Organist Brian Charette At The Side Door

Brian Charette was born in Meriden. He went to UConn and played plenty of early dates in Hartford as a teenager. The organ player and band leader has gone on to make a career for himself among jazz heavy-hitters in New York City.

Over the years he’s also cultivated strong ties in the Czech Republic. His new record, “Kürrent,” opens with a bit of twirling 7-beat complexity, showing that odd-time signatures can be strangely soothing and hypnotic. From there he moves into soulful Jimmy Smith-ish territory and onward into racing flashes of stop-start krautrock fusion.

In addition to his jazz work, Charette has also occasionally played with some of the giants of popular songwriting, like Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon. The Hammond B3 organ is a complicated instrument with a warm sound that can simmer and shout, and Charette also manages to approach the organ with pianistic subtlety. He can get funky playing a Meters tune as well. He has a mean left hand. All of which is to say Charette knows his way around the B3 with such mastery that he’s become a go-to guide and inspiration for up-and-coming players.

Hear Brian Charette’s “Kürrent” at The Side Door, 85 Lyme St., Old Lyme, on Saturday, Sept. 2, at 8:30 p.m. $32. 860-434-0886 or thesidedoorjazz.com.