Jazz and blues audiences will associate vocalist and educator Pamela Rose with her work of the past 5 years, a celebration of women songwriters in her book, recording and touring multimedia show Wild Women of Song: Great Gal Composers of the Jazz Era. But San Francisco Bay Area fans know that Rose’s enduring passion for the swinging and soulful sounds of the Hammond B-3 organ have often paired her with jazz B-3 expert Wayne De La Cruz at local clubs and festivals. De La Cruz approached Rose with the idea of taking that partnership into the studio with special arrangements structured for voice and B-3. The result is Hammond Organ Party!, an inexplicably rare encounter between a soul-drenched singer and a prodigious B-3 practitioner. Loose and limber, moving and grooving, the album feels like a Saturday night celebration, with Rose and her top-shelf cast romping through beloved standards, blues hits, and R&B classics. This latest release, Rose’s sixth record on her own label, Three Handed Records, will be released on October 15. Produced by Wayne De La Cruz, the session explodes with talent from Northern California jazz scene. Hammond Organ Party! features ace guitarist Jeff Massanari, searing alto saxophonist Charles McNeal, and veteran drummer Kent Bryson. The band gets plenty of room to stretch out on De La Cruz’s smart but refreshingly un-fastidious arrangements. The result is a session that sounds like it was recorded live at a crowded club on a very good night. Wayne De La Cruz has been a mainstay on the Bay Area music scene since the late 1970s. His dedication to the Hammond Organ has garnered a special legion of fans who are crazy about the instrument. His 2006 solo album Like Night put him on major stages all over the Northern California jazz scene. While he had been aware of Rose for years, they were first thrown together in 2004 on a gig in Benicia. They hit it off immediately, and found that together they found that sweet spot in like minded ideas about jazz and blues. “I’ve never worked with another singer who can call out tunes for hours and just deliver creatively on each song.” De La Cruz says. “Essentially Pamela is one of the band, not a singer in front of the band. I always feel that she’s part of what’s going on with the music.” Drafted early in her career by B-3 player Merl Saunders, Rose’s stint on the road sparked a career-long love affair with the instrument. “Merl helped me understand so much about groove, and about using the band itself as your instrument”, Rose says. Rose’s previous recordings, On the Jazzy Side of Blue, Every Time I’m With You, Just For a Thrill, Wild Women of Song: Great Gal Composers of the Jazz Era have all explored the common ground where blues and jazz meet. In particular, her 2001 session You Could Have It All, with organist Tony Stead, attracted national attention, including a profile on NPR’s All Things Considered that praised the expressive power of Rose’s voice and her commitment to writing original material for the B-3. Rose continues to tour with the Wild Women show featuring Tammy Hall, Ruth Davies and Kristen Strom. The project that includes a web site and a book with Rose’s incisive profiles of the women songwriters whose tunes she interprets. But before she records and creates her next installment, Wild Women of the Blues, Rose is having the time of her life with her Hammond Organ Party! •