Jim Alfredson

Hi Mark! It was nice to meet you at the festival. We had a great time in Rochester and everyone was really kind. It's a lovely city. Part of the "bite and growl" that you're hearing is the Leslie over-driving. Another part is the fact that a real B3 has nine contacts under each key called "bussbars" that connect to each of the nine drawbars. When the key hits each bussbars (which are arranged vertically), it makes contact with each one a split second after the previous. In other words, since they are vertical, the key will contact bussbar 1 first, then 2, then 3, etc. This all happens in a fraction of a second, but on a real B3 if you press a key slowly enough, you can actually hear it make contact with each bussbar in succession and you'll hear each drawbar being "triggered". It's cool. Anyway, since that's a electromechanical connection there is a bit of noise every time the key makes contact with the bussbar. Organists refer to that noise as "key click". Mr. Hammond always hated that sound because it ruined the illusion of the Hammond organ being a "pipe organ", which is what it was made to do. His engineers tried a lot of tricks to mute that sound as much as possible. However, jazz guys (and others) love that sound. Some organists like Jimmy McGriff used to modify the organ to bring more of that key click out. When you do a gliss, you're obviously playing a lot of notes in quick succession. That would add a lot of that static-y, gritty key click to the sound. I don't know a lot about the Voce, but I'm sure it has an adjustment for the amount of key click. It's probably using a sample to re-produce the key click, like the XK3 does. Try adjusting that control a bit and see if that helps.

Michel, No, the XK3 output is just hot. When I used it with an older all-tube 122, I always had the master volume set to 12 o'clock. Anything more would overload the preamp on the 122. Actually, I like the hot output; I used to have a Roland VK7 and the output on that was barely enough to drive a Leslie. It was pitiful.

Thanks for connecting us with the Inquirer, Ron and for posting the review. Very cool!

We be in Philly; going to see Bill Frissell tomorrow at the World Cafe (got to hang with Kenny Wolleson a bit in Rochester (they played last night as well)). Tuesday at Chris' is going to be the shizzle!

That's true; that doesn't count any checks that have been mailed because I'm out of town... sorry!

Thanks to everyone who's donated so far. We're at just under $500 (not subtracting the Paypal fees).

I was trying to match Duperon's radio smoothness. How'd I do?

David, it would be great to see you. I would suggest making a reservation since the owner told me the other day it was 1/2 full (he can only seat 60 people).

I was on 90.1 in Rochester, NY yesterday afternoon! What is it with jazz stations and that frequency?

There were at least 1100 people in the tent for the first show. The response we got was amazing. Sold a bunch of CDs, too! (Gotta love that!) The people here have been extraordinarily kind. It's been a great experience. Meeting marcello finally was a real treat. As Joe mentioned, Harold Maburn talked to us for at least an hour about music and respect. Joe retired for the night but later on Randy sat in on a jam session happening in the hotel restaurant on harmonica and tore it up! Harold sat in as well and sounded incredible. We're looking forward to Philly! Hitting the road in just a few minutes.

Yeah, that's a groovy record.

Hey friends, Well, it's about that time! I really appreciate all the help and support a few years ago when many of you donated a few bucks for this website. I need to ask for your help again. The money from last time is running out and I can't afford to pay for this site myself. I'd like to keep it ad free for as long as possible and I doubt ads would fully cover the monthly costs anyway. It costs $150 per month for our dedicated server plus an additional $70 per year for the chat software licenese and $100 per year for the forum software license. So my yearly costs are $1970. Please send donations via Paypal to b3groover@hotmail.com. Checks and money orders can be made out to me and sent to: Jim Alfredson PO Box 16129 Lansing, MI 48901 Thank you!

Happy Birthday!

http://jazztimes.com/articles/24917-an-imp...imes-management

Sweet! That would be awesome, Chris! It would be great to see you again!

I'm posting this without reading the other responses. I honestly didn't know a lot of these tunes. But then again, I stopped buying organ records about 4 years ago for the most part. CD 1 Track 1: I'm going to say Eddy Louiss, but I honestly don't know. Sounds European to me for some reason. Track 2: He's using pedals for bass exclusively. Wild Bill Davis? Jackie Davis? Track 3: Don Patterson. I have this, just can't think of the name of the tune. Gotta be Billy James on the skins. With Martino? Track 4: Sounds like Freddie Roach. Track 5: I have no idea. Sounds like a modern recording. No bass pedals. Tune doesn't really go anywhere. Track 6: Obviously influenced heavily by Jimmy Smith. Sounds like Paul Bollenback on guitar. Maybe Joey D or Tony Monaco (writing this before hearing the organ solo)? I'm going to go with Tony, although that solo was uncharacteristically restrained. Track 7: Dunno. First I was going to say Dennerlein because the bass sounds almost sampled to me, but it's a quite a bit funkier than she usually is. Track 8: Dunno. But it's nice, although the chorus generator on that Hammond sounds wonky. CD 2 Track 1: Sounds a lot like Mel Rhyne. Track 2: Not sure, but I dig the organ tone. The bass lines sound a lot like Joey D, but not the solo... again, very restrained, so it's probably not him. Nice bass lines. Track 3: Dr. Lonnie Smith. Knew within 2 seconds. His rhythm and bass lines are unmistakeable. Track 4: Larry Goldings. Bill Stewart. Kevin Hayes. Love this record. Track 5: Sounds like Goldings or Sam Yahel. Drummer sounds like Bill Stewart again but could be Brian Blade which would make the horn player Redman and the organist Yahel... but I'm not sure. Track 6: Definitely Peter Bernstein. Not sure who the organist is... could be Yahel again or Goldings. Horn sounds very familar. Nice tune. Track 7: Sounds like Brad Shepik. Gary Versace? If so, I've been wanting to pick up this record for awhile, just haven't gotten around to it. Track 8: Don Patterson. Knew in about 1 second. Love me some DP.

Bumpus for your rumpus.

Speaking of subwoofers, I was gassing up yesterday at my local corner station and this guy in front of me had a piece of shit Chevy van (probably a '94, rusted out) with three small kids in the back. He started it up and then cranked his stereo system, which was all nasty, tinny high-end and thumping subwoofers. I thought to myself, "Way to give your kids a head-start in this world, buddy. They'll be deaf before the age of 6."

You're talking about hot wings, right?

We're doing a quick jaunt to the East Coast in a few weeks. All board members who live in or around Rochester (NY), New Hope (PA), and Philly (you better know where that is) are required to come out to these gigs or face permanent banishment to The Dungeon, a part of the forum where Deep, GregM, and Musicboy are the only other posters (and Bixieland is the moderator!) Here are the dates: Fri - Jun 12 8:30 PM - 10:00 PM Rochester International Jazz Festival XRIJF Club Pass Big Tent OFFICIAL CLUB PASS VENUE ~ XRIJF's own club pass venue at the corner of Main Street & Gibbs. CLUB PASS OR $20 for single entry - Check Schedule. No advance single ticket sales. First come-first served. Get there Early! Tue - Jun 16 9:30 PM - 1:30 AM Chris' Jazz Cafe 1421 Sansom St Philadelphia, PA 19107 (215) 568-3131 www.chrisjazzcafe.com ~ Return to Philly! $10 admission, $5 for students. Wed - Jun 17 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM For The Music Only 235 North Main Street New Hope, PA 18938 www.forthemusiconly.com ~ This is a music lover's experience. Up close and personal with the band in an intimate, smoke-free, living-room concert. You don't want to miss this. $10 cover. Come experience the hospitality of the Levinson's beautiful home. We're reallly trying to get people to come out to the New Hope and Philly gigs. If you're anywhere near the area, call up some friends and please... please... please come out. If you bring 4 other people with you, you'll get a free CD! Bring 10 and get all CDs for free! (Note: You don't actually have to BRING them with you in your car, just get them to come out!!!)

For what it's worth, the best sound I've gotten out of the 3300 involves the following: - NOS RCA 12AT7 for the tube (replacing the stock Chinese 12AX7) - Leslie 3300 volume all the way up (don't worry, you'll pull it back on the organ) - Both tube controls at 12 o'clock - Hammond XK3/c master volume at 12 o'clock If the rig is too loud, you can pull the master volume on the 3300 back a bit. But I've found it's better to let the 3300 amplify the signal and not send a full output from the XK3/c to it. The XK3/c output is quite hot compared to standard synths. I rarely ever use it above 12 o'clock... 2 o'clock at the very most. Also, in the menu system of the XK3/c there are setting to control how much range the expression pedal has. I find that the settings as they come from the factory do not have a great enough range. I decrease the bottom range and increase the top range a hair. Since there is no volume switch like on a B3, this emulates the full dynamic range of the organ better.

So sorry I missed this. I've never cared for the Motion Sound stuff, but I appreciate them being there when there really was no other option for quite some time. The 3300 is a true beast. With the right tube, you can get awfully close to the tone of a classic Leslie 122, but with about 3x the headroom! It's a glorious thing! I suggest scrapping the 12AX7 and putting in a lower gain tube like a 12AT7. Why? Because the tube circuit goes from nice and smooth to downright ugly and there's no reason to go to that extreme. With the lower gain of the 12AT7, you have a much wider range of smooth before it gets into ugliness and it sounds to my ears much closer to a 122. I've never really cared for 12AX7s in anything but a guitar amp anyway (and then only in the right circumstance). I had a NOS RCA in mine up until last April when it started developing microphonics. I replaced it with a NOS Jan/Philips, but the low end wasn't as clear. So I put in a brand new Electro-Harmonix and while it isn't quite as pleasing in the midrange as the RCA or Philips, the bass is much tighter and more defined. I'm digging it. I need to get another RCA or Tung Sol in there, though. William, nice to hear you're going the sub route. It makes a world of difference, especially playing pedals.

I've heard the Leo Smith. It's ridiculous. Can't wait!

It just goes to show that a real center is still the most valuable player in this league. Howard is really the only real center playing these days besides Shaq, who is on the decline. When you have someone that big and that powerful under the basket, it makes it really hard for other teams to do much of anything. And Howard is a frickin' beast.

Thanks! I'm very proud of the record and the direction the band is going. I think we're adding something unique to the jazz organ trio canon.