A good seventy years ago, Black musicians in the United States began to enrich jazz with a previously unfamiliar instrument: the Hammond organ. Wild Bill Davis, who inspired musicians like Count Basie and Jimmy Smith in the 1950s, is considered an important pioneer. Smith in turn, with his style-defining, sparkling playing, became a model for countless jazz organists. Often influenced by gospel traditions, they brought blueish, emotional soul to hard bop. On the other hand, from 1969 onwards, Larry Young was an important catalyst for the fusion of jazz and rock in Tony William’s Lifetime. The rapid development of synthesizers and keyboards meant that in the early 1980s the organ was overshadowed. But a few years later, the next generation of musicians began to blow the dust off the Hammond.

Daniel Erdmann, born in 1973, has often impressed with innovative concepts in his transnational bands and projects. One example is the trio of soloists named Velvet Revolution, in which the stylist saxophonist and composer, together with Theo Ceccaldi (violin) and Jim Hart (vibraphon), balances virtuosically on the tightrope between chamber musical richness of color and dynamic improvisations. Erdmann has won awards for his productions several times, including two annual prizes from German record reviewers, the German Jazz Prize (Deutschen Jazzpreis), and the Prix du Musicien européen of the French Académie du Jazz. His personal, nuanced sound language and his varied expression, between a charismatic-smoky timbre and angular-hoarse expressions are accompanied by refined humour that can glimmer through the notes.

Daniel Erdmann came up with the idea of Organic Soulfood about four years ago. Actually, he had been planning a study trip to New Orleans, but it was scuppered by the pandemic. Instead, Erdmann, tethered like everyone else, sat tight at home and thought about the future. In early 2021, his plan for an organ trio took shape. “In some ways, the band reflects my original intention to get closer to certain aspects of jazz history. What’s more, it includes Antonin Rayon, whose work I’ve been following for a few years, and who I definitely wanted to develop something new with.”

Looking back, Erdmann also sees his engagement with jazz traditions as an indirect response to the Covid events. A little nostalgia can be reassuring, and maybe even create a sense of security. In addition, depending on how it is played, the Hammond organ more or less intensely conveys a spiritual aura. Nourishment for the spirit, even: Organic Soulfood. But then, Erdmann’s perspective on the project changed, triggered by a suspicion of a serious illness, which fortunately turned out to be far less severe. “Immediately after the diagnosis, I was suddenly barely concerned with safety/security; instead, I was moved by an intuitive search for the unknown – perhaps also to befriend the unknown in myself.” With this in mind, his compositional approach changed.
The pieces took on more risk-taking forms, they set out on the journey Into The Sweet Unknown.