Mike LeDonne - Keep The Faith (2011)

Among his teachers, Mike LeDonne lists the great jazz theoretician and pedagogue John Mehegan but yet there certainly is nothing academic about his playing on KEEP THE FAITH. Mike has held court at the historic Smoke Jazz Club in New York for probably more years than he cares to admit but this, his sixth recording for Savant Records finds him and his Hammond B-3 in the controlled atmosphere of the recording studio with his regular band featuring Eric Alexander on tenor sax. Listen in as Mike and company romp, stomp and burn through an imaginative set of pieces by Charles Earland, Michael Jackson and Horace Silver. Mike himself contributes a handful of originals and displays his considerable skills as a composer. The guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Joe Farnsworth first-calls these days for B-3 dates it seems make KEEP THE FAITH an important addition to the organ discography; one that looks forward while remembering its roots, one that innovates while respecting the tradition.

Tracklist:

01. The Backstabbers
02. Keep The Faith
03. Big John
04. The Way You Make Me Feel
05. Someday We'll All Be Free
06. Scratchin'
07. Waiting For You
08. Burner's Idea
09. Sweet Sweetie Dee