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Jazz Articles about Melvin Rhyne
Melvin Rhyne: Tomorrow Yesterday Today
by C. Andrew Hovan
A disciple of some of the earliest jazz organ practitioners, such as Jackie Davis, Milt Buckner, and Wild Bill Davis, jazz veteran Melvin Rhyne's major claim to fame has been the five years he spent with the renowned Wes Montgomery in the early '60s. Yet this is really only a fraction of the story for the 67-year-old organist. Much like the proverbial hibernating bear, Rhyne kept a low profile throughout the '70s and '80s and he even told writer Pete ...
Continue ReadingMelvin Rhyne: Classmasters
by C. Andrew Hovan
While it's an easy task to designate any number of Hammond B-3 organ players who have quickly fallen under the spell of innovator Jimmy Smith, it's not as simple to inventory the few individuals who've avoided Smith's overpowering influence to develop a sound and manner of their own. Melvin Rhyne is one who managed to carve a niche for himself during the '60s with a much lighter and less bombastic approach, around during the heydays as a member of Wes ...
Continue ReadingMelvin Rhyne: Boss Organ
by Chris May
Originally released on CD on the Criss Cross label in 1993, Hammond B3 organist Melvin Rhyne's Boss Organ is issued here for the first time on vinyl. Spanish archive label Elemental, under license from Criss Cross, has repackaged it as a double LP in a gatefold sleeve on 180-gram audiophile vinyl. It is a blinder. Not because Rhyne deals in surging, heavily amped block chords, a la Jimmy Smith, but because his style is utterly unlike that, ...
Continue ReadingMelvin Rhyne: Kojo
by C. Andrew Hovan
Taking advantage of the cyclical nature of fads and stylistic “ins" and “outs," Melvin Rhyne is lucky to be part of the current renaissance movement involving the classic sound of the Hammond B-3 organ and the type of funky fare that was prosperous and bountiful during the ‘60s. Of course, Rhyne was around during the heydays as a member of Wes Montgomery’s touring trio. Now this Milwaukee resident has caught the other side of the upswing with a renewed interest ...
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