Jim Alfredson

You all see why I love this guy! A nice picture up on our website, speaking of Art Blakey. Who's that crazy white-boy at his side?

Man, I jump in my car to get some lunch this afternoon, turn on WEMU here in Ann Arbor and guess what's playin'?? Only the baddest organ trio to come out of Mid-Michigan! Sweet!

Classical?!?! Do people actually listen to that shit? That's a good idea... although the wife idea is better. That way she won't kill me for spending money we really don't have! :rsly:

Ok, so I just joined BMG for the second time. I was a member for a few years until they sent me some crappy Boney James record and I sent it back and they didn't get and they tried to charge me for it... blah blah blah. Anyway, I saw that they had "Boss Tenors in Orbit" which I've been wanting to get for awhile, but it's always at least $17 on any website so... This is what I got for my first seven: 1 Gene Ammons with Sonny Stitt Boss Tenors In Orbit! 2 Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans Know What I Mean? (Remastered) 3 John Coltrane Coltrane Plays The Blues (Remastered) 4 Grant Green Trio Green Street (Remastered) 5 Norah Jones Come Away With Me (IT'S FOR THE WIFE!!!!) 6 Jack McDuff Moon Rappin' (Remastered) 7 Joe Williams Joe Williams At Newport '63 (Remastered) Problem is, I only saw one other disc that I wanted on there. Does the catalog open up a little more once you become a member? I don't know if there are five more discs I want. Maybe I'll just give them to the wife. She'll find something.

Hey, this is a family board!!

I never knew! That's hilarious! What era is that show supposed to be set in? Wasn't the saxophone invented in 1880?

Harvey Birdman... Attorney At Law.

There are definately things solo-wise you can do on piano that you can't do on organ and vice versa. Just study some Jimmy Smith records and you'll know what to do. As far as what to do with your left hand with a bassist, same thing you would if you're playing piano. Hit some chords. Check out Shirley Scott. She recorded with a bassist 90% of the time and didn't use a guitarist, so she comped chords behind herself. But, if you're playing a synth B3, comping behind yourself is kind of hard. The Hammond has two manuals, remember, and Shirley had two different drawbar settings for each manual. She had a lighter, softer, duller sound on the bottom manual to comp with and her brighter, more percussive sound on the top manual for solos. If your keyboard can do a split, that might be the best way to achieve something similair.

Damn... I want that box set. Lord knows I ain't got no money to be spending on CDs! But super-discounted CDs... like those 12 for 1 deals they give you for signing up... now that I can do! Do they still give you free CDs if you sign up a friend? B)

A question that remains to be answered: In my second post on that thread I claim that Rudy must've recorded Larry through a line taken directly from the Hammond's preamp since Larry's sound on the Bluenote stuff is so pure. My mentor claims that Rudy did not use a direct box, but instead mic'd a Leslie AND a Hammond tone cabinet (no spinning speakers). By controlling the mix between the two, he could achieve different shades of the organ tone. For Larry he used more of the stationary Hammond cabinet speakers... for Jimmy Smith he used more Leslie. I wonder which one is correct?

I think that he was, simply because he re-defined what the organ sounded like. Before him, people were trying to emulate big band horn sections and nobody kicked bass like he did. The solo sound he came up with and the idea of playing chords with that drawbar setting he used... all original. Wasn't it Coltrane that said he used to fall asleep with Jimmy's sound in his head? You can hear some things that Coltrane stole from Jimmy in those early records. That stuff is wild!

Randy's mom is cool! She just heard an "unfinished" mix that was dull and "Lifeless". I'm sure she'd dig the tune now!

that would do it!

Yeah, they didn't mention Jimmy in my "jazz" history class either. Clowns. He's only one of the most influential keyboardists (and obviously THE most influential organist) of the 20th century. Less sophisticated my ass. Let's see any horn player sit down and play what Jimmy played back in the 50's on the organ. Bass lines, bass pedals, and all.

Yahel is a great organist. He's been using more pedals lately, too. When I first heard him, I thought to myself, "Is this Larry Goldings under a pseudonym?" but he's since grown into his own. He's the main reason I like the Yaya3 record and Redman's newest. Brian Blade would be the second reason and Redman the third.

Ah yes, but the Boogaloo Sisters dig both kinds of music: Those with words, and those without!

Thanks, Matthew. A very kind review. Everybody is entitled to their opinions. I recall that Randy's mom isn't a big fan of Lifewish either. Oh well!

"You'll keep searching the used bins... The whole day through..."

I will do that! Thanks for the tip! Wait a minute... I have no budget for CDs... the wife will kill me... Oh well... I'll scour the used stores!

Y'all need to get hip to the Atlantic dates that McDuff did! Those sides are NASTY! I'm talking Double-Barrelled Soul with Fathead Newman. I'm talking Tobacco Road! I'm talking about... JESUS, look at McDuff's pants on the cover of Tobacco Road!!!!

Is it just me or does Tryone kind of look like Lou Rawls on that album cover?

I hope Jimmy gets better. He's had a rough go. He's truly a genius and one of the most influencial keyboardist of our time. Is there anyone who plays Hammond that didn't steal something from him? Not likely. I'm glad I got to see him at least once. Even if he was crotchety! God bless Jimmy Smith.

The "cheating" thing can be taken many ways. I'm not sure what Lou was talking about, but when most organists who play pedals talk of cheating they are referring to cats who just stomp one pedal (usually the Bb) at the front of every note in a walkin' bass line. The Jimmy Smith way is to actually shadow the bass line that you are playing in your left hand with your left foot. You tap the pedal just slightly ahead of the key you're hitting with your left hand and that adds an attack to the front of the note and simulates an acoustic bass. It helps the bass lines cut through more, since the Hammond bass doesn't have many overtones and can get very muddy in some situations. You can achieve the same effect by "cheating" and just tapping one pedal... to an extent. If you're shadowing the left hand it's easier to lay into the pedals more for those nice accents. Larry Goldings is a fine organist. I like all his records and I really like his basslines on that Brecker record. He's playing some very very different bass lines than other organists. I've seen video footage of him using the "one pedal tap" method. And then I've seen him not use the pedals at all except for various accents. I don't mind that. He's admitted he's not much of a pedal player. Although he seems to be using them more and more on his records. I think it's a shame that the Soulive organist doesn't use them, as they can really help a funk bass line. I think he's even gone so far as to abandon the Hammond bass and play some sort of synth module. Whatever floats your boat. His left hand is amazing. If he got together with Chester Thompson and learned the bass pedals, he'd be an absolute monster. Correct me if I'm wrong, but to my ears it doesn't sound like Larry Young used pedals that much. It sounds to me like he used mainly just the left hand.

Re: Singers. I have a beef with instrumental groups adding singers on one or two tracks. This trend just irks me. If I buy an Ed Cherry record with Dr. Lonnie Smith on it, I want to hear Ed Cherry and Dr. Lonnie Smith. I don't want to hear some boring singer chew her way through some lazy standard. Same goes with Soulive. It's instrumental improvisational music, right? What do you need a singer for? Of course, I just have a general beef with all modern singers, with very few exceptions. Cassandra Wilson is the biggest exception. But in general, I find "jazz" singers boring. I find pop singers even more boring with very very very few exceptions.

I heard the title track on WCMU the other night. Pretty inventive improvisations. It piqued my curiosity. I can't say I have any Kenny Garrett, although I've always liked what I hear.