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Well done Nothing like a gig to kick you into high gear.

Cathy

Thanks Cathy! A little risky to be trying this so early but I guess that's how one learns.

I noticed btw that there seems to be zero "organ" activity in this entire forum. No one in Digital likes organ? I'm surprised at the fun textures in sounds one can get with a Hammond organ sound (if one knows how). And generally, it is easier to learn technique than piano.

Nothing more fun (and challenging) than playing organ IMO. I still have my lovely old Conn organ (with pedals) in the back room and enjoy playing it now & then. Here was one of my favorite songs to play on it back then:

MR. SANDMAN: https://app.box.com/shared/oostt4g0i4

That's so cool Elssa! Do you play the pedals too?

So a Conn organ has no drawbars? I just looked at a pic. You just have preset sounds then? Does it have a swell pedal?

Envious that you have the real deal!

Thanks, Jazzwee, for starting this great organ thread. Yep, my Conn is a regular classic electric organ from the early 60's with the pedalboard, swell pedal, etc.. I used to play a pretty mean walking bass on it back then when I was young. Can't believe it still works, the pedals, rhythms, etc after all these years. A little static with a few of the contacts, but not too bad. They really made things so well back then, along with a beautiful wooden cabinet. It was my grandma's (my mom's mom), and I also had a larger one that I got from an organ teacher (Radio City Music Hall organist) which we eventually sold, but I kept the little one from grandma over the years. I love the Hammond as well as Conn - very rich sound, good deep bass sound with the pedals, etc.

Here's Ethel Smith playing Tico-Tico. Nothing more fun than playing Latin rhythms on the organ!

ETHEL SMITH

http://theatreorgans.com/hammond/ethel/esmith.asp

"Two events dramatically changed the subsequent course of Ethel Smith's career. In 1935 the Hammond Corporation produced its first electric organ. The instrument revolutionized the keyboard genre by combining the fast action of the piano with the timbral resources of the organ. Miss Smith spotted her first Hammond while accompanying a singer in a Hollywood studio. According to her, "I just ran my fingers over [the organ] and said 'That's for me!'" (New York Times, May 16, 1943). Soon she was so proficient that she was able to pick up gigs in and around Hollywood, and even played on local radio broadcasts.

Ethel Smith was also concerned with sound quality. As she explained in another interview for Etude (May 1944), "The Hammond organist mixes tone color on a musical palette much in the manner of a painter in oils. He is not limited to ready-mixed colors." In fact, no one has ever made the Hammond sound quite like her. To some extent, this is due to her careful choice of organ stops and draw bars. Compare, for example, the shimmering pentatonic washes in "By the Waters of Minnetonka" (Bathing Beauty/Galloping Fingers) with the stark, other-worldly sound of "Firebird Blues" (Bouquet of the Blues) or the gnarly distortion of "Ethel Meets the Count" (Many Moods of Ethel Smith). She was particularly imaginative in recreating orchestral sounds and claimed that when arranging an instrumental piece for the organ she would "phrase as a flutist or clarinetist would" (Etude, May 1947). But Miss Smith's unique sound also depended upon her exceptional skills at transcription. In particular, she avoided clunky block chords preferring instead parallel thirds or other polyphonic devices. Take a listen to the ingenious countermelodies in "Brazil" (Many Moods of Ethel Smith/Latin from Manhattan). Using classical techniques, she even layered the same tune on top of itself to create her own "Fugue in Blue" (Bouquet of the Blues). The results were stunning; she was able to create full and fluid sounds without sacrificing her wonderful sense of color and rhythmic vitality. And that's why she was heralded by the Latin American press as "La Organista Mas Famoso del Mundo!"

JW, did you try the organ forum here?
Organ forum

Ed

Ed, I can't believe I've never seen that forum before. I guess I only look at the "Popular" forums which is what I bookmarked. Not busy either though.

Noticed too that there are two distinct groups of organ players. Classical/Church vs. Jazz/Rock/Blues. And how they handle the instrument is completely different.

At least this is my idea of organ playing.

Super! Too bad they had to put an orchestra in the background. I would have liked to hear it with just the organ by itself. She's very expressive on this.

Yeah, me too.

I was just remembering that Gordon Vernick did some podcasts about the history of jazz organ, focusing mostly on Jimmy Smith. Good stuff. I think they are on iTunes.

Ed

Elssa, I was looking for more Ethel Smith, trying to hear her playing by herself only. Hard to find. I guess she mostly played for movies and such. Wonderful sound. Like classical piano with her technique.

Ethel Smith

You can get it on EBay

Ethel Smith

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-Of-2-Ca...=Music_Cassettes&hash=item3ce292881b

More Ethel Smith - lots of fun.

Yes, such a wonderful technique. She loved the Latin rhythms especially and used those on the Hammond organ quite often. She didn't need an orchestra or band, though she enjoyed that as well.

Here's my arrangement of Brazil. I still have her original sheet music and just changed the key and a few other things. She was a real virtuoso!

BRAZIL

This is the original sheet music that I have:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brazil-by-A..._DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4867918d9b

This is very similar to the Conn organ I have at home now in the back room:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-CON..._DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27e579de6d

Yikes, that Tico Tico really brought back some memories. I used to love that song when I was a kid, and I'm sure Ethel had something to do with that!

Here I am playing it on my Hammond in 1979. Audio quality is really bad - recorded on a kid's cassette player/recorder, sitting on the floor in front of the speakers, so there is way too much bass.

Tico Tico


Sounds like I was more into drama and harmonic tension than speed or technique!

Ed

You sounded pretty good in 1979 Ed! Wow! Love it when you guys post organ performances. Something for me to look forward to.

You still keep cassettes from 1979????? Do you also have 8-track? And how did you digitize this? I don't think I even have a device that can play cassettes...

Five or six years ago, I was in the process of throwing out old cassette tapes, and came across this "organ time capsule" tape with thirty-some recordings from 1978-79. No improvising in any of these, but I was certainly having fun creating arrangements from lead sheets.

I have a boombox that plays cassettes, so I wired its headset output to my computer line-in input and digitized the tape with Audacity.

Fun to listen to the old recordings, even though the sound quality ranges from absolutely horrible to even worse!

Ed

So was yours a B3? No Leslie?