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I decided to embark on another journey. Last week I got my first keyboard with organ. This is a Nord Electro 4 HP 73. The organ is not a sample but is completely controllable like an authentic Hammond B3. This is so different from piano!

All the control that you develop for your fingers for articulation, touch, tone, dynamics now has to translated to switches, drawbars, and pedals. Whew!

This is a sample playing after one week, which isn't much but it's sounding reasonable with attempts at dynamics and such.

https://app.box.com/s/m3af9crarc9slxmc180q
(note that the bass and drums are from a backing track - iRealB).


I'm not attempting too do too much "organ-ny" kind of moves yet (there's a lot). For example, I'm playing legato here like a piano but an organ is different because you have to pay attention not just to key press but to key release.

And it's amazing how there's like a gazillion adjustments you can make on the tone.

BTW, I've been critiqued that I'm not playing on an "organ" but a "clonewheel". A true organ is those 400 lb beasts in wood. But close enough!

Anyway, I'll report on occasion to describe the process I'm undertaking here. Hopefully I remain excited for the long run.

...and no, piano is still #1 for me. This is just to open up more gigging opportunities.

Wow, sounds amazing

What a laugh! You'll have so much fun. sheesh, you could play rock and roll next! Yes, please keep us posted.

Cathy

I already play rock! Used to play lead guitar! (too many moons ago )

Congrats Jazzwee.... sounds great.

Whenever I think of organ. I think of Bach Organ music. Talk about hard core. Makes me think of playing in the middle of the night...like the Phantom of the Opera, or Dracula.... Bbbwwwaaaahhhhhaaaahhhhaaa!

rnaple! LOL. I can just imagine a Phantom of the Opera scene with the giant pipe organ!

But what surprised me was the the finesse that's possible in organ. Now I don't have that finesse obviously because I just started. However, it isn't much different than what's possible with piano. Except that you don't have to worry about developing the neuromuscular connections to adjust things like tone and dynamics. Instead THERE ARE BUTTONS! DRAWBARS! SWITCHES! PEDALS!

I always thought myself that it had to always sound like a church thing. Little did I know that you can play it pretty quietly.

Very cool! Funny this should come up now, because I have a friend that wants to sell her Rodgers organ. This is one of the wooden beasts with the full pedal board, just like you would use in church. Without pipes - it is vintage electronics from 1986. I am still undecided, since it takes up so much room in the house.

I took an organ lesson last year at Summerkeys just for fun. It is very different - no dynamic control with the hands, and no sustain pedal...

Sam

All this talk of organs reminds me of a clip I stumble upon last year. Growing up listening to early moog music this really tickled my ivorys

listen here

The organ used here is a Wersi Scala

Quite amazing sounds and feel.
If you could, I'd demand a video too, I am curious on how "hand action" looks like!

Sam, now being armed with a little bit more knowledge, I know that the better organs are specific Hammond models like the B3, C3, A100, M???? (Spinet). They date back to the 50's to 70's. These have the proper controls to have flexibility.

The newer ones tend to have just preset sounds that you can't tweak and so aren't worth much.

Unfortunately, the wife has banned me from getting these big beasts in the house No room, especially already having the Grand and assorted keyboards.

I wish I had a real organ. I'm playing this on weighted keys which is unlike the real deal.



Now this is the misconception since in a lot of church music, the organ is left with no dynamic control. But if you listen to what I play, there's a lot of dynamic control and a lot of tone control. It's just handled completely separately from the playing fingers. In my case, I'm using an expression pedal to effect dynamics.

Tonal control is limited in my example because it's very hard to move buttons while I'm playing. I could mess up the music since I'm improvising here. But it's fun because you really have such a range of tone shaping just like a piano.

Here, watch someone who knows how to do it! I'm just a hack at the moment.

Great sound which I remember well. Used to play the Hammond M100; BUILT LIKE A TANK, TWO SWITCHES FOR THE TONEWHEEL GENERATOR, and a C3 (A100) soundalike in spinet form.

I got to carry the heavy end always . . . .

Would love to have an M100. Smaller than the big B3 tank! Now why would you ever think of carrying this? It's like deciding to carry a Grand piano

Why do I get the impression that you're just a rich guy who plays jazz piano for fun? You got all these keyboard/piano toys. Your wife has only one toy... a shotgun.

I thought I'd ask about the versatility of Nord's. Besides the keys. Does Nord have all the pedal units and such to attach to the keyboard for an organ? Just wondering for discussions sake.

Sporting sunglasses, I'm sipping a pina colada on Ipanema. The sky is turning to twilight, the gentle sound of waves crashing on the beach adds a soothing ostinato, and I'm watching bikini- and briefs- clad beauties perform an intricate social dance.

Good for you, JW, that sounds really great!

In the early 70s through the early 90s, I had a real Hammond organ - two manuals, full set of foot pedals, three sets of drawbars. I've always liked the Hammond sound, and I really enjoyed playing it. One thing I really liked was that I could play bass lines with my foot, along with chords in the left hand, to provide a jazzy or latin accompaniment. What I disliked was that I never had much success at trying to accent specific notes in a melody. (The expression pedal was sluggish, or I had a sluggish ankle, and the expression pedal also increased the volume of the foot pedal notes, and left hand chords too.)

I remember having to put up with a certain amount of ribbing about playing "roller skating rink music." Also, I was often told that I was not playing the organ, I was "playing the piano on an organ".

BTW, my wife thought the Hammond was a pretty piece of furniture, so she was glad to have it in the living room. If I had something like a Nord Electro, I'm sure she would have told me where to put it!

Ed

Welcome aboard, JW. Enjoy the adventure.

It's my impression that jazz organ is surging. I can't say that I've done a scientific survey, but I notice more and more organ players popping up here in Chicago and touring around. I think when synthesizers came around and offered unlimited sounds, it seemed like the sound of the B3 was just one of many. But more and more, folks are realizing the uniqueness of the B3 and the clonewheels do a great job of making that sound available to anyone. Every show I've been to the audiences just love the B3 sound.

rnaple, the Nord Electro 4 has the same again as the full Nord C2 Organ which is a dual manual unit. So it's mostly the same functionality in a single manual which I play as a split keyboard.

You can attach a bass pedal although that would be lower priority to getting a dual manual organ I would imagine. Also there's an expression pedal. And the sustain pedal of the piano becomes a Fast/Slow Leslie switch. Some company apparently sells some drawbar unit in case the buttons aren't intuitive enough.

However, this particular Nord Electro 4HP 73 has weighted keys. And that's what's not authentic for organ playing. it seems fine enough for jazz. I can see that it could be limiting for a blues player.

Am I rich that I can afford all these? Actually the opposite is true. I'm selling my prior Nord Piano and this is the cheapest option to getting an organ instead of getting a separate organ clone (used). It's a relatively minor upgrade.

And I am expecting that this will expand my versatility in getting more gigs because I was not able to play certain things (like Santana tunes) and had to hire a guitar player.

The REAL reason however (the above was the explanation to the wife ) -- was that someone brought an organ to a jam and I was able to play it and I was intrigued...

I was also telling the wife that B3 organs are CHEAP! But when I showed the picture, the immediate thought from her was "YUCK! Ugly furniture!". LOL.

LOL - I guess I have the opposite reaction. The Nord can be hidden away in a room. But that "room" has no more space for an organ. I'm not even sure how to get a B3 through the door.

You didn't know at the time that you could lighten the volume on the LH comp by adjusting the drawbars? I just learned a good setting today for lower/upper manual setting when comping (no bass).

Lower manual 008800000.
Upper manual 888000000.

It quiets down the lower manual quite a bit. Of course on the Electro this is a keyboard split. I only have one manual.

I didn't use these settings on the recording above though. So it thought it was a trifle loud on the LH.

BTW I did find some inexpensive clones out there. Old Nord Electros, Roland VK8, VK7, Roland VR09 etc. Those could satisfy a little B3 urge near a weight of only 15lbs. Easy enough to hide in a close! (61 keys).

I'm jealous of you though since I haven't played on an actual B3. Sure I've touched organs in the past but I had no idea how to play piano then.

jjo, there's something about that mellow 888000000 setting that seems to get people's attention. It's a pleasant tone and I've had good reactions to the couple of times I've used an organ sound in public.

But then again, I saw a jazz piano trio last week and then it reminded me of the beauty of piano as well. So that kept me tied to the piano.

I have to say though that from a technique point of view, there's an advantage to playing organ for older folks like me. I will never have time to gain the piano technique of someone who started at 8. But in organ you don't need it. If you have the brains, the machine can be tamed better than my fingers can.

So we'll see which instrument makes me sound better.

Just loving Larry Goldings. His style is completely in sync with what I want to do. A modern player with the influence of Jaki Byard, Fred Hersch and apparently also Keith Jarrett?

To be honest, my only major exposure to jazz organ was Joey D and his style is more traditional. I'm liking the sound of a modern player on organ. Even like Medeski. Brings out the ex-Rocker in me