With the Hammond organ riding a wave of visibility it hasn’t seen since late-‘60s soul jazz, what better stratagem than a tribute to one of the avatars of that sound? Brian Charette first established himself in New York playing at a Harlem club on an organ that once belonged to “Brother” (or “Captain”) Jack McDuff, whose vinegary sound and soulful licks Charette successfully channels and extends on You Don’t Know Jack!

It’s not an album of McDuff’s music, per se; only two of his tunes, the blues “Jolly Black Giant” and the bossa nova “6:30 In The Morning,” stand against originals by Charette (and one by tenor saxophonist Cory Weeds, who also produced the album in Vancouver). But it groks the sound and style that made McDuff tick, compositionally — place Charette’s opening “Early America” next to McDuff’s 1969 “Theme From An Electric Surfboard” and see if they’re not congruent — and improvisationally. “Microcosmic Orbit” might sound like a title from a Sun Ra record, but it’s a vehicle for the kind of punctilious, singsong phrasings that McDuff loved. (Not to mention his weirdly scratchy organ timbre; I don’t know how the hell McDuff made that sound, but Charette does.)

All that is not to say that there’s no originality on You Don’t Know Jack! The title track, oddly enough, features Charette playing a hiccup-y blues line that Jack would probably never touch. And while Weeds and guitarist Dave Sikula easily evoke the greasy, gritsy feel of down-home soul jazz, neither conjures the sound of any instrumentalist in particular. (As for drummer John Lee, he simply and tastefully swings: What else is there?) What’s more, Weeds’ “You Don’t Know Joan” is a Bird-style bebop head that, for its six-minute length, recontextualizes the whole affair. Delicious.

from https://downbeat.com