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Righteous Buddha is not your average bar band. Eschewing the usual singer-guitar-bass-drums model, drummer Chris DeJohn says they can best be described as “an organ trio,” but they are much bigger than the sum of their parts.

John Smart, who moonlights as a commissioner’s court judge here in town, commands eerie warbles and powerful sonic solar flares jetting out of his Hammond organ and its giant spinning Leslie speaker. It’s a formidable sound that usually dominates a group. Not this one, whose members have distinct backgrounds.

Upright bass player David Hinson is a bassist with the Baton Rouge Symphony who plays in countless other local bands. Drummer DeJohn owns BeBop Music Shop in Mid-City. The bass and drums not only keep the balances in check, they help to create a three-headed beast, feeding off each other jazz combo-style, while getting the party started with grooves infused with rock, funk and soul.

So how to describe them? The first reaction is to dub them a jam band. But those connotations are as nebulous as the music scene itself. They have the groove of a New Orleans funk unit, the sinewy daring of an out-there jazz group, and the punch of a rock band. Imagine if Booker T and the MG’s and the Jazz Messengers got together and birthed a very funky lovechild. They are unique in Baton Rouge.

Their debut CD, Black, Blue & Bamboo, came out in 2003. Their second album, Get Right, is available locally, including at the Compact Disc Store. They are making plans to make their music available on the web, moving with the times and taking cues from grassroots strategies of other bands that offer their fans opportunities to hear them.

Link: RighteousBuddha