The Electric Organs - Hammond B-3

There were many varieties of the Hammond Organ, some designed for home use, some designed for church use, and some designed for live gigs and studio recording. But the most popular variety, and the one still commonly in use today (if you can find one that isn’t too beat up) is the Hammond B-3. This organ has two 61 note keyboards, (manuals), sometimes called the swell (top) and the great (bottom), a variety of built-in special effects, (including "percussion" effects, several different chorus and vibrato effects, and adjustable attack and decay effects), 9 preset keys for both manuals, (the inversely white and black keys on the bottom octave of each manual), two sets of nine stops (drawbars) for each manual, a full two octave set of foot pedals with two pedal drawbars built in to the console, a volume pedal (expression pedal) built into the base, a solid walnut body with 4 legs and base, a built-in stool, and it weighed in at over 400 pounds. Also, it needed to be run through a separate speaker called a Leslie ), which also came in many varieties and sizes, but which was usually around six feet tall and weighed almost as much as the organ. To get a B-3 to a gig, you would probably need a truck or a van to transport it, a dolly or three to four guys to carry it, and then a prayer that you didn’t have to carry it up too many flights of stairs. Why, you must be wondering, would any sane musician want to take this piece of furniture with them out to a gig? If you have ever heard a good B-3, you would understand. A Hammond B-3 can all at once sound like a carnival, a big band, a horn section, a small jazz combo, a funk group, a percussion section, a flute, and/or countless other things. Adjacent is the essential Leslie Tone Cabinet

Hammond-Suzuki

Leslie Speakers
Leslie Speakers designed by Don Leslie have experienced wide use with the Hammond organs. Sound is emitted by a rotating horn over a stationary treble driver and a rotating baffle beneath a stationary bass woofer. The resulting sonic characteristics are likened to a small-scale Doppler effect, but were intended by Leslie to simply resemble the constantly shifting source of sound among a large group of pipe organ ranks. The rotation speed can be toggled by a console-based manual or pedal switch between fast or slow to provide tremolo or chorus effects, respectively. The Leslie speaker cabinet's tube (also known as valve) amplifier gave the Hammond's tone a warm, naturally overdriven sound, which could be varied from a mild purr to a heavy growl.

The Exponents

Milt Buckner
Milt Buckner had a dual career. As a pianist, he largely invented the "locked hands" style (parallel chords) that was adopted by many other players including George Shearing and Oscar Peterson. And as an organist, he was one of the top pre-Jimmy Smith stylists, helping to popularize the instrument.

The younger brother of altoist Ted Buckner (who played with Jimmie Lunceford), Milt Buckner grew up in Detroit and gigged locally, in addition to arranging for McKinney's Cotton Pickers in 1934. He came to fame as pianist and arranger with Lionel Hampton (1941-1948, 1950-1952, and occasionally in later years) where he was a crowd pleaser. During 1948-1950, Buckner led his own bands and, after 1952, he generally played organ with trios or quartets. In later years, he sometimes teamed up with Illinois Jacquet or Jo Jones. Buckner recorded many dates as a leader, particularly for Black & Blue in the 1970s. Buckner died in Chicago, Illinois at the age of sixty-two.

 

William Ballard Doggett ( Bill Doggett) was born February 16, 1916, on the north side of Philadelphia. At age nine, Doggett was attracted to the trumpet, but his family could not afford one.  Bill's mother, Wynona, was a church pianist and his inspiration. Within a few years, he switched to the piano and was hailed as a child prodigy by the time he was thirteen. At fifteen, he formed his first combo, the Five Majors. While attending Central High School, he found work playing in the pit orchestra at the Nixon Grand Theatre with the Jimmy Gorman Band.  Eventually, he inherited Gorman's fifteen-piece orchestra. His career as a band leader was short-lived as he came to the conclusion that the field was over crowded. In financial distress , he sold the band to Lucky Millender and joined Millender himself.   In 1939, Doggett with Jimmy Munder, Benny Goodman's arranger, form an orchestra. Later that year Doggett made his first two recordings as part of Lucky's band, "Little Old Lady From Baltimore" and "All Aboard," released on the Varsity label.  Doggett returned to Millender's orchestra as a pianist in 1941. He appeared on the next eight of Millender's recordings. In late 1942, he joined the Ink Spots and became the group's arranger and pianist.  He stayed with the group two years during which he recorded five singles with them.  The next ten years, Doggett toured and recorded with several of the nation's top singer and bands, including Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Louis Jordan, Ella Fitzgerald and Lionel Hampton.

In 1949 he joined Louis Jordan, as a pianist replacing Wild Bill Davis. Doggett was a featured performer on many of Jordan's classic Decca recordings including "Saturday Night Fish Fry' and "Blue Light Boogie." Doggett credited his time with Jordan for educating him to the finer points of pleasing an audience.  When Doggett decided to form another combo he was torn with should he use the organ in a "pop" music setting.  Like most musicians of that time, Doggett felt the sound of the organ was sacred and should be reserved for a church setting. However, when on he own he decided that he needed a fresh sound to set him apart from other piano combos. It was an agonizing design, but he felt it was the right one in switching to the organ. In late 1951 he formed a trio and quickly landed a recording contract with Cincinnati's King Records.

WILD BILL DAVIS
With the dynamic, swirling sounds of his Hammond B-3 organ, Wild Bill Davis provided a bridge from the big band swing of the 1930s and '40s to the organ-driven R&B of the 1950s and early '60s. Together with guitarist Floyd Smith and drummer Chris Columbus, Davis set the framework for the jazz organ combo sound.

Initially a guitarist, Davis made his debut with Milt Larkin's band in 1939. The group is remembered for the double-saxophone attack of Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson and Arnett Cobb. Davis, who was inspired by the guitar playing of Freddie Green, remained with the band until 1942. Moving to the piano, Davis joined Louis Jordan & His Tympany 5 in 1945. By then, he had already attracted attention as a skilled writer and arranger. He later furnished original material and arrangements for both Duke Ellington and Count Basie. He was scheduled to record his arrangement of "April in Paris" with the Count Basie Orchestra in 1955, but was unable to make it to the recording sessions. Recorded without his participation, the tune went on to be a Top 30 pop hit. Intrigued by the organ playing of Fats Waller and Count Basie, Davis began to experiment with the Hammond B-3. He soon developed his unique approach. "I thought of (the organ) as a replacement in clubs for a big band," he said during a late-'80s interview. Although he left Jordan's band after five years to form his own trio, Davis periodically returned to play special engagements. Although eclipsed by succeeding jazz organists, including Jimmy Smith and Bill Doggett in the late '50s, and Booker T. Jones in the '60s, Davis remained active until his death from a heart attack in August 1995. His summer appearances in Atlantic City, New Jersey were an annual treat for almost three decades.  A native of Moorestown, New Jersey, Davis studied music at Tuskegee University and Wiley College in Texas. ~ Craig Harris, All Music Guide

Jimmy Smith was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania in 1925. Both of his parents were pianists, and his father became his primary teacher, although he admitted to Leonard Feather that Bud Powell in neighbouring Willow Grove also had an impact.  A prodigy who won a Major Bowes contest in 1935, Smith quickly gained experience working throughout western Pennsylvania, performing on the radio in Philadelphia, and teaming with his dad for nightclub work. After serving with the Navy in the Pacific toward the end of World War II, he returned to Philadelphia and began formal musical training, studying harmony and theory at the Halsey Music School (Clifford Brown was a classmate), string bass at Hamilton School of Music, and piano at Ornstein through 1950.  It was while playing in the rhythm-and-blues combo of Don Gardner, who Smith joined in 1952, that he heard Wild Bill Davis and became interested in the organ.  This led Smith to intensive self-tutoring for three months in 1955, a process he described in detail to Feather: "When finally I got enough money for a down payment on my own organ I put it in a warehouse and I took a big sheet of paper and drew a floor plan of the pedals. Anytime I wanted to gauge the spaces and where to drop my foot down on which pedal, I'd look at the chart."  "Sometimes I would stay there four hours, or maybe all day long if I'd luck up on something and get some new ideas, using different stops. I'd eat breakfast and then take my lunch to the warehouse with me and stay there until I was satisfied that I'd done what I needed to for that day."

Jimmy recalls: "I got my organ from a loan shark had it shipped to the warehouse. I stayed in that warehouse, I would say, six months to a year. I would do just like the guys do--take my lunch, then I'd go and set down at this beast. Nobody showed my anything, man, so I had to fiddle around with my stops."   After numerous trials with various draw bar combinations, Jimmy finally discovered the sound that he wanted. "I pulled out that third harmonic and there! The bulb lit up, thunder and lightning! Stars came out of the sky!" Jimmy emerged from that warehouse a new and different organist with a truly original approach and registration. His new sound would prove to be the standard for Jazz organists who followed.
The Sermon

In the summer of 1955, Smith was ready to show the world what he had learned, and opened as a single in an Atlantic City club. By September, Smith had his own trio, and Babs Gonzales had become his manager. Gonzales wasted no time in contacting Alfred Lion of Blue Note. Smith was making his first New York appearance, at Small's Paradise in Harlem, in January 1956, when Lion heard him and immediately signed him to a contract.  While a downtown gig at the Cafe Bohemia that followed hard on the heels of the Small's Paradise engagement was also important in Smith's breakthrough, what really turned him into an instant phenomenon were his Blue Note recordings.  After his move to Verve in 1962, he had even greater commercial triumphs with Oliver Nelson's arrangements and guitarist Wes Montgomery. His success opened the door for numerous organists. In fact, Smith and his organ disciples created an entire sub-industry in the recording world and club circuit. And Larry Young, more than any other, would expand the language of the organ into modal and more experimental areas. Even today, Jimmy Smith remains the boss.

Moanin - Bobby Timmons

Joey DeFrancesco
The greatest Hammond organ player in jazz today, Philadelphia-born Joey De Francesco follows in a noted family tradition of Hammond organ maestros, having been brought to the instrument by his organist father 'Papa John De Francesco.  Joey's place in the illustrious Hammond tradition is also obvious from his association with the late great Jimmy Smith on two concord CD's: a live sessions from 1999 and his current release, 'Legacy'.  Joey De Francesco's career took off in the 1990s with John McLaughlin in the guitarists Free Spirits trio.  Joey's music displays an innate understanding of the history of the instrument, the jazz and soul influence of players such as Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff coming through clearly. A prodigious talent at an early age, playing his own gigs and occasionally sitting in with players like Richard "Groove" Holmes at only age ten, a defining highlight of his career was being personally asked to join Miles Davis' group in the late Eighties, touring Europe with the great man and playing on the Amandla album. He's credited with almost single-handedly bringing the Hammond organ back into fashion and a night in his company will show why
Fly Me to the Moon Video

Tony Monaco

On the road to becoming a first-class operator of the B3 Hammond organ, Columbus, OH, native Tony Monaco has had to overcome roadblocks.
The major one was a polio-like debilitating disease which forced him to change from accordion to organ.
Another was the demands of a family business followed by the return of the disease. Undeterred, Monaco has made two albums with his trio, Burnin' Grooves being the second.
He's joined on six tracks by his organ-playing peer, Joey DeFrancesco, who sits in on the piano. Monaco's playing exudes an exuberance that combines chitlin' rhythm & blues with gospel."
 

Big John Patton was one of the major figures in the development of the funky, blues rooted jazz style known as soul jazz. The Hammond organ was the instrument at the centre of that development, and Patton's relaxed, bluesy, lightly grooving style made a big contribution to the genre. In later years, he worked with the avant-jazz saxophonist John Zorn, expanding the perceived boundaries of his music in the process.

He was born on the Missouri side of Kansas City, then a major jazz centre, and taught himself to play piano. He followed his brother to Washington in the early 1950s, and began playing in the area, initially as a pianist. His became interested in the Hammond organ while working with rhythm and blues singer Lloyd Price, and set up his own Hammond-led trio in 1959.

He moved to New York and began working with alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson and guitarist Grant Green, and made his recording debut for Blue Note with the saxophonist in 1962. He was a member of Donaldson's band until 1964, then linked up with Grant Green for a time, and also worked with Johnny Griffin, Harold Vick and Clifford Jordan, among others, as well as more experimentally inclined musicians like trombonist Grachan Moncur III, guitarist James 'Blood' Ulmer, or saxophonists John Gilmore and Marshall Allen, best known for their long associations with Sun Ra.

He led his own band from 1963 until 1969, and recorded numerous albums in a soul jazz vein for the Blue Note label, which remain the most characteristic examples of his work. The arrival of more contemporary forms of electronic keyboards and the rise of jazz-rock fusion eclipsed both the Hammond and soul jazz in the 1970s, but Patton continued to perform, although he recorded only one album as a leader in the two decades from 1970.

The revival of interest in the instrument in the 1980s saw a renewed interest in his work. He recorded with John Zorn on the saxophonist's The Big Gundown album, a tribute to the music of Ennio Morricone, in 1986, and worked with the saxophonist again in the 1990s, including a new recording of his own music from the 1960s, Minor Swing, on which Zorn performed. His last issued album, This One's for Ja, appeared in 1995. He died from complications arising from diabetes, and is survived by his wife, three brothers, and two sisters.