With their debut album Another Side of the Sound, drummer Adam Deitch, guitarist Ari Teitel and organist Sam Fribush (as DTF) bring variety and personality to the organ trio tradition.
Deitch visited the KNKX studios in 2024 with long-running funk jazz band Lettuce. His collaborations over the years with John Scofield, 50 Cent, Seattle saxophonist Skerik and others have solidified Deitch as one of the world’s premiere funk drummers and producers.
As a key member of the New Orleans jam band Dumpstaphunk and co-founder of The Rumble, the Detroit-native Teitel has honed his guitar skills in the greasy gumbo of R&B, funk, gospel, jazz and hip-hop.
Young organist Sam Fribush has a background playing jazz in New Orleans clubs, forming his own organ trio with guitar great Charlie Hunter in 2020 and joining modern Americana group Hiss Golden Messenger in 2021.
As a unit, DTF explores the many shades of funk in a varied collection of tunes that explore the possibilities of the organ, guitar, drums lineup.
Their debut album combines the personalities of each musician and creates unique ‘personalities’ to each song. Calling their sound “feel-good music,” Deitch noted a chilled-out atmosphere at the album’s creation.
Another Side of the Sound opens with “Rolex,” a laid-back groove that could be a theme for a high roller strutting down the street in an expensive new suit. Like the rest of the album, the trio leaves plenty of space for the notes to breathe and the listener to move their hips.
“Uncle T” has a popping rhythm and low register guitar riffs in a call and response with the organ melody, pausing for a chicken scratch guitar break that brings to mind 1970s-era country funk.
The Meters-inspired slow funk of “A La Gator” is drawn from the streets of the band’s beloved Big Easy, Deitch’s press rolls rival New Orleans neighbor Stanton Moore, but with a grittier production sound.
The trio’s theme song “DTF” has a proto-disco high-hat rhythm and airy psychedelic sounds from the guitar and organ. Teitel’s guitar solo employs delay and wah-wah effects to establish an atmosphere of soulful mystery.
Most surprising is the album’s lone cover song, the early 1990s New Jack Swing hit “Poison” by Bell Biv DeVoe. Deitch cops the classic drum break, and keeps the snare drum tight as on the original. Fribush and Teitel do justice to the familiar melody, but that cracking drum kit is the heart of this song.
DTF ventures musically into southern rock, chilled out dub, jazz fusion and film score elements, never losing their obvious connection to the organ trio tradition of Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff and more recent traditionalists like Joey DeFrancesco and Delvon Lamarr.
Dig deeper into Another Side of the Sound to hear and be inspired by the vast universe of jazz, soul and funk from Deitch, Teitel and Fribush.
The New Cool airs Fridays at 9 p.m., hosted by Abe Beeson and produced by KNKX Public Radio in Seattle, Washington. LISTEN ON DEMAND
