Soul Stream

I would call Robert Walter a keyboard player, not an organist. He's a good all-around keys player. However, his organ playing (to me) sounds like a piano player playing organ. To call oneself a organist requires full-time devotion and a real knowledge of playing bass and the foot pedals imho.

I've gotten to the point where I just really enjoy everything Brother Jack every did on Prestige or Blue Note. I think Moon Rappin' to To Seek A New Home to Who Knows What Tommorrow Brings is a progression. I see those 3 albums as a trilogy. Sure, MR is my fav and spends the most time on my player, but I'm not so sure it will always be that way. I love these 3 albums for different reasons. WKWTB might be the most commercial, but I still love it cause Jack is still layin' down some super playing and I like Joe Beck and the arrangements. Some find them hokey or contrived, but I love this era in music and how the major organists adapted. Whereas Brother Jack achieved some great things with these 3 albums as oppossed to Groove Holmes who did some really bad albums in this time. Brother Jack is just badass!!!

Gee, I had never heard Jimmy Raney believe it or not. Just have and I think Grant Green ought to give Jimmy a hundred dollar bill for all Jimmy's style Grant coped. Jimmy's awesome and since Grant is my fav., to here Jimmy now is a big treat and eye-opener. For those who say whites have no contribution to jazz, they should have asked Grant about Jimmy Raney.

WHOA!!! Details, please! Yes, this is on the DVD THE BEAT Vol. 4. It's an expensive DVD compiling by Bear Family of many of the shows (maybe all) of the T.V. show THE BEAT, which was broadcast out of Dallas in the mid sixties. Shows include a lot of great stars and the backup band is headed each time by Gatemouth Brown! Freddie's on a lot of the shows and others include Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Joe Simon, Patty LaBelle, Frogman Henry, ect... a who's who of sixties blues and R&B. The best part is local redneck D.J. Hoss Allen who's a hoot and actually is too drunk to announce one of the shows so Otis Redding steps in to M.C.... We have this series for rent here at Waterloo Video (also for sale there) here in Austin. That said, don't think Blockbuster's gonna have this one. Is this the DVD? (I note to my dismay that it won't play over in Britain.) MG yes, that's it... I think there's 6 volumes so far. each has 4 shows on it i believe. Thanks, Soul Station. Now, how to get something that lets me play US DVDs is another bunch of technology I've got to get to grips with. At my age, there are diminishing returns from technology... MG I'm a tech idiot, but I think Bear Family is out of Germany...although I don't know anything beyond that.

WHOA!!! Details, please! Yes, this is on the DVD THE BEAT Vol. 4. It's an expensive DVD compiling by Bear Family of many of the shows (maybe all) of the T.V. show THE BEAT, which was broadcast out of Dallas in the mid sixties. Shows include a lot of great stars and the backup band is headed each time by Gatemouth Brown! Freddie's on a lot of the shows and others include Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Joe Simon, Patty LaBelle, Frogman Henry, ect... a who's who of sixties blues and R&B. The best part is local redneck D.J. Hoss Allen who's a hoot and actually is too drunk to announce one of the shows so Otis Redding steps in to M.C.... We have this series for rent here at Waterloo Video (also for sale there) here in Austin. That said, don't think Blockbuster's gonna have this one. Is this the DVD? (I note to my dismay that it won't play over in Britain.) MG yes, that's it... I think there's 6 volumes so far. each has 4 shows on it i believe.

WHOA!!! Details, please! Yes, this is on the DVD THE BEAT Vol. 4. It's an expensive DVD compiling by Bear Family of many of the shows (maybe all) of the T.V. show THE BEAT, which was broadcast out of Dallas in the mid sixties. Shows include a lot of great stars and the backup band is headed each time by Gatemouth Brown! Freddie's on a lot of the shows and others include Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Joe Simon, Patty LaBelle, Frogman Henry, ect... a who's who of sixties blues and R&B. The best part is local redneck D.J. Hoss Allen who's a hoot and actually is too drunk to announce one of the shows so Otis Redding steps in to M.C.... We have this series for rent here at Waterloo Video (also for sale there) here in Austin. That said, don't think Blockbuster's gonna have this one.

The idea of trying to compare all these Lonnie dates is pretty useless. All these dates define what good organ jazz is about imho. We all have our own favorites. I think 99% of all jazz organists who ever lived wish they could produce one LP as good as "Drives." Psychedelic Pie is pretty crazy and unique and isn't that what it's all about in the end. Not to mention 25 Miles is one of Lonnie's funkiest efforts, it's pure Lonnie all the way...what's bad about that? Anyway, yeah...Alligator Bogaloo put Lonnie on the map, but "Move Your Hand" put him on the national map as a solo artist. It was a huge album, although "Think" started the ball rolling no doubt. I mean, even blues bands down here were covering "Move Your Hand" at the time. ...as a side note saw Freddie King and Gatemouth covering "Funky Mama" on THE BEAT t.v. show DVD from the sixties. Badass stuff if you can find it. Also Louis Jordan with Chris Columbo on drums and an organ trio burning it up ala 1966 right there in Dallas, Texas.

George Braith still keeps up with Eddie and had him do some some playing on some things George is/was working on.

Well, to begin with, anything Lonnie Smith has ever recorded is great. Simply because he's one of the legendary organists, and there's only a handfull. Move Your Hand is in the top ten organ records of all time. Maybe it's the title track that puts it in that catagory. I agree that Mozambique spends more time on my turntable than this one, better playing and players imho. BUT, Move Your Hand is one of THE live records of this era and with every ring of the cash register you can feel the vibe. I get the same good feeling from Charles Earland's "Live At THe Key Club" and Lou Donaldson's "The Scorpion." Move Your Hand delivers in the feeling good department, and for that it's very special. I don't dig the sonics of this record. I have the JRVG which is a nice improvement, but you can tell Rudy ain't at the controls and it shows. I'll love this record till the day I die. I'll always listen to it. Lonnie's playing on this is what busted him out of the pack and showed the masses what he was all about. This album was a hit for Blue Note, and I would guess was Lonnie's biggest seller ever. Pure joy is what Lonnie is about when he plays. Whether it's today or the 60's, it alway comes through. All hail Dr. Lonnie Smith.

Hammond C3 with 2 Leslies treated with "TLC" for $1,000 listed in the classifieds today. When I called the old lady said it was already sold... yeah, I guess so.

Still dig "I Found A Love" w/The Falcons the most when I comes to Wilson Pickett. Another one gone, but it seems this is getting to be a common occurance anymore. Too bad.

Because he realized the music business sucks the life out of you.

uhh....I thought she had died 10 years ago. Dug the P. Adventure as a kid. Her swimming underwater is a sight I'll never forget, unfortunately. Oh, that dress....

Hope Lou feels better soon. He's the number one reason why I fly to NYC once a year to catch him at the Vanguard. I love Lou, may he outlive us all.

I envy you Stereojack!!!! Where's a time machine when you really need one.

Whew! That was close.

I couldn't agree more! Although I say that in theory since I was too young to catch the golden age of organ jazz. But just hearing "Gin & Orange", ect. confirms that Jack's road groups were always smoking. He was no doubt the best jazz organ bandleader ever. Also, interesting to hear the Joe Dukes/Mel Lewis story. And a Jimmy Reed/Jack McDuff double bill would make me pee in my pants....those must have been the days!

Dude, you need to change them settings. Drawbars, perc. and vibrato looked pretty...uh..."unique". I guess 2nd harmonic's no big deal. But C1...and your lower harmonics pushed all the way in made me think of a roller rink.... Of course maybe you were experimenting that day of the photo op.... But for a guy with a Jimmy picture on your signature, Jimmy would smack the back of your head if he saw that!

I'm having more and more appreciation of what these guys did the longer I listen to music. If "Prelude" is semi-weak....then what is most of the stuff being put out today! I mean big band w/golson arrangements, McDuff at the b3.....oh those WERE the days!!!

Hey, enough is enough. Some guys have "it", some don't. George and Grant both had it by the truckload. Can you play? Cool. How you do it doesn't really matter all that much.

I've recorded there on that C3. It's as good as you'd think it is. Sounds like those records even live in the room. Here's a pic of me playing Rudy's C3 at his Englewood Cliffs studio that I recently found. Pretty grainy photo, but it's all I got from that session...

The intro on "A Night In Tunisia" is what Jim was referring to about 'total mastery of the instrument.' No better example of Jimmy fully formed and in command on record than "Crazy Baby."

Jim, I like the 180 degree angle on top as well. The 90 degree angle seems too narrow for my tastes.

I asked Jim in a PM about Leslie/Organ micing/recording. Here was his reply that he suggested could be put on the board as well.... From Jim Anderson: What I've done for years with organs is to use 2 microphones (omni's ususally - dpa 4007's) on the top at 180º and a condenser on the bottom in the back (sanken cu-41, usually). Dave Greene from Toronto suggested 90º to me and it gets a different sound. Experiment! I also like to take in a DI off the back (before the Leslie) of the organ. The bassline is the most difficult part and, for some players, that's why I take in the DI. You need to make sure that you mix in enough bass pedals in the sound of the organ, if not you'll have a difficult time making a distinct bass line in the mix. (I'm assuming that there's not a bass player in the group) Barbara Dennerlien had a special set of midi pedals that connected to a sampler with a bass sample. That was an interesting solution to the problem. I would also spread the top microphones full left and right, with the bottom mike up the middle. I may have covered some of this in the 'Ask' forum, check around. Also, if you'd like to post this on the forum, please be my guest.

Find a used Hammond XB-2...they're fairly inexpensive these days. Or look for an A100 in the paper, sometimes you can get them for 500 to 1000 if you're lucky. Larry Goldings has never even owned a real organ as of the time I talked to him 5 years ago, he just learned on a synth... Personally though, stick with guitar...they're lighter.