Twenty-five + Great Jazz/Blues Organ Performances

The Hammond B3 is a beast of an instrument and the jazz-organ-trio format is a staple of the jazz idiom.

Tracings its origins back to a wind driven instrument-compressed air being pushed through multiple length tubes to sound various notes-the pipe-organ made its way into western religious ceremonies in the eighth century when Charlemagne installed one in his chapel in Aachen. For centuries since, the organ has been the musical instrument of choice in churches, temples and synagogues.

Laurens Hammond

Then came along came Laurens Hammond. Hammond was a mechanical engineer and he developed a patent in 1934 for an “electrical musical instrument” that was based on using tonewheel generators to produce sounds. His goal was to offer a cheaper alternative to the pipe organ for churches and places of worship and he succeeded with the introduction of his Hammond model A console organ in 1935. The low cost, much more compact electric organ was wildly successful and by the end of the nineteen thirty’s Hammond was producing two hundred of these organs a month. It wasn’t until 1954 that the B3, the prominent instrument used in jazz organ trios, was introduced by Hammond. The B3 added an additional percussive harmonic feature and its popularity with jazz and progressive rock artists was legendary, especially when paired with the rotating Leslie speaker system which produced a warbling, tremelo sound. The B3 model was modified in 1967 and has gone through numerous electronic iterations including a new XB3 that was made by Hammond-Suzuki and purportedly faithfully simulates the original tonewheel sound through electronics, but the original tonewheel generator B3 had a distinctive sound and feel and is the model most prized by aficionados.

The Hammon B3 Organ

It is speculation, but I suspect  that it wasn’t until organists, in predominantly Black churches, found themselves trying to musically simulate some of the fiery rhetoric and gospel sway of their preachers, that the instrument began to take on its powerfully soulful, danceable feel. The B3 would eventually be brought out of the church and into secular world and become a staple of the jazz tradition.

This list of twenty-five + great jazz/blues organ performances is an attempt to honor and celebrate some of the beautiful, soulful, swinging, adventurous music that has been made using the Hammond B3 organ. It is chronological staring with Waller and ending with Charette, but it easily could have been more inclusive given enough space and time. Some artists deserve more than one feature because of their exceptional body of work ( Jimmy Smith and Larry Young each have two selections), but space didn’t allow for additional selections. There will undoubtedly be some musicians who are missing entirely from the list and deserve to be included and for that I apologize.This is a very subjective list and lists by their nature are stupid ( as listmaker and jazz pianist/blogger Ethan Iverson has said), but somehow we are compelled to compile them, if only to ellicit some kind of response. and hopefully subsequent discussion.   subjective and I have limited space. Many thanks go to Mathew Kaminski the organist for the Atlanta Braves and a hullva fine jazzz organist himself, for his astute input. So for better or worse here is my list of twenty-five + great jazz/blues organ performances.

The organ tradition in jazz, is said to have started with Thomas “Fats” Waller, his playing steeped in gospel and intermingled with stride. The music had a certain bounce to it, a calliope sounding celebration. It was played on an Estey pipe organ, so it doesn't technically belong in a list of B3 performances, but it is the germ from which all subsequent jazz organ performances grew. So for historical reference, here is a sample from a 1927 recording of Waller at Trinity Church Studios in Camden, NJ.

Thomas “Fats” Waller: 1927 on the Estey Pipe Organ Camden, New Jersey “Stompin’ the Bug” 3min 39 secs

 

Using an organ was also seen by the club owners as a cheaper alternative  to the expense of hiring a seventeen-piece big band.

With its combined use of chorus and single line notes, the organ could create a bigger, broader sound. A deft technician could use creative positioning of his draw bars to mimic other instruments. It was like having a band in a box. Here Count Basie uses his organ technique to play his “KC Organ Blues” with his band reduced quintet.

1.       William James “Count” Basie: “K C Organ Blues” from the 1954 release Count Basie Sextet with Paul Quinchette (tenor), Freddie Green (gtr), Gene Ramey (bass), Buddy Rich (drms).    2min 52 secs

       

The innovators of the jazz organ trio sound could be heard percolating by the nineteen fifties with the formation of an influential jazz organ trio under the keyboard artistry of William Starthem “Wild Bill “Davis as heard on his 1957 release “Wild Blues.”

2.       . “Wild Bill” Davis: “Wild Blues” originally released as a single in 1957 with Wally Richardson (gtr) and unknown drummer                                                      2min 16 secs

       

By the late nineteen fifties Hollywood was already being influenced by the alluring sound of the jazz organ and one of my first exposures to a jazz style organ was on Henry Mancini’s arrangements for the silky Blake Edwards TV series Mr. Lucky from 1959. While technically not a traditional jazz or even a B3 performance ( the organ used was a Wurlitzer Theater Organ,) Mancini did intorduce the organ's lush, jazzy possibilities to a wider audience. I know it had a lasting effect on me. Here we hear Mancini’s deft use of studio musician Buddy Cole on this unforgettable tune.

3.       Buddy Cole: Wurlitzer Theater Organ on “Mr. Lucky from the 1960 album” Music from Mr. Lucky by Henry Mancini and his Orchestra.  2 min 2secs

In the fifties, on a parallel course to Wild Bill Davis in pioneering the use of the organ in the jazz trio format, was Missouri born Milton Brent “Milt” Buckner. Buckner is credited with developing the parallel chords style. Here he is heard playing with guitarist Kenny Burrell. The use of a guitarist as the other voice in the jazz organ trio became a popular format for the form.

4.       Milt Buckner: “Mighty High” from his album from 1960 Mighty High with Kenny Burrell 9gtr) Joe Benjamin (bass), Maurice Sinclaire (drms)              2 min 48 secs

Undoubtedly one of the most influential of all the Hammond B3 practitioners was “The Monster,” James Oscar “Jimmy” Smith. He switched to organ after hearing Wild Bill Davis in 1954. By 1956 he was offered a recording contract with Alfred Lion’s Blue Note Label after the impresario heard him in a Philadelphia club. Smith developed his own distinctive setting on the pull bars and along his percussive attack, this technique became known as the Jimmy Smith signature sound. He was also a facile improviser and was adept as using his bass pedals to simulate the sound of a walking string bass. Here is an early example of Smith’s indelible sound.

5.       Jimmy “The Monster” Smith: “The Sermon” from the 1959 album The Sermon with Lee Morgan(trpt), Kenny Burrell (gtr), Art Blakey (drms), Lou Donaldson (alto), Tina Brooks (tenor)

 20m 12 secs.

      

"Organ Grinder Swing" from the 1965 album Organ Grinder Swing with Kenny Burell (gtr) and Grady Tate (drms) 2 min 10 secs features Smith in his prime.

Smith was touring in Europe when German guitarist Paulo Morello asked him what it was like to work with such famous guitarist like Wes Montgomery, George Benson and Pat Martino. Smith was quoted as telling Morello “Listen man-I teach guitar.”   In fact, Smith played with many of the most notable jazz guitarists of his time including the aforementioned, Montgomery, Benson, Morello and Martino as well as Kenny Burrell, Grant Green and other fine players. He also played with horn players like Lou Donaldson, Lee Morgan and Tina Brooks.

After Jimmy Smith, there were whole legions of players who were undeniably influenced by his style on the B3. While many took on their own unique sound leaning more on soul, blues or funk, it wasn’t until Larry Young that the organ was taken into a completely different and more modern direction. Here are some of my remaining choices for most memorable performances on the instrument all the way into the modern day.

6.       James Harrell “Jimmy” McGriff: “All About My Girl” from MG Blues 1962    drummer unknown                                                                                           3min 54 secs

       

7.       “Brother” Jack McDuff :  “That’s A Goodun” from the 1963 album Live with George Benson (gtr),         Red Holloway (tenor). Joe Dukes (drms).   8min 16 sec

       

Don Patterson had arguably some of the most memorable performances on the B3, I choose this one.

8.       Don Patterson: “Hip Cake Walk” from the 1964 album Hip Cake Walk with Leonard Houston (tenor), Billy James (drms).                                                 16 min 40 sec

      

9.       Larry Young: aka Khalid Yasin “Luny Tune” on Grant Green’s 1964 Talkin’ About! With Grant Green (gtr), Elvin Jones (drms).     7 min 43 secs

       

Later on his brilliant 1966 album Unity with Elvin Jones (drms) "Monk's Dream."

10.   Richard “Groove” Holmes: “Misty” from the 1965 release Soul Message with George Randall (gtr) and Jimmie Smith (drms).  6min 1 sec 

      

11.   Shirley Scott : “Rapid Shave” from Queen of the Organ  live at the Front Room, Newark, NJ 1965.  with Stanley Turrentine (tenor), Bob Cranshaw (bs), Otis Finch (drms).   8 min 23 secs

       

12.   Charles “The Mighty Burner” Earland: “More Today Than Yesterday” from Black Talk  1969 with Melvin Sparks (gtr), Idris Muhammad (drms), Buddy Caldwell (congas), Houston Person ( tenor), Virgil Jones (trmpt).                             11 min 12sec 

The next selection is my tip of the hat to the whole generation of prog rockers that took up the mantle of the B3. While not truly jazz players, they did make the organ a memorable part of the music of the sixties, seventies and beyond. Lee Michaels played one of the best, most animated Blues organ solos I have ever heard “live.” He just rocked the house on that B3 and his playing was more traditionally rooted in the B3 jazz /blues sound, so I have used him as a surrogate for all those guys who rocked the B3. That list includes Keith Emerson, Jon Lord, Rod Argent, Brian Auger, Stevie Winwood, Greg Allman, Greg Rolei, Rick Wakeman, Booker T. Jones, Billy Preston, Mark Stien, Ray Manzarek, Garth Hudson, Mathew Fisher and Al Kooper.

13.   Lee Michaels “Stormy Monday” Blues from Lee Michaels 1969 with “Frosty” Bartholomew                     Eugene Frost-Smith   5 min 15secs

       

For many United States B3 followers the French organist Eddie Louiss will be a new name and many thanks to Noah Baerman at http://blog.noahjazz.com for pointing this fine artist out to me.

14.   Eddy Louiss: “Bohemia After Dark” from the 1972 album Bohemia After Dark with Jimmy Gourley (gtr), Guy Pederson (bass), Kenny Clarke (drms).   5min 53 secs

15.   Joey DeFrancesco: “Work Song” from the 1993 Live at the Five Spot with Robert Landham (alto),  Paul Bollenback (gtr), Byron “Wookie” Landham (drms), Grover Washington Jr. (tenor), Jim Henry (trmpt). 9 min 33 secs

      

16.   Larry Goldings: “The Acrobat” from Peter Bernstein’s 1998 Earthtones with Peter Berntstein (gtr) and Bill Stewart (drms).     9 min 59 secs

       

17.   Barbara Dennerlein and Rhoda “Barefoot Lady” Scott : “Nova” from a live performance in Switzerland in 2002 with Felix Simtaine (drms).  8min 22 secs

       

18.   Sam Yahel: “Truth and Beauty” from his 2005 album Truth and Beauty with Joshua Redman (tenor) and Brian Blade (drms.)       7min 59 secs

       

19.   Pat Bianchi: “Theme for Ernie” from his 2006 album East Coast Roots with Mark Whitfield (grt), Bryon Landham (drms)

       

20.   Vince “The Prince” Seneri: “Overdrive” from the 2007 album The Prince’s Groove with Randy Brecker (trpt), Paul Bollenback (gtr), Gary Fritz (perc), Buddy Williams (drms).   4 min 33 secs

       

21.   Tony Monaco: “S’About” from his 2008 album Tony Monaco Live at the Orbit Room  with Ted Quinlan (gtr), Vito Rezza (drms).    11 min 49 secs

       

22.   Dr. Lonnie Smith: “A Matterapat” from his Up!  from 2009 with Peter Bernstein (gtr), Donald Harrison (alto), Herlin Riley (drms).                             6min 47 secs 

23.   Mike LeDonne: “Bopsolete” from his 2010 release The Groover with Eric Alexander (tenor), Peter Bernstein (gtr), Joe Farnsworth (drms).   6 min 5 secs

       

24.    Jared Gold: “Shadowboxing” from his 2013 release Intuition with Dave Stryker (gtr) and McCLenty    Hunter (drms).                   5 min 5 secs

      

25.   Brian Charette: “Aiight!!” from 2014 release Square_One with Yotam Silberstein (gtr) and Mark Ferber (drms).      3 min 23 secs

       

Lest we forget anyone not mentioned above. honorable mentions go out to John Medeski, Will Blades, Big John Patton, Greg Allman, Clare Fischer, Peter Levin, Radam Schwartz,  Hank Marr, Reuben Wilson, Leon Spencer Jr., Lou Bennett, Johnny Hammond Smith, T. Lavitz, Dave Seibel, Robert Walter, Neal Evans, Gary Versace, Don Pullen and Booker T. Jones and all the other  prog rock B3 players that were mentioned above.

Brian Charette's "Kurrent" : Futuristic Circuit Bent Organ Trio

Brian Charette's Kurrent

Having grown up in the golden era of the soulful, hard-bop jazz organ trio, I have particularly fond memories of hearing this style of music that was so prevelant in the sixties and early seventies, when almost every lounge on the east coast had a B3 on its stage. Jimmy Smith, Don Patterson, Charles Earland and Jack McDuff were but a few of the names that created some memorable sounds on their B3's with those rotating Leslie speakers. But the basic sound of the organ trio has barely changed since Larry Young started to move in a new more progressive Coltrane-inspired direction in the seventies, before his untimely dealth. Now along comes Brian Charette.

Keyboard artist Brain Charette originally hails from Meriden, CT, where he was influenced to play the piano at an early age by his mother, herself an excellent pianist. He studied music at the University of CT where he received his BA and toured Europe as a working musician. He was drawn to the culture and jazz scene in Prague and lived in the Czech Republic for a time. As early as age seventeen, Charrette was working with jazz legends like Houston Person and Lou Donaldson. He took up the organ more seriously in the 1990s when he was finding more work playing organ than playing piano. For the past several years he has made the East Village of New York City his home and he can be often seen in New York accompanying other artists whenever an organist is required.  His keyboard skills have been recognized and utilized by such top tier pop artist as Chaka Khan, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon.

On his latest self-released album Kǘrrent, Charette is joined by guitarist Ben Monder and drummer Jordan Young. Reportedly, the trio has been working on this original music for the last two years and it shows by the groups tight and intuitive interaction. Charette has labeled the group a “futuristic circuit bent organ trio,” with the intention of preserving the core tradition of the organ-guitar-drums jazz-trio format and extending it into modernity with the addition of electronics and by conceiving more contemporary compositions.

The group starts off with “Doll Fin,” a catchy rythmically driven song, with Charette providing a driving bass line,(presumably with his B3 foot pedals or on a loop), then inserting a mechanistic, almost robotic sounding ostinato keyboard line. You can almost imagine the cool efficiency of an assembly-line of robotic arms working in musical unison. Monder’s guitar lines enter and eventually morph into a ripping, more distorted solo as Young provides skillfully placed crashes and splashes. Charette returns with a more traditional sounding B3 solo before reprising his robotic synth work and Monder’s repeating guitar lines. The song ends in a flurry by Young as Charette and Monder play a unison, electronic drone that decays at the finale. Welcome to the future of organ trios.

Kurrent: Jordan Young, Ben Monder & Brian Charette

Other songs that employ a more traditional organ trio sound include the bouncy “Time Changes” and the memorable ballad “Honeymoon Phase,” although Charette manages to include a synthetic harpsichord and some spacey electronic accents at the end of “Time Changes.” 

Charette and company always keep the music moving and the keyboardist is quite adept at using his Hammond pull bars to create just the right sound. Monder shows a beautiful harmonic sense in his deft accompaniments and Young is equally atuned to the group effort.

“Mano Y Mano” features some vocoder tempered vocals and some raw guitar work by Monder. The otherwise atmospheric “Shooby’s Riff” contains a strange repeated, electronically altered vocal riff that is indecipherable to my ears and that breaks the mood and rhythm of the song. There is a sci-fi element to this one that conjures up images of space travelers encountering looped transmissions from alien life.

There are three, short “Intermezzos;” small musical vignettes that seem like free improvisations that use electronically altered, textural interplay between keyboard, guitar, voice and drums.

The synth and organ driven “Conquistador” is like a musical journey to places that seem at once familiar and at the same time strangely foreign. Juxtaposing sounds that combine the weird and fanciful with the exotic, Charette and company are able to transport you into a Lucas-like world reminiscent of the bizarre alien bar scene from the original Star Wars.  Back to the Future indeed.

The futuristically funky “5^th Base” is a driving vamp that allows Monder to shred a little with a nasty, distorted sound that pierces through your flesh. Charette has obviously been influenced Larry Young’s forward thinking style, but he has also been influenced by some of the synth masters of years gone by, as I hear elements of Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman in his playing on this wild electronic jaunt.

There is a Minuet quality to the opening of “The Shape of Green,” Charette and Monder trading lines in a formal dance of notes behind the cadenced traps of Young. Eventually the song breaks into a repeating vamp, then opens up to a Monder guitar solo that pierces through clouds of electronic sounds that rainmaker Charette conjures up like a weather shaman.

The finale is a song titled “Catfish Sandwich,” and has a Monkish sounding line to it. This leads to an adrenaline driven electronic disco beat. Monder lets loose as Charette and Young provide the rhythmic drive. Charette changes over to the traditional B3 sound and the trio starts to percolate as he plays some of the most inspired straight organ soloing on the album. The intensity builds to a frenzy at the coda with Young providing a bombardment of traps, toms and cymbals to the end.

By mastering the myriad of possibilities that can be produced on a Hammond B3, incorporating synthesized and electronic effects tastefully and utilizing inventive arrangements, Charette, Monder and Young have managed to create a hybrid jazz-organ-trio sound that rockets into the future. Their music just might be the natural heir apparent to the progressive legacy of organist Larry Young. 

Evolution of a Giant: Larry Young in Paris the ORTF Recordings

Larry Young in Paris The ORTF Recordings Resonance HCD-2022

It is not hyperbole to say that Larry Young was perhaps the last great innovator on the Hammond B3 organ. His trailblazing fusion work with Tony Williams, John McLaughlin, Miles Davis, Carlos Santana and as a leader in his own right would all be part of a seemingly un-matchable legacy that catapulted the organ from the confines of the groove to limitless possibilities of the stratosphere. Tragically he passed away at the age of thirty-eight while being treated for pneumonia, but it leads one to speculate on the endless possibilities his continued development would have brought to the music has he lived.

Thankfully, producer Zev Feldman, of Resonance Records along with executive producers Michael Cuscuna and George Klabin, uncovered this gem of a discovery at the INA (Institut national de audiovisual of France) which oversees the RTF/ORTF (Radiodiffusion-Television Francaise and Office de Radiofussion-Television Francaise) archives that document an important part of his development as a player. This beautifully packaged two-disc set captures Young in Paris sometime between 1964 and 1965 and features a series of ten songs played with different line ups and broadcast over French public radio.

Importantly it marks the period just preceding Young’s Blue Note Years and you can hear the sound that Young was developing, one that would later be honed with such precision on the groundbreaking album Unity. Young, just twenty four years old during these recordings and  is predominantly a sideman on these sessions; a key figure in tenor saxophonist Nathan Davis’ quartet along with fellow Newark, New Jersey band mates Woody Shaw- an amazing nineteen years old at the time- on trumpet and Billy Brooks on drums. These are inspired young black musicians in a pivotal time for Black Americans, ogether these guys just cook, driven by Young’s pulsing B-3 moan and Brooks relentless traps. The music is electric like on Davis’ “Trane of Thought,” which shows how well Young’s left foot bass line could just drive the rhythmic heartbeat of the band. Woody Shaw’s fabled intervallic leaps are on grand display and saxophonist Davis shows his strong Coltrane influence.

The band is also featured on two Woody Shaw compositions the driving “Beyond All Limits” and quirky “Zoltan.” The first a skillful demonstration of tight group interplay-clearly owing a debt to the Blakey legacy- with Davis’ muscular tenor voice leading the way and Shaw’s sinewy trumpet lines weaving in and out of complex phrases. The rhythmic surety of Young and Brooks surge is like the endless splash of waves on a beach. When Young solos, his deft use of pull bars and masterful harmonies show the man’s unerring sense of time and space.  On “Zoltan” the cadenced opening by Brooks is reminiscent of a military march. This is a live recording and the energy level is palpable. Young and Brooks lay the modal groove over which Davis-sounding more like Rollins here- and Shaw soar in opposing statements of acclamation with fury.  Shaw is particularly kinetic in the higher register having at times a decidedly Gillespie-like sound to his horn. After a long Shaw solo, Young finally gets his chance to shine playing at first with a restrained, almost muted sound before skillfully adjusting his pull bars to create a wail of urgency that brings the entire song up a notch in intensity. This leads the group into a frenzied exchange with Shaw, Davis and Brooks all trading licks in a flurry of excitement and drama that is just a marvel to behold.  

The Nathan Davis Quartet circa 1964 Photo Credit Jean Pieree Leloir

The group is expanded into the Jazz aux Champs-Elysees All Stars with the addition of French players. Tenor saxophonist Jean-Claude Forhrenbach, trumpeter Sonny Grey, and pianist and leader Jack Diếval, along with Italian drummer Franco Manzecchi and conga player Jackie Bamboo.   Together they tackle Young’s bopping “Talkin’ About J.C.” with a joyful abandon. The extended front line is fluid and precise as they navigate tune’s head. The solos flow solidly throughout. Half way through Fohrenbach takes his turn on tenor with a deeply melodic, Getzian tone to his swing, complimented by Diếval’s piano comping. Drummer Manzecchi is delightfully loose and freewheeling, he and conga player Bamboo push the tempo. Maestro Young holds down the fort with the two percussionists keeping the groove smooth as silk throughout with brilliantly understated comping that is like of carpet of sound-very similar to McCoy Tyner’s work on piano- that sets the scene for the others to make their statements. Diếval and Young have a wonderful interchange of ideas at about the twelve-minute mark, with Larry sometimes laying leading basslines for Diếval’s pianistic explorations. Young’s solo on this is perhaps his most creative of the album probing and exploratory all within the framework of a deep groove. The international group continues with “La valse grise”, a song presumed to be penned by the French pianist and the All Star’s band leader Jack Diếval. The cool blues groove “Discotheque” is more traditional fare. Young creates his own groove with his pedal driven walking bass line and deeply sultry organ comping. Diếval offers a Martial Solal inspired piano solo.  

Perhaps the most striking part of these internationally spiced sessions is the stark contrast in the playing styles of the horn and reed players. The American players being much more under the influence of the Coltrane/Tyner legacy then their European counterparts whose sound is much more rooted in the legato, deep throated tone of Webster, Hawkins and Ellington.

Young is featured on two songs in the trio setting with conga player Jacky Bamboo and drummer Franco Manzecchi, the campy “Mean to Me” and Young’s own “Luny Tune.”  There is an immediate intuitive connection between Young and Manzecchi, with the drummer  being particularly attuned to Young’s lofty explorations. Listening to Young breath life and excitement into the otherwise lackluster “Mean to Me” is just a joy to behold. You can hear Manzecchi playfully responding to Young pushing the harmonic boundaries of the song’s limits.

On the jaunty “Luny Tunes,” Young is at his most creative, laying down a firm bottom and adjusting his drawbars to the perfect gurgling sound, always facile enough to adjust his sound appropriately as he changes direction, all the while Manzecchi is step for step with him accenting at all the correct breaks as if the two musicians were of the same mind.

Hearing Young on piano is a rare treat and he plays brilliantly on the finale titled “Larry’s Blues.” He is joined by French bassist Jacques B. Hess and the intuitive and Italian drummer Franco Manzecchi who again proves up to the task of anticipating Young's excursions. Young is particularly Monkian in his dissonant approach and yet he always keeps that groove. 

The booklet that comes with this cd set is filled with a treasure trove of information and never before seen photographs that just make the whole listening experience so much more complete. Larry Young’s connections to both Eric Dolphy and Bill Evan’s makes for some fascinating reading. Notes and comments by guitarist John McLaughlin and organist John Medski are equally compelling as are recollections from Nathan Davis, the musicians' progeny Woody Shaw III and Larry Young III.  For any student of the music and the jazz organ in particular Larry Young in Paris the ORTF Recordings offer a rare glimpse into the evolution of a truly unique giant of his instrument.