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Bill Heid


Jim Alfredson

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I'm sure he said "ALL" the Beatles records! I think he may have been having some fun though.

Thanks for reminding me to find some Bill Heid recordings....sounds like I'm gonna hear some special stuff.

Love his anecdote in the Grant Green book about humbugging Grant to sit in with him and play The Yodel. What a great story!

Just made me think - what would Larry Young have done with "The yodel" - the mind boggles!

MG

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I'm sure he said "ALL" the Beatles records! I think he may have been having some fun though.

Thanks for reminding me to find some Bill Heid recordings....sounds like I'm gonna hear some special stuff.

Love his anecdote in the Grant Green book about humbugging Grant to sit in with him and play The Yodel. What a great story!

Just made me think - what would Larry Young have done with "The yodel" - the mind boggles!

MG

Crikey!!!! What a thought!!!

Larry would've been all over it.

I wonder if Grant and Larry ever crossed over the set lists that Grant and BIg John played.

Like maybe if Grant had a gig on the fly or something.

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As mentioned above, I will be bringing Bill to Detroit from Maryland over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. He has two nights at Cliff Bells and he'll play my birthday party on the 26th. In the band will be Perry Hughes and Randy Gilespie, sort of Bill's "A-Team." Perry is such a badass guitar player!

We are off Friday....please tell me your are there on Friday!

g

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As mentioned above, I will be bringing Bill to Detroit from Maryland over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. He has two nights at Cliff Bells and he'll play my birthday party on the 26th. In the band will be Perry Hughes and Randy Gilespie, sort of Bill's "A-Team." Perry is such a badass guitar player!

We are off Friday....please tell me your are there on Friday!

g

That would kick-ass to see Uncle Bill at Cliff Bells. RJ, is he bringing a Hammond? Do you need one?

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

If anybody could point me to the albums he recorded backing up Jimmy Witherspoon (on acoustic piano), that'd be cool. I haven't found the information to be that readily available (there's a ref in one of his infamous newsletters, but I can't seem to find it again).

I'm sorry I missed a chance to see his acoustic piano work in DC not long ago -- picking up some of his piano-sideman work will have to do (no disrespect to his Hammond work! "Dark Secrets" is still on the top of my shelf).

Edited to add: I saw the piano references earlier -- that's amazing info. It's like the final frontier for me in terms of Bill Heid record-sleuthing -- there must be something interesting going on in his blues piano work, given his high musicianship in general.

Edited by j lee
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Are there any Bill Heid recordings with a Hammond/Guitar combo. The only ones I could find were Guitar-less. Would be great to hear the A-team perhaps. Anyone have any info?

"Bop rascal" Bill's first on Savant is mainly a guitar/organ/drums trio, with tambourine added on 1 track/ Perry Hughes is the guitarist, Randy Gelispie the drummer (longtime sideman of Gene Ludwig).

Very HI Q stuff.

MG

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Are there any Bill Heid recordings with a Hammond/Guitar combo. The only ones I could find were Guitar-less. Would be great to hear the A-team perhaps. Anyone have any info?

"Bop rascal" Bill's first on Savant is mainly a guitar/organ/drums trio, with tambourine added on 1 track/ Perry Hughes is the guitarist, Randy Gelispie the drummer (longtime sideman of Gene Ludwig).

Very HI Q stuff.

MG

Oh great, that's good news. I thought I saw a personnel listing for this but must have been mistaken. This will be the one for me first up.

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A sax player friend of mine just moved to Baltimore. I told him to check out Bill Heid, which he did last week. Sat in with him and Bill said "Yeah, sit in just as long as you don't play Stella By Starlight, All The Things You Aren't, or Body (I ain't got no) Soul!" :D

Stan said Bill was playing a Nord and killing it. Said he walked into the club and couldn't tell it wasn't the real thing until he saw it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm starting a new thread on Bill Heid because more people need to know about him. He put out some fabulous records on the Savant label that anyone who calls themselves a fan of the organ should own. And for everyone who thinks Unity is the best organ record ever, you need to listen to Dark Secrets.

In fact, it was listening to that record this weekend during my drive to and from gigs that I decided to start this thread. The album is set-up just like Unity: Hammond B3, drums, trumpet and tenor (with some percussion here and there). The tunes are very Larry Young-ish (Heid having studied with Young) but there is also some greaze on tunes like "That Dirty Thang". It also features one of my favorite drummers (who happens to live right here in Lansing) Randy Gelispie.

While all of his records are great, another superb one is Bop Rascal. This is a trio date, with the amazing Perry Hughes on guitar. Perry is one of those cats that all the musicians know, but the public isn't as knowledgable about him. Perry is second to no one on the guitar: The guy can hang with anyone. An incredible player in the Wes tradition, I try to see Perry play whenever I can.

I'll never forget seeing Bill Heid play for the first time at the Detriot Jazz Festival. He went on right before Jimmy McGriff. Joey DeFrancesco was going on after Jimmy, and both of them were backstage during Bill's set. Bill had Perry and Randy with him and they were playing their asses off. I was watching Joey's reactions and every now and then he would just look back at Jimmy or Houston Person (who was playing with Jimmy, I believe) with a look of "man, this guy can PLAY!" on his face.

Y'all gotta get hip to Bill Heid. He's the real deal.

Have Dark Secrets on Now, :) Great stuff, thanks for the recommendation Jim

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What's your friend's name? I'll keep an eye out for him.

Bertrand.

Stan Killian. He's in his min-twenties...dark hair. Half Irish/Half Mexican :D . Great guy and a great Tenor player. Keep an eye out for him....

His father is jazz organist/pianist Joe Killian who took over Baby Face Willette's organ trio gig at the Morrocan Village in Chicago after Baby Face got fired for wanting more money. So, Stan has some good roots. His dad also played with Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt.

Edited by Soul Stream
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