Second organ trio outing from guitar fiend Greg Koch pulls out all the stops While 2017’s Toby Arrives heralded the coming out party of Minneapolis-based Hammond B-3 organ burner Toby Lee Marshall, the Koch Marshall Trio takes things up a notch on their genre-hopping followup, From The Up’Nuh. Their first release on Koch Marshall Productions not only showcases Marshall’s incendiary organ playing alongside the fiendish fretboard work of Wauwatosa-based guitar master Greg Koch and the power-pocket playing of his drummer son Dylan, it also reflects the remarkable chemistry they established on the road in the wake of Toby Arrives.
“We were gigging a lot right up until the lockdown,” said Koch, who has been been described as “scary good” by guitar phenom Joe Bonamassa and named one of the KOCH MARSHALL TRIO “Top Ten Unsung Guitarists” by Fender Guitars. “We were doing shows on the West Coast and in Texas quite a bit and touring with the band in Europe. People were coming out to our gigs and the response was real good. And then Covid hit.”
While half of From The Up’Nuh was already in process before Covid-19 altered the musical landscape, the rest was done during lockdown at engineer Steve Hamilton’s Makin’ Sausage Music studio in Milwaukee. This blues-drenched outing travels from rock-tinged workouts like the potent instrumentals “Luna Girl” and “The Tussle” to the Booker T & The MGs-styled “Funky Klaus,” the jazzy uptempo swinger “Brushes,” a R&B/ gospel-flavored “Soul Stroll” and the Zappa-esque “Nubby the Hoarder Man.” Add in Koch’s toe-curling tip o’ the hat to towering influences Albert King (“Drowning on Dry Land”) and Johnny Guitar Watson (“Real Mother For Ya”) and a humorous Covid-centric vocal number (“QuaranTonne,” a shuffle blues anthem about trying to lose all the weight gained during lockdown) and you’ve got classic gristle from the Koch Marshall Trio.
“The band has really come into its own,” said Koch, who has 18 releases as a leader on multiple record labels, all showcasing his unique take on a variety of American guitar styles. “We’ve been doing live streams during the pandemic and people are digging on it. Everyone’s chomping at the bit to get back on the road again. So we just need to get this album out there and let people know that it exists. We’ve already pre-sold a ton of copies of that thing and it’s not even officially out yet. They’re arriving by mid-April and we’re going to sign them and get them out by the end of April. And it won’t go live digitally until April 30.”
Guitar fans can expect a torrent of slick chicken-picking, grimace-inducing string-bending and urgent gristle tones from master Koch when From The Up’Nuh finally hits on Koch Marshall Productions. – Bill Milkowski