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The Mighty Hammond Organ.


funkgod

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Hi all, i have been a massive fan of the Hammond groove past and present and have amassed a good collection over the years, I think the bass pedals ( or keys ) playing over them years has influenced my playing no end, i love the hammond bass pedal groove, simple, fat and usually very catchy.

I was lucky to catch Jimmy Smith at the Ritz in Manchester on his last time over here before he sadly passed away, an experience indeed. i have now realised that most of the music i really like has hammond in, tower of power, Jtq,  soullive etc and now when im writing music without really thinking about it i have added hammond i have written about 60 songs and nearly all have hammond in,  some dont even have bass but the hammond is right there, i had a massive collection of George benson and on them Lps i was checking out who was on keys Jack Mcduff, Ronnie smith, Ronnie foster etc so started checking out their stuff which led me on the hammond trail, allot of fantastic playing.

Any more hammond fans here ?

 

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Just now, Jus Lukin said:

I've been stage crew on jobs with a full B3 and Leslie setup. Hoicking those up onstage at The Barbican takes a few guys and some coordination, I can tell you!

There's nothing like that sound though! As always, the ol' left hand can spoil a good thing from a bass playing point of view, however. The only guy I currently play with who uses hammond a lot (albeit on a Nord, I think) can be a bit busy down there, not least when he's not quite sure of the chords, so it's double whammy of clashes. It's not really acceptable behaviour (1. not knowing the chords, and 2. digging about for them on the gig) but they aren't usually high profile gigs and I'm not in a position in that band to call shots anyway. Regardless, everything else he does with that thing still sounds badass!

Oh, my friend agrees....he'd love one, he thinks they sound divine.

But...yeah, a lot of work unless you've got some beefy roadies to help out !

 

 

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A Hammond B3 and Leslie cabinet is a marriage made in heaven!

We were very lucky to see Booker T Jones at the Moseley Jazz Fest in 2017. Stood in the front row, he had stereo Leslie cabinets on stage. It just blew me away. The hairs on my neck stick up even thinking about it now.😊

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23 minutes ago, bumnote said:

I played with an exceptionaly talented keyboard player for about ten years. Sadly no longer with us. I miss his playing and his vocals but I certainly dont miss carrying the bloody thing up flights of stairs. 

I have the great joy of playing with a similarly talented chap. He uses a Nord but 'plays' the drawbars in just the manner of the 'real thing'. As a result he gets some amazing sounds and being a brilliant player, the effect is tremendous.

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Just now, Steve Browning said:

I have the great joy of playing with a similarly talented chap. He uses a Nord but 'plays' the drawbars in just the manner of the 'real thing'. As a result he gets some amazing sounds and being a brilliant player, the effect is tremendous.

You are a lucky fellow as you also have the fortune of playing with a rather fine tub thumper, and that bloke on guitar aint too shabby either.

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Oh yes:  Good Organist + Hammond + Leslie = Something Very Special   -   A few nominations:

Jimmy McGriff - Pullin' Out The Stops

Jimmy Smith - The Cat

The Nice - Ars Longa Vita Brevis (and America)

And an honourable mention to Oxford's late, and much missed  - Tony Jezzard (A Gentleman and a Gentle Man with a great sense of humour).

Chris

 

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A while back I posted a thread here on least favourite musical  instruments, prompted by having just had to listen to summat like Hold Your Head Up or it might've been Deep Purple.   Anyway, soz, but along with the flute and mouth organ the sound of the Hammond is a signal for me to run. A chacun etc. Then again I like the sound of bluegrass banjo, which is a turn off for many.

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And there was me thinking this was a former Top Gear presenter revelation. 😉

Huge Hammond fan (not the one above). It's the sound of a lot of my favourite music. In fact give me a crunchy Ric bass, a 12 string, a flute, some Hammond and a Mellotron and I'm done.😂

 

 

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Another fan here. Each and every time my parents were to buy a new organ, they contemplated finally buying that Hammond, but it never materialised because of the price. Even this last Xmas, my mum (now 87) proposed I buy a Hammond as "music is your life".

In our family we loved Jimmy Smith, Rick van der Linden, Rhoda Scott and also Roy Phillips of The Peddlers who did sometimes play a Hammond with full pedal keyboard on Dutch tv, instead of what I understand was his regular organ, a Lowrey.

 

Here's Rhoda Scott showing her barefoot pedal work:

 

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5 minutes ago, BassTractor said:

Another fan here. Each and every time my parents were to buy a new organ, they contemplated finally buying that Hammond, but it never materialised because of the price. Even this last Xmas, my mum (now 87) proposed I buy a Hammond as "music is your life".

In our family we loved Jimmy Smith, Rick van der Linden, Rhoda Scott and also Roy Phillips of The Peddlers who did sometimes play a Hammond with full pedal keyboard on Dutch tv, instead of what I understand was his regular organ, a Lowrey.

 

Here's Rhoda Scott showing her barefoot pedal work:

yea shes a great player, amazing how many great female hammond players there are i got a cd years ago by Barbara Dennerlein, its another world, a real eye opener,  i think she is really starting to push boundaries,

 

 

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