The orchestra has its own personality, and pairing it with Charette’s B3 just gives the band another gear to play with.
Cellar Music
James Danderfer – lead alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet; Geoff Claridge – alto & soprano saxophone, clarinet; Steve Kaldestad – tenor saxophone; Connor Lum – tenor saxophone; Mia Gazley – baritone saxophone, bass clarinet; Andy Hunter – lead trombone; Nebyu Yohannes & Ellen Marple – trombone; Jim Hopson – bass trombone; Michael Kim – lead trumpet; Derry Byrne, Jocelyn Waugh, Brad Turner, and Julian Borkowski – trumpets; Dave Sikula – guitar; David Caballero – bass; Jesse Cahill – drums; Jack Duncan – percussion; Brian Charette – Hammond organ
From the first few seconds of Vancouver Jazz Orchestra Meets Brian Charette, you know you’re hearing something unusual. A full 17-piece orchestra swinging hard with a Hammond B3 out front isn’t exactly how big bands usually roll, even though a few folks have flirted with the idea. Woody Herman tried it in the ’60s, and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra teamed up with Joey DeFrancesco for a handful of powerful nights that came pretty close to this vibe.
But hearing an orchestra really lean into the organ the way the VJO does here — treating it like a full-fledged engine in the middle of the band — feels fresh. You can hear how the organ opens up new pockets for the orchestra to play in — the kind of back-and-forth that gives the whole ensemble a different kind of swagger.
“Equestrian Interlude” kicks things off with a burst of energy: the brass section charges in like they’ve been waiting all week for this downbeat, the bass is thumping, and the lines bouncing around the section feel almost competitive. Then the real twist shows up — Charette trading lines with the full orchestra. His Hammond sound cuts through with that gritty, soulful punch, and the band fires back like they’re having too much fun to hold anything in. The tenor steps in next, riding that momentum with a relaxed, open tone, and the whole tune keeps building. By the time the trumpets come storming back in, you realize just how well this setup works.
“Don’t Call Before 10” settles into a looser, funkier backbeat, with the organ laying down the first few colors before the trombone jumps in — bright, soulful, and suddenly taking charge like it was just waiting for the door to open. The band stays low behind him, but those quick brass bursts keep popping up that push at the groove wanting to take it over. Charette comes back with that warm, full B3 sound, and the tune just keeps rolling forward.
“As Luck Would Have It” starts with this easy, loping groove with the brass blending their horns in a gentle back-and-forth. The organ sits underneath holding long, steady tones that almost disappear into the texture, but they keep everything glued. What begins simple starts to fold in on itself — lines weaving, rhythms nudging each other — until the whole thing feels like a movable musical puzzle, quietly shifting into something richer without ever raising its voice.
“Shimmy!” really does what the title promises — the whole band slips into this back-and-forth groove, with the brass tossing out these slinky little lines that feel like they’re daring the rhythm
section to answer back. The organ keeps sending out these big, open voicings that lift the groove and make the whole section hit a little harder. Then the guitar steps out, warm and breezy, with those rounded, singing notes that bring Wes Montgomery to mind. The brass backs off, the groove settles into something mellower, and for a minute the whole tune turns inward.
What catches you off guard in “The Same Old You with the Same Old Blues” is how much room there is in all that energy. The organ bursts in, the groove is funky and tight, but then the soloists start taking these wide, confident turns—the tenor gets bluesy, the trombone digs low and pops up high like it’s showing off, and a muted trumpet cuts a sharp angle through the middle of it all. By the time Charette takes his final solo, the band is right there pushing him forward, and the whole thing lands like they meant it.
What really defines the album is how deeply rooted it is in Vancouver’s own scene. Every chart comes from local writers — Fred Stride, Jill Townsend, Brad Turner, Bill Coon, Sharon Minemoto, and Daniel Hersog — and you can hear the range of voices in the way each tune is shaped. The orchestra has its own personality, and pairing it with Charette’s B3 just gives the band another gear to play with. If this is VJO’s first statement, they’ve already carved out a sound that’s going to be tough to ignore.
