James Carter Organ Trio may sound like a normal, standard jazz band, but it definitely is not. James Carter is a 44-year-old saxophonist and flutist, and the founder of the James Carter Organ Trio.

An organ trio around the jazz scene will usually consist of three musicians, a Hammond organ player, a drummer and a saxophonist, in this case James Carter. The other members are Gerard Gibbs on the organ, and Leonard King on drums.

For some readers, it could be  hard to imagine how only three musicians achieve greatness and creativity in their music, which explains why this trio is special.

It requires great skill and technique to make an organ trio successful, especially since the bass player is also the organ player. Gibbs is the solid foundation that the trio supports itself on. Gibbs plays the bass lines, chords and melodies of most of the songs in a poly rhythmic sense . He uses a Hammond organ, which enables him to play the bass line with his feet, while playing the melodies and chords with his two hands, he wields the ability to control his four limbs independently, which is a huge challenge and a real musical skill. That will could soon extinct, as Gibbs is one of the few remaining masters of the real Hammond organ, with him the trio is a sextet.

James Carter is a powerful musician that  knows his instruments more than well. His instruments on stage are usually the soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, bari saxophone and the flute, using all these instruments at one stage gives this trio good variety and always changing music flow on stage. At the trio’s last performance at the Perth International Festival 2013, Carter showed an outstanding, most extraordinary performance, with lots of woodwind solos that were more than just playing up and down the scale.

Leonard King  a not so typical jazz drummer that has a unique style and great skill, which bonds traditional and modern drumming styles into one, which gave it a new taste being put with the rest of the trio to make it complete and different than any other.

The James Carter Organ Trio’s recent performance at this year’s Perth Festival in Westren Australia was more than great. It was filled with instrumental energy, and a creativity with lots of solos like never seen or heard  before on any record. The trio’s performance may not have been attended by a large audience, but those who did attend did themselves a favor.

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