No Time Like Now

Brooklyn-based guitarist Nick Moran’s trio also features B-3 whiz Brad Whiteley and drummer Chris Benham. Inspired to switch from trumpet to guitar after succumbing at the age of 13 to the lure of British Invasion plectrists like Peter Frampton, he made a bigger jump to jazz after seeing a George Benson performance on television. After a six-year stint in Germany he began studying with bassist Ron Carter at New York’s City College. While knowledgeable about other guitar/organ trios, he doesn’t seek to emulate them, and his nine originals carve a lot of new territory. The one cover, Cream’s “Strange Brew,” gets this CD off the ground and effectively leads into track two, “My Beautiful,” a lilting bossa nova. Moran’s delicately chiseled lines and deft playing are very effectively complemented by Whiteley’s lusty B-3 playing, especially on a number like the up-tempo “Wishful Thinking” on which he really “kicks the B,” (i.e., plays the bass by using the organ’s foot pedals) and Benham’s solid drumming (here’s a guy who knows how to complement the leader’s session rather than commandeer it.) Benham also excels on his solo that closes the energetic “The Physicist Transformed.” Moran and co. show their funky sides on “Slow Drive” and “Say Hi to Paris,” a tribute to NYC blues singer Frankie Paris.