Matthew Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Yeah, this is all very interesting! I was going to ask you to re-post the Jimmy Smith settings, Jim; you put them on the old BN board, but ... An obvious question is: can you still get parts for the B3, or do you have to get custom-made parts? I suppose, as with a vintage car, you could get another purely for parts. Yeah! What's does Smith do to get that special "Shut the hell up and let some other cat blow!" stop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Actually most pipe organs have three manuals or more. The reason is like you said... you can have different registrations set up on each one and switch quickly between them. In the picture I posted, a B3's drawbars are represented by the bottom illustration. The top illustration is for the spinet models like the M3. As you can see there are a total of 20 drawbars. The first nine are for the top manual, the middle two black ones for the pedals, and the last nine for the bottom manual. This is a photo of the New B3 discussed above, but the layout is the same. Check out the set of reversed keys at the far left. You see how the ones that are supposed to be white are black and vice versa? These are actually presets that are hardwired in the back. Hammond organs had presents 40 years before synthesizers did. Amazing. You'll notice a whole bunch of drawbars, too. 38 of them, in fact. Two of the preset keys for each manual are dedicated to switching between two banks of drawbars. In other words, you have two sets of nine drawbars for each manual that you can manually set yourself and then switch between them. Then you have the hard-wired presets that you can switch between in the back. Obviously you have to set those before you go out and play. They come set from the factory with classical registrations. But it's real neat. You can set up a couple of different sounds on the drawbars and then just hit those preset keys and BAM! You instantly have a new registration at your disposal. As far as parts, most of the electronics of the Hammond are still available. It used common electrical components. All the tubes it uses are still being made. The biggest thing are the mechanical parts. If a tonewheel goes out or your key contacts start to go, you have to sacrifice another Hammond. Luckily there were many different models that are very much alike and are very numerous, so parts are not too hard to find. As far as a book, there has been a decent one written about the history and the players and such. It's called "Hammond Organ: Beauty in the B". I have the first edition which has some mistakes but there's a second edition out now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 At the John Patton gig I saw on 8/11/01 at the Fat Cat, NYC, they played 'The Cat' by Lalo Schifrin, which is of course the title track to a Verve Jimmy Smith album. I had to ask Ronnie Cuber what the tune was - I had never heard the album. I thought they had played a speeded-up 'Rumproller'! Bertrand. I actually heard a tape of that gig. And if you remember....Ronnie Cuber started that song off. Patton had to catch up. Cuber played the theme and Patton just sort of did his Big John thing to it. So, I kind of stand by my thoughts that Big John wasn't really into the Smith thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Mike, there's a NEW one that came out last month with Sam Yahel under Kisor's name. Battlecry IS smokin', but I haven't heard the new one yet. I bet's it just as good, though! This is one to get, it seems - thanks for pointing out: Jim, do you have any idea why there are so few trumpet albums with organ - or rather organ records with trumpet without a sax? Do you know any others besides Kysor's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 B3-er: Thanks for the insight into the workings of the B-3, very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 I really like trumpet with an organ combo, and I don't know why it hasn't been explored more (hello Trumpet Guy... ) Larry Young's Unity with Woody Shaw, is an excellent example. I'm sure there's more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Patton did some great work with trumpet. And, of course, Lee and Blue played with Jimmy Smith. But, it's kind of uncommon. Why? I don't know. I think it's a beautiful combination. I actually used Jim Rotondi on my organ date and it was wonderful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davef Posted October 9, 2003 Report Share Posted October 9, 2003 B3er, thanks for taking the time to discuss all this stuff with us! One organist that I really like that I have not seen mentioned in this discussion is Barbara Dennerlein from Germany - made some really fine records in the 90's. German lady, still around (actually, she's 38, same as me). Patton and Young are my faves, with Patterson and Shirley Scott a little behind, then Groove Holmes, Freddie Roach, and Jimmy Smith. Also like McDuff - especially on Moon Rappin', Baby Face Willette, and Mel Rhyne. Anyone else I should check out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted October 9, 2003 Report Share Posted October 9, 2003 BILL HEID BILL HEID BILL HEID BILL HEID!!!!!!!! Y'all need to get hip and get Uncle Bill's stuff. He's Larry Young's direct disciple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted October 9, 2003 Report Share Posted October 9, 2003 I mean, listen to this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bill Heid's "Dombei" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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