Big Boss

On Big Boss, their third offering and debut ZOHO CD release, Charlie Apicella & Iron City renew the traditional organ group sound. Rife with swing, up-tempos and ballads, each song has its own story and groove. Of the eight tunes, four are penned by Apicella, the other four are covers of Grant Green, Willie Dixon and not-oft-instrumentally-heard MoTown classic by Holland-Dozier-Holland. I conducted an interview with Charlie Apicella and found that he, along with Alan Korzin, drummer and co-producer on this date, has assembled a CD of love; love of classic jazz and blues and love for the musicians who the pair credits as influences. For Apicella they range from Lester Young to Gene Ammons and Miles Davis; with Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Barry Galbraith, Dave Stryker, Yuseef Lateef and even Frank Sinatra his top influences. He says, ''I have a deep love of the Count Basie big band and have based almost my entire chord style on Freddie Green. According to Korzin, ''most of the classic recordings we love feature a core rhythm section supporting the leader of the date. For organ music it was the Don Patterson/Billy James unit, ''Big'' John Patton/Ben Dixon, and Larry Young/Elvin Jones. We also love the more well-known piano-based rhythm sections.'