All Hail the King! B53 Basies the King of Organs: the mighty Hammond 8-3. If you hear an organ in the music you listen to — be it jazz, blues, pop, rock, rap, whatever — chances are very good it’s a Hammond organ, or at least a simulation of one. There have been hundreds of organs in history, but the B-3 is by far the most popular. It’s been around 42 years and counting, it was in production for 20 years, and peo- ple still scramble to pick one up. Dominic Milano, former editorial director of Keyboard, ac- quired this used B-3 in December 1971, when he was si high school. Its guts shown from the rear (left), the organ was recently restored to playing condition for Dominic by Dave ‘Amels, another vintage organ fanatic. Buy one, that is. The B-3 tips the scales at 310 pounds (425 with its pedalboard and bench). And don't forget the 150-pound Leslie 122 speaker cabinet, a crucial factor in the B-3's popularity. To sur vive with one on the road, you'll need @ road crew (expensive) or at least three strong friends (freel) besides yourself to heft the thing around, Face it: To take one on the road, you pretty much have to be a real aficionado — or a masochist. By the way, have you noticed the increasing number of B-3 players on the club cir cuits these days? Unless you've played a Harnmond and danced your feet across its pedal clavier (that’s the pedalboard, or bass pedals if you pre fer), you may not have much of an idea about the beast, or can’t understand why it's so special to so many people. ‘The Hammond B-3 was one of dozens of electric organs man ufactured by the Hammond Organ Company from the mid-19305 to the 1970s. Although Hammond organs have continued to be produced almost nonstop, even through today, those made in theinitial 40 years were special. They differ from more modern mod- els in the way they make sound. Whereas newer Hammond organs make use of solid-state circuits to create sound, the old ones incorporate a system of spinning, steel, silver-dollar-sized “tone wheels” with notched edges. These wheels spin at 12 different speeds, from 16 to 31 revolutions per second. The more notches a wheel has (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, or 192, covering eight octaves), the higher pitch it produces. Each wheel has its own litle pickup for amplifying the wheel's tone. Two separate five-octave manuals are cascaded inside the B-3 cabnet. A sixth octave of reverse- colored keys extends beyond the left end of each manual; these are used to engage hardwired presets or enable the drawbars — a set of nine push/pull sliders whose positions determine the strength of harmonics in the organ sound. If you move the draw- bars while playing notes, the timbre will change. There are four sets of drawbars, two each for the upper and lower manuals. And if the organ is complete, it will have a 25-note pedalboard and matching bench. Wester Union developed a unique use for the Hammond organ in the 19405: each musical tone generated by the organ was able to transmit separate messages simultaneously over a single wire. As the popularity of the B-3 soared, the Hammond Organ Company introduced new ways of making the organ more accessible; here, a group of Girl Scouts takes organ lessons. What's so special about the B-3 and other tonewheel organs? Most important is their sound. Their output is more alive — or- _ganic, ifyou will — than what electronic organs can produce. “The B43 generates a warm, full sound,” explains Dave Amels, that’s very pleasant and musically useful. Really fine instruments inspire you to play better, and the B-3 is an example of that.” Ironically, as a member of the staff at Voce, organ enthusiast, player, and collector, Amels actively strives to reproduce the B-3 sound electronically. One of the most realistic-sounding B-3 simu lators comes from Voce, the V3. Still, the man totally appreciates the real thing: “There's something very natural about the sound, almost it really pleasing. ‘or some other acoustic instrument, that makesAdds jazz and blues organist Moe Denham, an excellent per- former who's been playing the B-3 since his mom bought one in 1955, when he was 11, “The B-3 is the one instrument, besides acoustic pian Imost every electronic keyboard company is constantly trying to emulate” Spinet cabinets await their final finishing operations in the Hammond Organ Company factory. ‘As on the 8-3, drawbars cascade down to the dual manuals on the Hammond Suzuki XB-3, being played here by Joey DeFrancesco. In 1949, §3 Hammond organists played to a crowd of 100,000 at the Chicagoland Music Festival at Soldier Field. The Leslie's a Necessity Since organ tones tend to be rather static, the [lammond engi neers developed ways of modulating the sound to make it more interesting. Vibrato and chorus effects were implemented on the 8.3, but the best complement to the Hammond sound came from ‘outside the company in the form of a cabinet with rotating speaker ‘components designed by Don Leslie. This fact wasn't accepted very well by the man at the helm of the ‘organ company, Laurens Hammond. How dare anyone outside the Hammond Organ Company improve his product! Although Hammond and Leslie had created perfectly matched musical products, for many years their companies battled. The Hammond ‘Organ Company could have bought Leslie's ideas, but insteaddecided to “ignore” his existence and to institute a policy that for bade their dealers to sell Leslie speakers. Were Hammond dealers staunch in obeying the Leslie edict? Typically, yes. “When | was a youngster, | used to hang around a music store that sold Hammond organs in my hometown of inois," recalls Denham. Quincy, bring up the Leslie name, and You'll have to leave the store.”” the F-word. ‘Did you say Les Connected to a Leslie cabinet or two — or in the case of some- cone like rock organ god Keith Emerson, a stacked bank of more than a dozen — your Hammond | take on a brilliant new per- sonality. The most popular Leslie speaker cabinet contains a high frequency horn driver and a bass woofer, both of which are com- bined with rotating components: a dual hom assembly (one horn is open, the other acoustically plugged and present only as a counterbalance) for the highs, and a deflective drum for the lows. The rotary components can rotate at high and low speeds, with ad- justable ramp-up and -down times. A full-stop braking option lets you stop the rotors completely, which is necessary if you want to tune other instruments such as a guitar to the organ. Thanks to reflective surfaces in the performance space, as well as the Doppler effect that occurs when @ noise-emitting source moves toward, past, and then away from your ears, the Leslie speaker creates a unique effect that greatly enhances the organ sound, especially when the rotation speed is switched at critical points in the performance. How did Don Leslie figure out to use rotary components with speakers? He was inspired by the expe- rience of listening to a pipe organ. In a pipe organ, the pipes themselves are spread out across a fairly wide range. The base of a bank of pipes can measure up to 12 feet or more across. There- fore, the sources of notes you hear are spread out, and notes em- anate from different spots across the stereo field. The best complement to the Hammond 6-3 comes in the form of a cabinet with rotating speaker components designed by Don Leslie. The top rotary hom and the rotary drum at the bottom, which can be seen in the back view (right), direct the organ’s sound.Carting the 8-3 and the Leslie can be prohibitively expensive, but well worth it if the budget allows; here, the late Charles Earland, a soul jazz organist whose style was influenced by early greats such as Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff, grooves on the Hammond. Young 8-3 sensation John Medeski, of the improvisational trio Medeski Martin & Wood, assesses the importance of the special speaker cabinet: “The Leslie was designed sound and throw it around the room to i soften the organ pipes being every- where,” he says. “That's the theory, anyway. In actuality, it’s way hipper than a pipe organ.” While he still lived at home, poor Moe Denham couldn't enjoy the pleasure of having a Leslie with his mom's Hammond organ. “Mom had bought the 8-3 with Hammond's JR-20 speaker cab- inet, which had four It was sufficient for speakers in it and a 20-watt amplifier jing room because that’s what the B3 was made for. It was never made to be used professionally. tried to get Mom to buy a Leslie speaker because | thought the sound of it was so cool. But she wasn't all that impressed, and I don't think she wanted to spend any rrore money. She'd already spent about $4,000 on this organ, and that was in 1955!” According to player, collector, and organ enthusiast Dave Amels, “A lot of musicians who played organ in church found that it was good for styles other than classical,” thus leading to it being featured in other forms of music, such as jazz, blues, and rock. There's no denying the fact that the B-3 and Leslie speaker were ‘@ magical combination. Unfortunately, since multiple Leslies could be run from a single Hammond, there's currently a shortage of authentic old Leslies. Ironically, new Leslies are now assembled alongside solid-state organs by the new Hammond company, Hammond Suzuki USA, which is based in the Chicago area. The Church Factor Ah, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. We need some histor- ical perspective. Such as, What was the purpose of making theHammond organ to start with? “The Hammond organ was origi- nally intended as a replacement for the pipe organ,” Dave Amels offers. “It fast attack, But that made it useful for types of music other than led miserably at that because its notes have such a strictly liturgical. However, the Hammond was much cheaper than ‘a pipe organ, so a lot of churches used it.” “The Hammond found its way into many churches all over the country.” Moe Denham adds, “especially in the South. It was used by a lot of black gospel groups, and it found its way from there into the blues and R&B. Many of the early blues and R&B artists the church. When they started to branch out and got their start play in venues other than the church and sing music that was other than gospel, it seems the Hammond organ followed right along with them.” “A lot of the musicians who played it in church found thal good for styles of music other than classical,” Amels agrees. “That's what led it from being used in the church to other forms of was music, such as jazz. Gospel and R&B came out of the black churches that had a Hammond early on, and players found a new style of music that suited the sound of the musical instrument.” British funk/fusion/ acid jazz organist James Taylor (no, not the “You've Got a Friend” guy) has a different perspective on the B-3’s jescale is much broader, but perhaps that’s to be ex- roots. pected from someone whose country’s history goes back thou- sands of years instead of just hundreds: “The organ, in general, goes clear back to Roman times. That was the first recorded his- e organs. The organ was the backdrop for the whole r gious culture that’s gone on for the last 2,000 years. So the organ sound is synonymous with human history, struggle, and religion. The sound of the organ pulls strings that are pretty latent but deep in the human psyche.” ‘Mrs. Frariklin D. Roosevelt seated at a Hammond organ presented to the Georgia Warm Springs Polio Foundation as to the President on his birthday. Musical Evolution ‘Once the Hammond organ had escaped the boundary of the church, it's use began to cross-pollinate numerous styles. Early advocates included Dr. Albert Schweitzer, auto magnate Henry Ford, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and composer George Gersh- win. The young and beautiful Ethel Smith promoted Hammonds in performance, on records, and over the radio. These names were used as marketing tools to interest a new group of people in the ‘organ: home players. “In the 19405, there were players who seemed to be morepoporiented,” Dave Amels reports. “In other words, instead of playing R&B and jazz, they played more popular, shall we say ‘white’ music, There was a whole assortment of them, and they used the organ in ways that the Hammond Organ Company in- tended, more so than the jazz folks did. They used drawbar set tings that were published in Hammond documents and used the presets. The one drawbar setting that Hammond always said you should never use was with all the drawbars pulled out. Just about every rock ‘n’ roll band has probably used it at one time or an Ca \ The fabulous and young (sill in his early 305) Greg Kurstin grooves on Minimoog and 8-3 in a duo performance with thereminist Pamelia for the Audities Foundation in Calgary, Canada, in October 2000. Moe Denham points to one of his early influences, a player who belongs in this category: “There was a guy named Lenny Dee who had a really different style. When you heard him on the radio, you knew immediately it was him, because it was very rhythmic. He broke every rule in the book. The Hammond Organ Elementary In- struction Book, which is geared toward the home or church organ- ist, says absolutely, positively do not sit there and play rhythm on the expression pedal. Yet, that is the way to do it now in jazz, blues, and pop music, because that expression pedal is very important. It's how you get a dynamic feeling when you play, like a pianist, by pumping it with the rhythm. Lenny Dee worked the ex- pression pedal so much, it almost sounded like he had a rhythm section when he really didn’t.” Above and opposite: Ethel Smith, dubbed the First Lady of the Hammond Organ in the 1940s, contributed a great dealto the popularity of the electric organ. Below and opposite: Internally, the C-3 is exactly the same as the B-3, except that it is in a closed-sided Gothicdesign case, considered at the time more acceptable in church. Other early Hammond organ stars in this vein included Milt Herth and Porter Heaps. But it was on other fronts that the strides were made that continue to influence music today. “I can mention names of organists who go all the way back to the beginning of the Hammond organ in 1935,” claims Denham. “People such as Fats Waller and Count Basic.” Waller, who was a phenomenal pi anist as well, is commonly acknowledged as the first player to introduce the Hammond to jazz. Some cite his “Jitterbug Waltz” as the first recording ever made of the Hammond organ. Basie learned from Waller and can be heard playing in a swing style in “Live and Love Tonight” on Super Chief (Columbia). His sparse, jumpy playing style influenced many organists since, including Wild Bill Davis, Milt Buckner, and Jackie Davis. “The father of jazz organ was Wild Bill Davis,” contends John. Medeski. “He was mainly a pianist, guitar player, and arranger for all these old big bands in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1948, he started playing organ for real. He didn't treat the organ like it was a piano; he played it like it was a big band or an orchestra. Wild Bill Davi played with Duke Ellington's band. Did you ever hear ‘Apri Paris’ by Count Basie? That was Wi avis’s arrangement, the famous one. Any selfrespecting organ player will have, I'm sure, played it on organ at one time or another, in a lounge or some blues joint.” In the days when the big band was everything, the organist was considered a one man big band. Pictured here is Helen and Jesse Crawford and their orchestra. Radio star Lenny Dee was one of the first organists to defyconvention and play rhythm on the expression pedal, popular- izing an exciting new dynamic in organ music. Jackie Davis, who came fiom the Fats Waller schoo! of jazz music in which the Hammond organ was prominent, emu- lated Waller's stride-driven playing style. Medeski makes a few keen observations about the Hammond corgan’s place in jazz during this period: “Back in the e: the big band was everything. In the beginning, the Hammond was the poor man’s pipe organ, then it became the poor man’s big band. It made the big-band style of music and its vibe and feeling accessible to people in an easierto-book format. Put together an days, ‘organ trio or an organ player who backs up a singer, and you basi- cally have a big band. “All the stuff you associate with big bands are completely trans- latable to organ, ferent vibratos, all the different stop changes and the dif- bring to mind saxophone or something that. The organ is like a one-man big band, which is — if you think about it ~ what keyboards have always been about. Piano was the composer's instrument. One person can play bass, inner parts, and melody all at the same time. The same thing’s true with organ, except you've got one more: You can play the bass with your feet, and then you've got two hands to deal with all the other parts. “IF you went out to see jazz in the 1950s, you were more likely to see a band with organ than entire brass and woodwind sections. There would very likely be organ, sax, and drums. That was much more economical than a whole big band.” Few would argue who was most influe Smith elevated the organ from being a big-band instrument into ‘one for playing linear, more bebop type of music,” Medeski con- tinues. “Jimmy Smith was the line between blues and bebop.” “Jimmy Smith's work is what mostly brought the Hammond to the mass market, where it was accepted by musicians who played other types of music,” ex they heard ins Amels. “They were inspired when ’s records. Of course, other musicians my Sei ale what Jimmy did. One of the things abou ate a musical style, you often wind up with something brand: “Have you heard Billy Preston's solo gospel organ record?” Medeski asks. “Oh, my God, it's really unbelievable, Unfortu nately, it's probably on vinyl only and not available any more.” Eddie Layton worked as a traveling demonstrator for the Hammond Organ Company in the 1950s and published acomprehensive book on the drawbar system entitled The Hammond Drawbar Dictionary. In 1996, Eddie celebrated his 30th anniversary as orgari ing Ya Gotta Have Heart (Silva America), a collec ballpark classics such as “Take Me Out to the Ballgame. ” Jack McDuff, pictured here with George Benson, is a leg endary jazz organist. As Seen on “The Ed Sullivan Show” Moe Denham identifies another of his favorite 8-3 players from the past. This one, it turns out, made a unique contribution to the 's awareness of the organ. “Earl Grant helped bring the ity of the Hammond organ to mainstream America in the 1950s and 1960s on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show," Denham claims. “Ed Si livan had this man on quite frequently, perhaps five or six times over the course of a couple years. They had a camera point- ing down at the manuals from straight above, and | got a lot of drawbar hints from watching Earl Grant on Sunday nights. “He's probably most famous for his recording of ‘Ebb Tide’ He'd get the sound of the surf by using a certain drawbar combi nation on the lower manual and running the palm of his hand up and down the keyboard while he played the melody of ‘Ebb Tide’ with his right hand on the upper manual. He had two Leslies pumping in the background off his B-3, and it was the first time I'd think it was the fi ever seen anything like ever seen anything like this. He may have been the first person to play Hammond on national TV on a show that all of America watched.” Also during the 's0s, Southern Californians and select syndi- cated show TV viewers could enjoy the great, mysterious, turban wearing Korla Pandit, who dreamily gazed into the camera as he masterfully played Far East — tinged music on Hammond. Some- times Korla would accompany dancers, but usually he simply looked directly into the camera as he played. He also alternated on piano, but he never spoke. I've seen video tapes of Korla’s unique show, and it’s fascinating. He even made a cameo appearance as himself in Tim Burton's 1994 movie Ed Wood.