Results for "organ, Hammond B3"

Wild Bill Davis

Born: November 24, 1918

Wild Bill Davis was the top cat among organists prior to the rise of Jimmy Smith in 1956. He could be credited for taking the instrument from the swing era into the R&B infected jazz of the early ‘50’s, and was a pioneer in the organ trio format. He could swing like crazy, grind out dirty blues, or could play in a laid back easy listening style. He originally played guitar and wrote arrangements for Milt Larkin's legendary band during 1939-42. Davis also played piano with Louis Jordan's Tympany Five (1945- 49) before switching to organ in 1950 and heading his own influential organ/guitar/drums trios

Milt Buckner

Born: July 10, 1915

A colorful and versatile musician who was comfortable while on the piano, or stretching out on the Hammond organ. Milt Buckner was also quite the character and very much the jovial entertainer.

Orphaned as a child, Buckner was taught music by an uncle in Detroit. He started playing piano and arranging for local bands such as The Harlem Aristocrats and The Dixie Whangdoodles - by the late 1920s. After joining drummer Don Cox's band in 1932, Buckner began experimenting with patterned parallel chords, becoming famous as the earliest purveyor of what came to be known as "block chords" or "locked hands" style;, he then attracted the attention of McKinney's Cotton Pickers in 1934 for whom he wrote arrangements.

James Taylor Quartet

Emerging from the tragic bankruptcy of Stiff Records, James Taylor, founding member of the infamous group The Prisoners - formed The James Taylor Quartet JTQ's first single, Blow Up, was released on the Re Elect The President (Acid Jazz) label in 1985. It was a huge success, immediately attracting the attention of John Peel who championed it; the track appearing three years running on Peel's seminal Festive 50 Chart. After an impressive 13 weeks in the Indie Singles Chart, the band decided to start work on a mini album, titled Mission Impossible. This debut, released in '86, was naturally featured around Taylor's Hammond organ sound to produce classic covers of Sixties film themes Mission Impossible, Goldfinger, Mrs Robinson and other heavily grooving instrumental punk funk tunes

Lonnie Liston Smith

Born: December 28, 1940

The Great Lonnie Liston Smith is one of contemporary music’s most versatile musicians. In a career that spans some 40 years, he has been heard in a variety of context as a featured sideman for some of Jazz music’s most illustrious leaders before stepping out to reveal his own original concepts as a bandleader in the mid 70’s. He is a keyboardist of the first rank and has influenced a generation of young players that have acknowledged his rhythmic urgency (swing), harmonic acumen and composing skills. Lonnie was born in Richmond, Virginia into a musical family. His father was a member of the Gospel Group, “The Harmonizing Four”

Dr. Lonnie Smith

Born: July 3, 1942

Dr. Lonnie Smith is an unparalleled musician, composer, performer and recording artist. An authentic master and guru of the Hammond B-3 organ for over five decades, he has been featured on over seventy albums, and has recorded and performed with a virtual “Who’s Who” of the greatest jazz, blues and R&B giants in the industry. Consequently, he has often been hailed as a “Legend,” a “Living Musical Icon,” and as the most creative jazz organist by a slew of music publications. Jazz Times magazine describes him as “a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a turban!” Always ahead of the curve, it is no surprise Dr

Johnny "Hammond" Smith

Born: December 16, 1933

Johnny "Hammond" Smith was part of the golden age of jazz organ that flourished for about 15 years, beginning in the mid-1950s. His own record label alone, Prestige, boasted such top organists as Shirley Scott, Brother Jack McDuff, Don Patterson, and Charles Earland. And looming over the entire crowded field of B-3 pilots was Jimmy Smith (no relation). Born John Robert Smith in Louisville, Kentucky, December 16, 1933, he has a mildly musical background: “My mother sang in the choir, my sister and others in the family were musical, but I’m the only one who became a professional.” “My influences were Charlie Parker, Dizzy, Bud Powell, Art Tatum, all the people who were really happening in the mid-1940s

Jimmy Smith

Born: December 8, 1925

Born James Oscar Smith in Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA. Smith was influenced by both gospel and blues. He first achieved prominence in the 1950s where his recordings became popular on jukeboxes before there were commonly used terms to describe his unique musical flavor. In the sixties and seventies he helped create the jazz style known as 'funk' or 'soul jazz'. There had been earlier limited use of the electronic organ in jazz (notably by Fats Waller and Count Basie), though these early examples sometimes had a novelty feel. Smith is widely recognized as introducing the electric organ as a legitimate musical instrument, capable of virtuoso improvisation

Shirley Scott

Born: March 14, 1934

Shirley Scott began playing piano and trumpet in her native Philadelphia. By the mid 1950s, she was playing piano in the city's thriving club scene - often with the very young John Coltrane. A club owner needed her to fill in on organ one night and the young Shirley took to it immediately, crafting a swinging, signature sound unlike anyone else almost from the get go. On a swing through town, Basie tenor man Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (1922-86) heard Scott and asked her to join his band. They recorded prolifically together - as co-leaders - and released a hugely popular series of "Cookbook" records for Prestige during the late 1950s. Shirley launched her solo career in 1958, recording 23 albums for Prestige (1958-64), 10 for Impulse (1963-68), three for Atlantic (1968-70), three for Cadet (1971-73), one in 1974 for Strata East, two for Muse (1989-91) and three for Candid (1991-92). She was married to the late, great tenor sax player Stanley Turrentine (1961-71) and the two made some of their finest music - together - for the Blue Note, Prestige, Impulse and Atlantic labels. Her playing consistently possessed one of the most graceful and lyrical touches applied to the bulky B-3

Radam Schwartz

Radam Schwartz was born and raised in the New York City area. In high school he played saxophone and keyboards in pop and soul bands. After high school he became interested in jazz and made piano his main instrument. He attended Long Island University in Brooklyn for a year and started attending jam sessions in Brooklyn. Later he went to Boston to study at Berklee School of Music on a summer scholarship,and after two semesters, stopped attending working in a restaurant,and selling papers on the street, and practicing piano. Finally Radam got a few gigs, rock and jazz including a brief stint in Charlie Mariano's fusion band. After 3 years he moved back to New York and graduated from Hofstra University

Brian Auger

Born: July 18, 1939

For over fifty years, Brian Auger has been a musician’s musician as Hammond B3 innovator, pianist, bandleader, session man and key player in the rise of jazz/rock fusion. Auger has incorporated jazz, early British pop, R&B, soul and rock into an incredible catalog that has won him legions of fans all over the world. Auger has played, toured, and recorded with many of the most influential musicians in modern times, including John McLaughlin, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, Tony Williams, Billy Cobham, Carlos Santana, Chaka Khan, Eddie Harris and Les McCann. Playing in clubs, Auger won the Melody Maker Reader's Poll in the "Jazz Piano" and "New Star" categories in 1964 and was a known commodity in swingin’ London’s burgeoning music scene