[Oop bop sh'bam]

Has anyone heard of or heard Rhoda Scott? She was in San Francisco last year, at a small local club, and she really cooked on the B-3. One highlight I recall was her kicking bass solo! Apparently she has lived in Paris for many years, and I knew nothing about her until her gig. Oh, adding to that great experience was Houston Person on tenor sax!

[Soul Stream]

Rhoda is one bad player. A lot of her recorded work is available from www.dustygroove.com at very reasonable prices (9 or 10 bucks a piece). On some of those things she's playing with just a drummer (Kenny Clarke), and that's not easy to do and make interesting music. She does it. Great player and someone who hasn't gotten much attention since she's lived in France since the 70's I believe.

[Jim Alfredson]

Agreed... very good organist. I think Pete Fallico featured her on an "Women of Jazz Organ" concert awhile ago. Is that what you saw? Barbara Dennerlein was there too. Another great female organist!

Do they really have a lot of Rhoda's work on Dusty Groove? That stuff is hard to find.

[Harold_Z]

Rhoda worked around Newark, NJ a lot in the early 60's before she went to Paris. She may be from Newark. She had a nice little trio with Joe Thomas on Tenor and flute and Bill Elliot on drums. I have one prestige lp of that group - "Live At The Key Club". Good groove album.. Nice basslines - the works. I'll have to check Dusty Groove for more by her. Last I heard she makes periodic trips back to the states for gigs.

[mikeb]

IMHO, two of the best Rhoda Scott albums are part of the "Jazz In Paris" series: one is"Live At The Olympia", recorded in 1971 with Joe Thomas on flute and tenor and 'Cees' Kranenburg on drums. Great renditions of Trane's "Equinox", "Wade In The Water", "Li'l Darlin'", "Thank You (Fa Lettin' Me Be Myself)" and a drop-dead killer "Ain't No Use". The second features Rhoda in a duo with Kenny Clarke on drums, recorded in 1977. Soul Stream hit it on the nose -- too much music for just two people! These can be found at the Groove, I would think.

Wish she had gotten the opportunity to record more through the years ...

Any more recommendations?

[brownie]

Rhoda Scott is pretty active in France where she is travelling pretty often. She is playing in Caen, French Normandy, on March 8. Read all about her at the following website www.rhodascott.com

[Dan Gould]

I saw that Live at the Key Club LP very recently, but it looked pretty beaten up for the price so I passed.

[JSngry]

Not to sidetrack the thread, but what's the deal w/Joe Thomas? Isn't/wasn't he called "The Ebony Godfather"? Is this the same cat that played tenor w/Lunceford? Couldn't be, could it?

[Harold_Z]

Jim, No, it's not the same cat.

This Joe Thomas is from Newark and has made a bunch of albums for Sonny Lester, among them is "The Ebony Godfather".
He's done a lot a gigs with name cats, including Jimmy Smith and he's a regular in the Newark scene. He's a REAL nice cat! He tried having a big band sometime around 1984 or so and I was fortunate enough to have the electric bass chair. Jimmy Anderson, Gene Phipps, Billy Phipps, Herb Robertson and Phillip Harper were also in that band.

BTW - Bill Elliot was Dionne Warwick's first husband.

[Harold_Z]

Joe is a good arranger also.

[jazzkrow]

I saw Rhoda Scott at last years Monterey Jazz Festival where she played with Houston Person-one of-if not the best-Hammond B-3 live sessions I have ever heard. IMHO, it was the highlight of the whole festival.
Greezy organ and soulful tenor of Houston's-life doesn't get much better!
Her Jazz in Paris cds are great-but live is where it's at!

-jazzkrow (glad to be here!)

[Soul Stream]

Yeah, she's great. Anybody that can play an organ duo is a badass. That Jazz In Parix is baaadd...

[michel devos]

I have known Rhoda Scott since 1973 : she had just arrived in Paris and was playing around , she even came to play a jazz club in Brussels called Pol's at that time.Eventually, she was so successful she played back again here in 1974 and she was kind enough to let me tape the 3 sets she played, since I was then a student in sound engineering(very nice home work to do, I must say...).

At that time, she had played on a regular basis with Kenny Clarke who was also living in Paris : this duo was her regular format, adding from time to time Joe Thomas (flute and tenor).Having played long engagements at the Club St Germain in Paris, she went back on the road with a dutch drummer, Kees Craenenburg Jr and toured a good deal of France, Belgium, Germany and recorded several albums for Barclay.Just to mention afew of them :

Take a ladder with Daniel Humair drms probably her first recording dated 1973.
Rhoda Scott plays Ballads 3 LP's with Michael Silva drms
Come Bach to me with Felix Simtaine drms
Classics and Jazz with Vic Jones drms

Living in France not so far away from Paris, she is very active and seems to come back more often in the US, where she played with Houston Pearson, a.o invited by Pete Fallico at the Monterey Festival.

I met her again last year and we recorded six sessions live with drummer Felix Simtaine : her playing is astonishing as ever, with real bass from the footpedals...her virtuosity in that sector is beyond par, believe me.In the club she played, there were 3 Leslie's 147 connected to her B3 : powerfull setup, I daresay.

Nevertheless, do not miss any opportunity to listen to her live...she's a killer....

This post has been edited by michel devos: 11 March 2003 - 02:01 PM

[Jim Alfredson]

Damn, three Leslies!!! I can hook up three Leslies to my organ. I've done it once, but not live. That would be spectacular! :) THE SOUND!

Do you still have those tapes you recorded, Michel?

[mikeweil]

That would be a nice Mosaic Select set, eh?
B-3er, have you heard her 1996 solo organ CD for French Verve, "Alone"? Very nice stuff. Was there any other jazz organist ever doing a whole record solo? I know of some single solo tracks on Don Patterson's LPs, but a whole album? What a challenge! And duos as well, I think she did it more often than all other organists, at least on record.
By the way, has anybody heard the LP she did with the Thad Jones Mel Lewis Orchestra? How's this one?

[michel devos]

mikeweil, on Mar 12 2003, 06:32 PM, said:

That would be a nice Mosaic Select set, eh?
B-3er, have you heard her 1996 solo organ CD for French Verve, "Alone"? Very nice stuff. Was there any other jazz organist ever doing a whole record solo? I know of some single solo tracks on Don Patterson's LPs, but a whole album? What a challenge! And duos as well, I think she did it more often than all other organists, at least on record. 
By the way, has anybody heard the LP she did with the Thad Jones Mel Lewis Orchestra? How's this one?

Another female superstar for the contender of the wildest solo organ player would be delicious Barbbara Dennerlein...Jawöhl, she's sweet and powerfull, using sometimes both feet for the pedals
She plays more and more church organ in Germany, Zwitserland and Luxemburg (Claude, watch this closely...)One of her albums is dedidated to solo work, recorded Live.Try also Love Letters and Barbara Dennerlein plays classics (jazz, I mean...)

Real tough... :excited:

[michel devos]

mikeweil, on Mar 12 2003, 06:32 PM, said:

That would be a nice Mosaic Select set, eh?
B-3er, have you heard her 1996 solo organ CD for French Verve, "Alone"? Very nice stuff. By the way, has anybody heard the LP she did with the Thad Jones Mel Lewis Orchestra? How's this one?

Was there any other jazz organist ever doing a whole record solo? I know of some single solo tracks on Don Patterson's LPs, but a whole album? What a challenge! And duos as well, I think she did it more often than all other organists, at least on record.

Hi Mike,

No doubt you know sweet baby Barbara Dennerlein : she made recently a solo cd recorded Live

Try also Love Letters and B.D.Plays classics. She mainly tours Germany and Switzerland, sometimes playing church organ, notably in Luxembourg*-Dudelange (Claude..?) :excited:

[mikeweil]

Of course I know Barbara Dennerlein, she's one of the most active jazz artists in Germany, has great chops, but I found her a little hyperactive when I heard her play with groups, playing uptempo with virtuosic solos in most numbers. Is there any album where she takes a little more time? If she could pace herself some more I think I could appreciate her playing a lot more. Anyway, I'll check out that solo album of hers.

[Bright Moments]

i just discovered rhoda via her "take five" cd.

excellent!!!

:tup

[Dave James]

Barbara Dennerlein doing "Killer Joe" from the CD "Hot Stuff." One of my first "go to" jazz tunes soon after my mainstream epiphany. Had to have been 15 years ago, if not more.

Up over and out.

[mikeweil]

michel devos, on Mar 13 2003, 02:27 AM, said:

Was there any other jazz organist ever doing a whole record solo? I know of some single solo tracks on Don Patterson's LPs, but a whole album? What a challenge! And duos as well, I think she did it more often than all other organists, at least on record.

Barbara Dennerlein made at least two solo organ CDS, one on a church organ, and at least one duo with Argentinian drummer Daniel Messina.

Jeff Palmer recorded his first album solo, on Improvising artists (click here) - AFAIK it is still available, if only on cassette and directly from him.

Clare Fischer did one solo LP for Revelation (Great White Hope! was the title - not a Hammond but some electronic machine he used, and two tracks on Rhodes piano), and one for MPS on a small baroque pipe organ in label chief Brunner-Schwer's posession (Clare Declares). Very nice and madly swinging record, which is very hard to do on a pipe organ.

[king ubu]

Hey fellas, I have heard what you all wouldn't dare to dream about: Rhoda & Barbara Dennerlein playing *together*! They probably had a dozen of Leslies, and they groove! That act took place in Zwitserland, btw (love that spelling, Michel!)

Missed this thread the first time around. I had the duo disc with Klook back then. In the meantime I also got the disc with Joe Thomas. It's fine, but her singing there is not really needed, in my opinion. I could do with the instumental tracks alone, I'm afraid.

[brownie]

Rhoda Scott has a 2CD new release (out in a couple of weeks here) that may be interesting. Ricky Ford and Houston Person are on the live recording!
http://www.alapage.c...pport=CD&sv=X_L

[michel devos]

[QUOTE](love that spelling, Michel

Hi Ubu,

Zorry for the mizzpelling...I pozzibly have a zlight problem with my keyboard, or iz it again Microzoft..?I'll check at a Zhop today and zend you a new mezzage to zee if it getz any better.

All the bezt to my zwizz friendz :g

[king ubu]

[quote name='michel devos' date='May 2 2005, 06:03 PM']

Quote

(love that spelling, Michel

Hi Ubu,

Zorry for the mizzpelling...I pozzibly have a zlight problem with my keyboard, or iz it again Microzoft..?I'll check at a Zhop today and zend you a new mezzage to zee if it getz any better.

All the bezt to my zwizz friendz :g

:lol:

[jazzbo]

That new one looks GOOD.

[brownie]

Still have not listened to the double CD yet. However note that Ricky Ford and Houston Person do not play a la Dexter/Wardell.
Ford is on one disc, Person is on the other.

[sidewinder]

I've got a Jap LP copy of the Rhoda Scott with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. Pretty good as I recall, will have to dust it off tonight.

I also saw Barbara Dennerlein live over 10 years ago now when she was still in her 20s. 'Hot Stuff' inded ! That 'Hot Stuff' CD has quite a few potboilers but there's also a couple of more reflective numbers which cover this 'quieter' aspect of her playing. The German Baroque church organ influence creeps in quite a bit on these tracks.

[brownie]

The new Rhoda Scott 'Very Saxy' double CD is real good. It's the first album from her I really like. Great performances from Ricky Ford on the first disc and Houston Person on the second one plus excellent support from guitarist Melvin Sparks and French drummer Lucien Dobat throughout.
Ricky Ford seems to have listened a lot to Sonny Rollins lately. And that Rollins-like sonound is a kicker!
Might be a good idea for Rollins too to get into a saxophone/organ trio groove!

Not sure 'Very Saxy' is out yet but look for it when it is! One to add to the greaazzy list!

[Michael Fitzgerald]

The charts for the Rhoda Scott album with the Jones-Lewis Orchestra were recently discovered after being lost for almost 30 years. I heard some of them played at the Vanguard last week (no organist present).

Mike