Jim Alfredson

Perhaps we should release the Roboticons Photoshop Builder Kit, ver 1.0. That way members could design their own roboticons and enter them into a contest. Hm.... that would be pretty fun actually!

Too bad I'm not at home with Photoshop or I'd be destroying this thread with the upcoming BN gem, "Marsalis and G... Duets".

Gainin' on ya!

Looks like it expires at the end of the year. I wonder if I could nab that baby!

Yes indeed, it's organissimo.org .com is taken, believe it or not and isn't really used... it's German, though. And .de is some weird German site too, that has something to do with finance I think. So what could I do?

My wife claimed that it wasn't the time or place for that, but then again when is the time and place? It seemed rather silly to have all these actors patting themselves on the back while American and British soldiers and Iraqi people are dying. I think it was a needed shot in the butt... the whole place was trying to pretend nothing is going on in the world.

And what about Booker tearing it up on "The Exciting New Organ of Don Patterson"?

Man, his duo disc with Leon Parker is great! So is the self-titled disc (the one with the greenish-hued cover). If BN dropped him, they are truly stupid.

I'm not concerned if he doesn't solo on it much. He accompanied people very well. And he swings his nuts off!

Aw, he's so cute! I wanna puppy. But I'm afraid my wife won't hear of it.

Hey Nutty... I like your handle! Welcome to the board!

Yes, playing organ is truly a joy. It's so much fun to be kickin' a bass line and comping or soloing with your other hand. Your whole body is involved and it's like playing drums... there's no way to not be moving around and smiling! I've had the opportunity to play my B3 three nights in a row (going for four tonight!) and it's been fantastic! Wednesday the trio had a restaurant gig that went well and we had a lot of fun. Thursday Joe and I got called for a pick-me up gig with an alto player and even though nobody was in the joint, and the drummer showed up only for the last set, we had a blast! And last night, since the organ was already in my van, I used it with my R&B band. Despite having some MAJOR technical problems that I was thankfully able to resolve (Joe, let's not drop the Leslie again... ), there's something about that sound that just fills up the room and is so much more satisfying than any shitty module or simulator. And I love the looks it gets from people. Most don't know what it is. And those that do freak out!

Ah, yes I understand now. Usually it's the organist's record, so that's probably why it's mixed so loud and upfront. Of course, the organ can be very loud and it's easy to let that get away from you. In our group, we want to have an overall group sound. That's why we went with a group name instead of just calling it, "The Jim Alfredson Trio" or something like that. It's not my trio, it's all three member's trio. So in the recording, I didn't want the organ to be overpowering everything else. I wanted the bass to be nice and solid, but I wanted my solos and my comping to fit in with everything else and create an overall group sound. I think we succeeded.

Ok, so I signed up online with these 'tards on Tuesday and I still haven't received an email or anything from them. I sign in on the site and it says, "We are currently processing your application. Please check back in 48 hours." I can't even get a link to a fuckin' email address to ask them what the damn hold-up is. Is you or ain't you gonna sell me some motherfuckin' CDs, BIIIIAAATCH!? What gives?!

Soul Stream, Do you remember the moment you got done with a solo and realized, "Shit, my left hand was kickin' bass that whole time and I didn't even think about it!" I do. I used to play in a trio with my father on guitar and the dad of my best friend's girlfriend (old farts!) and I remember playing a solo over an F blues in practice with them, getting done with the solo and it hit me like a ton of bricks. "I just played a whole solo without fudging the bassline!!!" I remember when I hit that point in my pedal playing, too. Great Moments of Playing Organ! It's fun stuff. The instrument is much more subtle than people think if you want to play it "right". The first bassline I ever learned was Jimmy's bass during the first couple bars of "The Sermon". Actually, I learned the bass line and the chords he was comping and chomped on that for months.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this. Could you give an example?

Thanks, Soul Stream. That's good to know. A direct out of the Leslie amp, eh? That's kind of odd. I wonder why he didn't just go straight from the Hammond pre. So Rudy has a 21H? They have a different sound than a 122. The amp is based more on the 31H circuitry than the 122 circuitry. Speaking of direct, you asked about my live setup. I got a new, transformerless direct box from my organ mentor. It's very hip! It features a balanced XLR output, a gain pot, phase switch, and ground lift. He wants to know if anyone else is interested, so if you are, let me know. He'll hand build you one.

Saint Vitus, I am happy with the sound of my organ on our disc. Compared to Unity, it has more of a room sound to it. I don't mind that. The organ on Unity is very dry and upfront, which is a cool sound. But I think the sound of my organ fits very nice in the mix. One thing to consider, I don't have a stock upper driver in my Leslie. It has some Peavey driver in it instead of the original Atlas. Whoever had it before me probably blew the Atlas out and you can't get them anymore so he just stuck in this Peavey. The Peavey sounds fine in a live situation because it is very bright and cuts through. But in the studio, it can be too much. More of a room signal helps deaden this out a little without relying on EQ. One of these days I'm going to replace that damn thing!

Garrison, It's really all about memorizing patterns. Obviously, when you're not soloing and just comping, you can devote more attention to the left hand because the right is just hitting chords. But with soloing, you develop bass line patterns and just switch and mix and match. At least, that's how I do it. So it's not totally improvised.

Yeah, those are the guys I first heard! Get some Yuri Yakinov. His group is just as bad!

Man, that shit is hip! Joe and I saw Yuri Yakinov at the Folk Festival in East Lansing a few years ago. Those guys were burnin'! It took Joe and I about 5 minutes into each tune to figure out that damn time signature! The stuff is nutty! And people dance to this shit! Incredible. Having been in choir in high school and all through college, I love any choral music. A cappella is the best. I was obsessed with Genesis (mainly the Gabriel era) when I was in middle/high school. I listened to Peter Gabriel in elementary school and that kind of led into the Genesis thing. I tried out other "progressive rock" groups like Yes, ELP, Gentle Giant, Jethro Tull, etc... but I didn't like any of them as much as Genesis. When I was in elementary school I also used to stay up late on Friday nights and listen to "Hearts of Space". I liked Wendy Carlos, Tomita, Stephen Meecus, Tangerine Dream (the 70s stuff) and all those weird, early synth pioneers. I listen to mainly jazz and classic soul now, but I'm starting to re-discover my roots and explore some other areas again.

Mark, We're really trying to do something different with the organ trio. I don't want to be another Jimmy Smith imitator. That's cool and all, but there are cats that can do it much better than me. Your comments are very helpful... it looks like we're succeeding in our goals. Joe is a bad mofo. But he's bad in a subtle way. That's what I love about his playing! Thank you for your purchase and your comments! Spread the word, brotha!

That family portrait is so horrible. I can only imagine what the grandparents of that child thought when mom and dad gave them that atrocity.

Chuck, I'm sure we'll do another WGVU Jazz Nite sometime soon. I'll let you know when that is.

Gotcha... Let's try it out...