Mike LeDonne

Mike LeDonne – Partners in Time (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 53:30 minutes | 620 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Savant

Unfortunately it’s not very often that we get to hear Mike LeDonne, world-renowned Hammond B-3 organist and leader of the acclaimed Groover Quartet, fronting a piano trio session – especially one that unfolds in as swinging, soulful and intuitive fashion – but that’s exactly what we get to enjoy on ‘Partners in Time’.

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Mike LeDonne – It’s All Your Fault (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 51:27 minutes | 696 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Savant

Mike LeDonne belongs to an elite group of musicians – those who have mastered the piano AND the organ while creating original voices for each. However, here on It’s all Your Fault, LeDonne sits down at the organ, puts his foot on the pedals and lays down some of the hippest organ licks you’re likely to hear. Two groups are featured on this recording. Mike LeDonne’s Groover Quartet has had the rare opportunity to play and record together for twenty years and counting. They had no difficulty integrating their sound into this all-star big band put together by Mike and his preferred arranger and conductor, Dennis Mackrel. Recorded in the famed Van Gelder studio and actually using the original Hammond C-3 organ that Jimmy Smith et al. Used to record the music within this recording is adventurous. It’s a continuation of the groove that was established years ago by organists interacting with big bands and it reveals to us the Blues, the Rhythm & Blues and the Jazz that Mike heard coming up through the jazz ranks.

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Mike LeDonne – From the Heart (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 56:42 minutes | 646 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Savant

Joining Mike LeDonne and his Groover Quartet on ‘From the Heart’ is the great drummer Mike Clark. After collaborations with Herbie Hancock, Christian McBride, Nicholas Payton and others, Clark has influenced a generation of percussionists and brings his own unmistakable style to two of the tracks.

For three decades Mike LeDonne has been an exceptional avatar of the Hammond B3 organ. Forged by his impressive jazz apprenticeship, with the likes of Milt Jackson, George Coleman and Benny Golson, LeDonne comes from a long and distinguished line of masters of that instrument. And for eighteen years, he’s lead the Groover Quartet his formidable foursome consisting of tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Joe Farnsworth.

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Mike LeDonne – Awwlright! (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44.1 kHz | Time – 55:52 minutes | 675 MB | Genre: Jazz
Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | @ Savant Records

Mike LeDonne has appeared on over 100 CDs as a sideman with so many jazz giants it is hard to keep count: Art Farmer, Clifford Jordan, Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Turrentine, Milt Jackson, Christian McBride and others. LeDonne made his first recording as a leader on the B-3 for Savant in 2003 and has since added seven additional records to his discography on the label. To his regular band, The Groover Quartet (Eric Alexander, Peter Bernstein and Joe Farnsworth) Mike has added guests Jeremy Pelt on trumpet and the venerable bassist, Bob Cranshaw. With such an illustrious line-up there are few jazz combos that burn hotter, swing harder or generate more excitement than this all-star aggregation.

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