A staple on the New Orleans funk-jam live music scene, Organized Crime has been holding down support slots at the city’s top-tier venues: Tipitina’s, Howlin’ Wolf, House of Blues, and the Maple Leaf Bar.
Forming the group initially as Hammond organ-based trio, members Andriu Yanovski, Patrick Kelleher and Henry Green immersed themselves in a musical lineage, aligned with active groups like Soulive and Medeski Martin & Wood, but with literacy all the way back to Blue Note funk jazz revolutionaries Jimmy Smith and Dr. Lonnie Smith.
In keeping with the ethos of their city, they study the musical traditions of their elders with a deep respect for what came before. However, with their sound fine-tuned in the workshop of the New Orleans live-music world (members can be found as a band and also individually with NOLA regulars Brass-a-Holics, Magnetic Ear, Eric “Benny” Bloom, Sexual Thunder!, A.J. Hall and more) Organized Crime transcends their jazz, funk, gospel and R&B roots with a springboard to the future: their debut studio release, “Do You/?”
Listen to the new track, below.
The track features soaring rock guitar tones with organ accompaniment, and virtuosic synth solos that make it easy to forget that this wall of sound is the product of a trio. Grammy Award-winning producer Chris Finney, who himself is steeped in the NOLA traditions (Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Rebirth Brass Band, Kermit Ruffins, Dumpstaphunk) brings the sound to life. Informed by the inimitable musical past of the city but unafraid to dig in to the contemporary, Finney offers the same expertise of experience to OC that he has leveraged in cultivating The Revivalists, Sexual Thunder!, and Naughty Professor.
Celebrating this release, OC joined Naughty Professor for a collaborative party at the Maple Leaf Bar, Saturday December 10. With a full-length release on the horizon, we can expect Organized Crime to transform their business from a scrappy sonic enterprise to no less than a full-blown musical cartel.