Backgrounder: Charles Earland

Maybe you're cooking today for the holiday weekend. Or perhaps you're driving a long distance to attend a family gathering or visit the house of a friend. Or you may just be going for a long bike ride or working over the long weekend. How does three hours of uninterrupted Charles Earland sound to you? I thought so.

Known as the Mighty Burner, the Philadelphia soul-jazz organist began playing the Hammond in 1968 and went on to form some of jazz's finest high-energy organ combos. Earland was best known for stirring keyboard riffs into a searing frenzy and then building to a tremendous keyboard crescendo before winding down and out.

Here's a whole hot mess o' ad-free Charles Earland...