Organically Good Trio brings its Hammond-and-reggae groove back to the Lizard Lounge

Paul Wolstencroft's Boston organ trio returns to the basement room off Harvard Square this Friday, Nov. 6.

There are rooms where a Hammond organ sounds big, and there's the Lizard Lounge, where it sounds like it's sitting in your lap. On Friday, Nov. 6, Organically Good Trio are back in the Cambridge club at 1667 Massachusetts Ave., just north of Harvard Square, for another night in a room they keep coming back to.

The band's own description fits in a sentence: a Hammond organ trio out of Boston with a reggae spin on things. It was founded by Paul Wolstencroft, keyboard player in Slightly Stoopid, and the lineup listed on the Lizard Lounge's page has Wolstencroft on organ, Van Martin on guitar and Tommy Benedetti on drums. The format is old, organ, guitar and drums the way soul-jazz combos ran it for decades. What's different is the pulse underneath, with the dub and roots-reggae feel you'd expect from a player whose day job is in a California reggae-rock band.

A Hammond organ trio out of Boston with a reggae spin on things.

There's a catalog behind it. The band lists four albums to date: *Alakazam*, *Monster Sound*, *Blazin in Brooklyn* and *Lunar Dub*. Back in 2014, *Alakazam* was announced for release on Stoopid Records, the label run by Slightly Stoopid, which tied the trio's Boston base to Wolstencroft's other band. We didn't find a new release announced for this fall, so Friday looks like a chance to hear the band stretch out on what it already has.

Boston keeps this band busy. In our records the trio has played the Boston market more than anywhere else, 22 shows' worth, and the Lizard Lounge has been a regular stop. The club's own pages show a two-night stand in November 2024 and a return this past April. Friday's date continues that run.

The room helps. The Lizard Lounge has been open since 1996, a small 21-plus club in Cambridge. It's small enough that there's no back of the room to hide in. The organ, the guitar and the kit are all right there, and an instrumental band either locks in or it doesn't. On nights like this, it usually does.

Tickets are on sale through Eventbrite, linked from our show page. The show is 21-plus, so bring ID. Like most nights at the Lizard, it rewards coming early, getting a drink and settling in before the first set. Friday in Cambridge, with the organ warmed up, is a good way to start November.

Sources: Lizard Lounge Club: Organically Good Trio (lizardloungeclub.com); Organically Good Trio: About (organicallygoodtrio.com); Organically Good Trio: Videos (organicallygoodtrio.com); Eventbrite: Organically Good Trio at Lizard Lounge (ticketer) (eventbrite.com); Lizard Lounge Club: Events from April 24, 2026 (lizardloungeclub.com); The Pier: MP3 Leak of the Week: Organically Good Trio (2014) (thepier.org); Wikipedia: Lizard Lounge (en.wikipedia.org)