Jim Alfredson

Any furniture/wood polish is fine for the case. On the keys I use a little bit of Windex sprayed onto a paper towel to get the greeaze off. Same on the black metal. Use a general purpose cleaner on the pedals, like 409 or something. If you want to make the black ones shiny, use a little car wax and buff those babies!

My dad saw Doug Duke in the Buffalo area during the late 60s and talked about him for years. He even mentioned the organ rising up from the basement. I finally tracked down a record of his (with Clark Terry on it!) and the stuff is very funny. Lots of schlock, but you can tell he knew how to play. I think this may be the first mention of Doug Duke on this board!

Gerard Gibbs - is that the guy gigging with James Carter recently? Saw that trio - was a little disappointed, more show than substance and musical sophistication. James had both, but his accompanists were not up to par. Yes, re: Gerard Gibbs. He was taught by Groove Holmes himself. I haven't seen him play enough to form an opinion. I saw him sit-in once at Rusty's in Toledo and he was swingin' like crazy.

yeah, pretty much

Classical organists are funny. I don't think they realize that the Hammond pedals are not concave and as such we don't need no stinkin' special boots!

Shame shame shame.

Tonight my wife, Zora, Joe and I went out to one of Lansing's finest Italian family-owned restaurants, Emil's. It's been there a long time. I had canneloni with a nice side salad and a bunch of bread while I fed Zora her yogurt, some crackers, bread, and carrots. She liked her apple juice tonight, too! I think my wife had some nice fish and rice with an alfredo dish on the side. Joe had... vegetarian lasagna I think? Good times!

I play with socks, not bare feet. Although I have played with bare feet on a gig once, in the summer, outside. I had sandals on and they were getting in the way. That was really hard. Playing with socks allows me to slide easily from pedal to pedal and skin on pedal didn't work so well!

Yes, but can you play pedals with sandals on like the Dr.! No sir. I play with shoes off. I can play with shoes, but it doesn't feel right.

It's all different tastes, like you said. Nothing wrong with either method.

I thought you were gone!!! Man, Jazz Kat has been posting up a storm and is way ahead of you. You've got work to do!

It's funny you mention that because one of the first thing's my mentor talked about when teaching me pedals is to put the pedal accent slightly *before* the note played by the left hand. I think I'm doing it right because he always tells me I sound good when I see him.

Here's Randy, Joe and I chillin' before the hit out in the hallway of the Firefly:

Even more interesting: I was checking out the Resources page, looking at the Michigan organists: Michigan: Jim Alfredson, Tim Brockett, Van Cephus, Chris Codish, Gerard Gibbs, Duncan McMillan, Gary Schunk, Lyman Woodard And I glanced down at Ohio's listing: Ohio: Mark Allan, Eddie Baccus, Linda Dachtyl, Bobby Floyd, Kenny Harkins, Duke Jenkins, Tony Monaco, Mike Reed, Emmanuel Riggins, John Slate Eddie Baccus?!?!! THE Eddie Baccus that some people thought was actually Rashaan incognito?!?

Pete Fallico is very credible and is a friend of mine. He's probably the biggest supporter of organ jazz on the planet. I did not see that upate although I check his site periodically. I've invited him to post here in the past, but I don't think he's signed up yet.

My approach is probably closer to Lonnie Smith's. I ghost all the time, except on certain funk tunes where I use the pedals for accents and kicks. My pedal playing has gotten a lot stronger than it was when "Boogaloo" was recorded. I am much more comfortable with them now and they are almost second nature.

You can and there are cats that do. It's a matter of preference. Jimmy's method swings better, I think, and gives a lighter feel.

I'd be interested in reading it, too and I'll even type it up for the forum. My address in on the homepage.

Didn't know that. I think mine is an original pressing, but I'll have to double check.

Another reason to love the guy! ...what are the other reasons??? His passion for the game. He's the type of player that if he's not on your team, you probably hate him. But he's such a great team player and he loves the game, you can tell by the way he plays.

I've always wanted to do an organ/vibes record but there are no good vibe players in the area. Scratch that... there's a cat in Ann Arbor that's very good. Damn. Now I have no excuse!

I'm not a fan of how the organ bass sounds without pedal accent. Yes, Mel Rhyne is great but (this is just my personal taste) I like to hear the "hump". McGriff just taps the Bb. I think Smith shadows, doesn't he? Looked like it to me the few times I've seen him. Joey shadows. McDuff did a combination. Groove Holmes shadowed. I like the effect of pedals and funk tunes, doing it in the Chester Thompson "Squid Cakes" type of way. It can be very funky.

Welcome! Glad you found your way here. Don't mind these folks. They're harmless.

I've actually seen DeFrancesco do bass pedal solos. Very cool and very hard. I've seen Dr. Lonnie Smith do them too, but in a totally different way. He actually gets down beneath the organ and plays the bass solo on the pedals with his hands. Nutball!

Pistons smacked around the Knicks tonight. No surprise there. I didn't see the game as I had a gig but I like this line from the ESPN recap: Another reason to love the guy!