As I reported in Part I of this diatribe last month, it was unavoidable for anyone with ears and a modicum of curiosity to not encounter the Hammond B-3 organ during the ‘60s and ‘70s, in either the rock or jazz worlds.
Rockwise, you had multiple organ-fueled hit singles from 1967 in the Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “I’m a Man” (with Steve Winwood on Hammond B-3 organ), Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” (with Matthew Fisher on organ) and Vanilla Fudge’s bombastic take on The Supremes hit from the previous year, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.” The following year saw Jimi Hendrix’s bluesy jam on “Voodoo Chile” from 1968’s Electric Ladyland (with Winwood on organ), Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” (organ by Doug Ingle) and Deep Purple’s 1968 “Hush” (with Jon Lord on B3). Early ‘70s into the Hammond B-3 organ sweepstakes included Allman Brothers’ “Tied to the Whipping Post” (from 1971’s At Fillmore East) and Argent’s 1972 hit “Hold Your Head Up” (with a fantastic B-3 solo by Rod Argent that was cited by Rick Wakeman as the “greatest organ solo ever”).
Jazz-wise, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the B-3 during the ‘60s was Jimmy Smith, whose soulful blues-gospel approach mixed with bop complexity on a string of Blue Note albums including 1960’s Crazy! Baby!, 1961’s Midnight Special and 1963’s Back at the Chicken Shack set a high bar for organ group work.
There followed a succession of great B-3 players who emerged on the scene in Smith’s wake, including Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Don Patterson, Baby Face Willette, Big John Patton, Shirley Scott and funkmeister Lonnie Smith (before he began wearing a turban and referring to himself as Dr.), all of whom conveyed requisite chops and abundant soul.
One prodigious player who departed from the soul-jazz pack was Larry Young. Known as “the Coltrane of organ jazz,” his complex modal improvisations with avant garde leanings, both with Tony Williams Lifetime and as a Blue Note recording artist during the ‘60s, blazed a new trail for the B-3.
No list of Hammond B-3 players from my youth would be complete without some mention of The Mighty Burner, Charles Earland. A man as hulking as the Hammond itself, the Philly-based Earland started off playing tenor saxophone at age 17 in Jimmy McGriff’s band before switching to organ and forming a band with fellow Philadelphian and South Philadelphia High School classmate Pat Martino. As Martino recalled in Here And Now: The Autobiography of Pat Martino: “Charles was a tenor player in the high school band, and a good one at that. At some point he got turned on to the great organist Jimmy Smith, who was also from Philadelphia, and we went down to Atlantic city one time to see Jimmy perform at the Jockey Club. We were both teenagers at the time. Charlie hear Jimmy Smith play the Hammond B-3 that evening and was just floord by the magic. He was just so compelled he thought he was hallucinating it. And that’s when Charlie decided he was going to switch from tenor saxophone to Hammond B-3 organ. Charlie and I then got together and we practice for two, three weeks, then went to play a gig in Buffalo at a placed called the Pine Grill.”
After forming his own group, Earland scored a hit with 1970’s Black Talk! for the Prestige label on the strength of his groovy shuffle-swing instrumental version of The Spiral Starecase’s ebullient 1969 pop hit, “More Today Than Yesterday.” Earland would continue to feature that tune as a smile-inducing set-closer until the end (he died from heart failure on Dec. 11, 1999 at age 58 the morning after performing a concert in Kansas City, Missouri). I still have fond memories of seeing The Mighty Burner on multiple occasions at Smoke in NYC, unleashing on that infectious tune while snapping his head to the beat while blinking his eyes in time behind the B-3.
YEEEESSSSSSS...the mighty B3! Thank goodness for Spence Davis and Stevie Winwood. who spiced up the Top Forty with their thundering hits! And Jimmy Smith...has a funkier player ever roamed the Earth? Doubtful. Thanks for focusing attention on the heaviest instrument any band ever carted around.
YEEEESSSSSSS...the mighty B3! Thank goodness for Spence Davis and Stevie Winwood. who spiced up the Top Forty with their thundering hits! And Jimmy Smith...has a funkier player ever roamed the Earth? Doubtful. Thanks for focusing attention on the heaviest instrument any band ever carted around.