcoming shows. I was supposed to have a show at Ottobar, so many people were supposed to be coming together, I was really excited but then COVID happened and it got shut down. So those pieces have just been sitting in New York. It wasn’t until recently that I was able to grab them so I can now get back to where I was before COVID.

What are your intentions going into a new piece of art? Do you have any or do you just kind of see what happens.

I always start out every art piece I do with a drawing. It helps me visualize what I want to make and work out all of the bugs and kinks before I start. I’ll also have some notes and writings down too that help me push all the boundaries I can. So once I start making the piece I’ll have all the ideas thought up. Some things might change and be different by the end, but since I’m working with neon and wiring everything has to be well thought out. That way I’m not struggling and can go into it knowing this is how it’s going to be done. I’m trying to move away from conceptual pieces and more towards three dimensional projects instead. I don’t want it to be just a painting on the wall, I want it to be interactive.

That sounds dope. I’m excited for what you come up with.

I’m excited too. I’ve really been in a rut of not knowing what to create for like two years, but I feel good now.

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