Soul Stream

That's right. All of John's Blue Note recordings would have been done on Rudy's Hammond C3 in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. This was his gigging organ. You probably can't tell from the pictures, but this organ has lots of scars and stories to go with it. Still sounds unbelievable. I maintain it and play it daily. It doesn't leave my house and is babied to death. Thelma actually tried to donate this to the Smithsonian and they wouldn't take it (go figure.) John didn't record on this B3, but he did compose all his famous songs on it and gigged solely on this organ with Grant Green, Lou Donaldson, Sonny Stitt, Junior Cook, Tommy Turrentine, Eddie Gladden, Ben Dixon, Harold Alexander, George Braith, Blue Mitchell, Art Taylor, George Coleman, Hank Mobley, Arthur Prysock and on and on (virtually every legendary jazz musican on the New York scene from the 60's on.) Plus many organ legends sat in and played on this organ such as Larry Young and Don Patterson. I remember John telling me he used to rent this organ to Jack McDuff as well. Grant and John probably hauled this thing up a thousand stairs in it's day.

As a few of you know, I received John Patton's Hammond B3 and Leslie from his widow Thelma last spring and thought some of you might enjoy a few pictures of it. A little background on it. John only owned 2 organs in his lifetime. The first was, what he described as, a beautiful "ebony" Hammond that fell out of Lou Donaldson's trailer and was destroyed very soon after he got it. The organ I have is the organ his bought after that. The story John told me about this B3 is that he and Grant Green walked into Macy's in downtown NYC in 1963 and bought this B3 brand new. I've taken a shot of the Macy's logo that is on the front rail. Very rare that a Hammond would have any other logo but that of the company. Also, the picture above it is a placard I found behind the organ that is a hand painted sign for the John Patton Organ Quartet hosted by the Bronx Cultural Arts Center.

Yeah, ...I did myspace for a minute and got so freaked out by wierdos sending me pms and put funky comments up and wanting to be my 'friend' that I dropped it. Also, it's not a website for myself or my music.... So...any ideas?

I was looking at George Coleman's website and in T.V. "appearances" listed a 1968 Captain Kangaroo episode on which he performed with Lee Morgan and the Billy Taylor trio! Don't remember seeing that one as a kid, but I might have.

Still listening to this and....what can you say....the best of the best, playing their best. Unbelievable music on this. George Coleman should be on Mount Rushmore.

Wondering what the cheapest and easiest way to start a website is. I have ZERO computer skills....

I stumbled upon Jazz Discography. Org this weekend and have now officially been cursed with knowing what great songs have been recorded on some of my favorite sessions that have never been released!!! This sucks!!! How do you live with this knowledge. I hate Blue Note and Verve now for withholding these gems. I mean Harold Vick, John Patton, Grant Green and Ben Dixon record a few songs under Vicks name and they're just sitting in the can! Also, why wasn't One More Bell To Answer released on the new Grant Green Mozambique CD! That's just the tip of the iceberg. Uggg...

The Miles group with Hank is my favorite lineup next to the Coltrane period. I never thought the Blackhawk or Someday My Prince Will Come recordings ever really captured what Hank was truely capable of on a GREAT night. NOW WE'LL KNOW FOR SURE!!!!!! THIS IS MINDBLOWING!!!!!! I can't imagine Columbia not wanting to release these tapes if they're in as good of shape as you've suggested. Amazing.

I'm sure it will be a shot bar with a d.j. in no time....

Mosaic pulls up some funky shizzit to reisssue sometimes....their selects and singles are losing me a little bit. I guess it's all good and to each it's own.

If you haven't heard these due to some sort of pre-conceived cut off date, then you're really missing out. Marchel is in excellent form and the sound quality is wonderful. The CD with DeFrancesco is just an all out wonderful musical experience. Marchel...man, you GOTTA hear that guy on Leaning House.

I guess I can't disagree if you compare things like Blue John with his later Blue Notes. It's also interesting to note that Ben Dixon actually wrote quite a few of the songs on Patton's first Blue Note LP. No doubt Patton had an affinity for the ascending triplet. It's a real cornerstone of his style. I'm not sure all the songs Patton wrote for Lloyd Price. Although he didn't get credit for "Personality" and also another one of Lloyd's bigger hits (can't remember which one). He got the screw job on that because he was young and unaware of how he was being taken advantage of. I'm sure he missed out on quite a bit of bread on that one since it was such a big hit.

I think of all the major organists, John Patton and Larry Young were two of the least prone to pet cliche "licks." Especially John's work from "That Certain Feeling" onward. Take an album like "Understanding" or "Memphis To New York Spirit" and point out the 'annoying licks' please. And as far as compositions go.... His later composing style is largely modal, which might be boring to some I guess depending on where your head is at. As Ben Dixon said at John's funeral. "I had the jazz and John had the melodies." John wrote pop hits for Lloyd Price such as "Personality." Grachan Moncur III said he learned a lot about harmony from John and really dug his songwriting. So I guess to each his own.....

Just speaking for myself as someone who gladly ditched records for CDs. I'm not a format hound at all. That said, in the last 10 years and especially the last 3 I've gone back to playing vinyl sometimes for a variety of reasons. Mostly, it's like a Zen moment. I put on the record and have to listen to each cut at flip it in the middle. Unlike my iPod which I flip around every other song, I hardly ever listen to a whole album on it. Also, simply some of this music isn't out on CD in the states or anywhere. But yeah, I mostly do it in a sentimental way.

Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers "Tough"

Man, I haven't looked at Ebay Mosaic Box Set prices in a looooong time. Did tonight, and it makes me wonder how much I reallllly need some of my sets. Damn, prices have really gone through the roof. Especially LP sets. I saw a John Hardee set I believe go for over $1,300?!!!!

Here in Austin, there's a hell of a lot of bands that release vinyl along with CD. I was in Antone's records yesterday and saw some cool new vinyl with great artwork by a band here in town called Ghostland Observatory. Laugh all you want about the Big Band Comeback. Vinyl has really slowly crept into the young psyche. It's the "blowback" or fallout of the download age. Kids are trying to reach back to something they perceive as more real (fantasy as that is or not), and vinyl is they way some are doing it.

Yeah,...this is still available as a reissue LP as far as I know. It's a record Jimmy put out on his own Mojo label when the popularity of the B3 was fully in the toilet. Nothing special, just Jimmy Smith being Jimmy Smith on some blues, funk... a pop song. It's pretty cool to hear him yell and holler on "Can't Get Enough" the funk tune. But what I really want to hear is the album that seems to have never been released, but was mentioned as the next release on Jimmy Smith's Mojo LP "Second Coming"...it promos... COMING NEXT; "THE JIMMY SMITH SOUND" New album with instructions and illustration by Jimmy, explaining how to play "His" sound. Scheduled for release in late 1981

I would just say I think that if you started playing tenor in Texas, you're probably playing a hell of a lot of blues to begin with. And in a lot of places that don't give a damn about you unless you can deliver on an emotional level. That may be true a lot of places, but none moreso than Texas. I think Jim can attest to that fact. It makes for a pretty invincible sound on the instrument!

AM sucked....yeah, that's why we turned to FM and 8 tracks!

I posted this on the original post, but will put it here as well Hey everyone, I guess I didn't see this thread when it first came up! And yes those are my liner notes I wrote for George Braith. This CD is something George put together from some recordings he made with John right before he passed away. A few of the songs were just some duo things of he and John upstairs at John's house. George added drums and guitar afterwards to those, one of which has Ben Dixon on it. There was no guitar player on the live gig here in Austin, and George had Eddie Deihl overdub some rhythm on Funky Mama. The live gig was kind of a wreck since the drummer wasn't really making it for the most part and a friend from the crowd had to get up and finish the night. These things were recorded on a home multitrack cassette recorder, and the sound is in accordance with that so be aware. I think George even had to overdub some of his tenor since it was so low in the mix on the original recording. Also, George overdubbed some synth keyboards and vocals on the duo things. All that said, there are some moments caught and it was I believe John's second to last gig. His last being the gig at Smoke where he basically passed away. I still love pulling out this recording for all it's flaws since it brings back so many memories for me.

Hey everyone, I guess I didn't see this thread when it first came up! And yes those are my liner notes I wrote for George Braith. This CD is something George put together from some recordings he made with John right before he passed away. A few of the songs were just some duo things of he and John upstairs at John's house. George added drums and guitar afterwards to those, one of which has Ben Dixon on it. There was no guitar player on the live gig here in Austin, and George had Eddie Deihl overdub some rhythm on Funky Mama. The live gig was kind of a wreck since the drummer wasn't really making it for the most part and a friend from the crowd had to get up and finish the night. These things were recorded on a home multitrack cassette recorder, and the sound is in accordance with that so be aware. I think George even had to overdub some of his tenor since it was so low in the mix on the original recording. Also, George overdubbed some synth keyboards and vocals on the duo things. All that said, there are some moments caught and it was I believe John's second to last gig. His last being the gig at Smoke where he basically passed away. I still love pulling out this recording for all it's flaws since it brings back so many memories for me.

In this day and age, if you really want an item at a reasonable price you should snipe. Sniping also forces you to set a max amount you're really comfortable with. No biding wars. No paying more than you really want to 'cause you "set it and forget it." There's plenty of free snipe sites and I think it's prudent to go that route. It's all part of the Ebay game. I was bummed the first few times I was sniped before I was hipped to the free sites. I would venture to guess that nearly every auction that has multiple bids has at least one snipe program coming in at the end.

Sweet Revival is a VERY commercial affair, that said....Ronnie Foster is REALLY playing his ass off on some of those solos. Put it on when you've got an hour to kill and don't skip around...play it all the way through. He's PLAYING on that thing! Check out INOT on that record...RONNIE IS PLAYING HIS ASS ON THAT!!!!!! Also, check out his beautiful solos on Alone Again and Where Is The Love. The solos on Sweet Revival are long and great JAZZ solos on commercial vehicles. CHECK IT!