http://www.b3monaco.com/index.htm

Great demos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbwqs0yqIz0



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 08-29-2007).]

They had Tony and his band at the annual Pensacola Jazz Fest a few years ago. I sat as close by as you could get to his side and a little to the back so I could see his hands and feet. This dude can play.

Tony and Joey DeFrancesco are outrageous.

I always admired Tony Monaco....wicked player, but the definitive jazz organist?

Jimmy Smith.

Ian

Ummm, wonder who Tony Monaco's favorite arranger player is?

chas

Smith although good cant hold a candle to Tony listen close



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 08-30-2007).]

Donny, I disagree...Smith forgot more than Tony will ever know.

He is the King.

Having said that, Tony is still a great player and I have a sneaky feeling that you must be Tony's favorite arranger player.


Ian

We can argue forever who is best, but this is SICK !!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbwqs0yqIz0

t.

Ian please... NO FREAKIN WAY!!!

Drooooooolllllllll!!!!!!!!!

Close, but no cigar...Smith blows him away...no contest.

Even Joey D. is better.

Ian





[This message has been edited by ianmcnll (edited 08-30-2007).]

Ian....Ive stated my opinion....nuff said

th proof is in the pudding

You're right Donny...and Smith makes better pudding...tastier....better servings.

These guys wouldn't even be playing jazz organ if it wasn't for Jimmy Smith.

They are all just copiers, and you know the saying,"imitation is the most sincere form of flattery"

Even the great Joey Defrancesco says that Smith is the KING.

'Nuff said,

Ian

This has got to be the single most ridiculous statement ever posted on this board (other than "I'm the King"). If it weren't for Jimmy Smith, there wouldn't be a Tony Monaco (or Joey D). When you're known worldwide by every musician and jazz afficianado, when your very name defines "jazz organ", when every synth in production has a "Jimmy Smith" patch, when you are an innovator and not just another "copycat", maybe then you can start to compare yourself to a legend.

I understand ethnic loyalty (if that's what it is), but come on, give us a break. During the late 60's and early 70's (during the heyday of the jazz organ trio), there were literally dozens of guys that could "smoke" this guy. That's not to say that he can't play, just that he hasn't yet reached legendary status. I'm sure he'd be the first to admit it (listen to his unabashed admiration for Jimmy whom he called his inspiration, as have practically every other modern-day jazz organist).

Being a legend is about bring something lasting to the music scene. It's about interpreting the music with inovation and soul. Jimmy was much, much more than a one-trick-pony with fast hands. Ask any REAL musician.

chas

I am surely with you on this one, Ian.

Man oh man, the days, weeks, months, even years I spent listening to Jimmy Smith on every album I could get my hands on, in the left ear in a set of headphones, while trying to emulate his passages, timing and technique. Just his passing chords alone could be studied for years. For me, that was a wonderful and inspiring time to be a musican,

Danny




[This message has been edited by pianodano (edited 08-30-2007).]

I'd really like to know why Jimmy can't hold a candle to Tony. I think we ought at least to hear some kind of explanation. On the other hand, does BS need to be explained?

Taike

[This message has been edited by Taike (edited 08-30-2007).]

.

[This message has been edited by Fran Carango (edited 09-04-2007).]

I like both Jimmy Smith and Tony Monaco, the best guy though was Groove Holmes................ JUST KIDDING I did however get to see Groove Holmes at a placed called Sculler's In Boston, I loved his playing as well.

Back to Tony and Jimmy, I dont' recall for sure where I heard an interview with Tony. ( could have been on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on NPR). In the interview Tony talked about how Jimmy was his idol. Apparently Tony either wrote or called Jimmy Smith and left a message at Jimmy's studio, I think ( details foggy) that Tony sent Jimmy a recording of his playing. According to Tony about 10 PM one evening the phone rang, Tony's dad picked it up. It was JIMMY on the phone returning Tony's message. At first Tony thought it was a prankster. Turns out it was "The Jimmy Smith" Jimmy told Tony don't worry about playing as many chords as your playing now simplfy them a bit. Meanwhile, if I come across that interview somewhere I'll post the link.



[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 08-30-2007).]

I think there are so many B3 players out there who just move us with their ability and soul that it depends on who we've heard and what vein of jazz we prefer.

There is no doubt that Jimmy Smith has to be named as possibly the most influential of all B3 players, if nothing else.

I would like to credit a lot of players for influencing me, but are they the best? Maybe just for me.

IM glad we all have our opinions

some genius artists are influential, and some are more one-of-a kind. nobody can say one is better just because of the influence, but that is always a factor to consider. the most influential female vocalist of the late 20th century was Dinah Washington. male vocalist- Frank Sinatra. Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald: much more in the one-of a kind category. Pianists, influential: Bill Evans, Errol Garner. One-of-a-kind: Thelonious Monk, Art Tatum. nobody knows why this is so--just is.

------------------
Miami Mo

I just think it is wonderful that we can all finally get as opinionated, arrogant, snippy, snide, close to downright rude and quite insulting to each other without mentioning a brand of arranger OR it's weight.

It's amazing that basically the same people have basically the same well-worn responses to each other, no matter the subject chosen... I bet we could post about flower arranging (that's got the word 'arranger' in it, so it belongs on a 'General' arranger forum, doesn't it?) and we would all go off the same way...

Well, at least no one has mentioned how heavy B3's are.... It's a step in the right direction.

I'm just so impressed to see you used the word "we"...

No favorite B3 player?

Ian

I rest my case...

Me too.

Listened to and met Tony at a summer NAMM...demoing for Hammond.

Looks like it's one for Tony and everyone else thinks Jimmy Smith is the superior one.

I'm with the majority. I like Tony, but I don't think he's in the same league as Jimmy, Groove Holms, a local guy named Winston Walls and many others.

Everyone can have their opinions, but this is, to me, a slam dunk!

Russ

Its just my personal taste, I enjoy watching Tony play......I'll give them all their props,but personally I really dont enjoy listening to Jazz Hammond more then about 10 min without yawning same old same old.......it has its place & its audience but Im not one of them...

"Dynamic Duo" is a Jimmy Smith/Wes Montgomery album from the late 60's. I've worn out 10 and been listening to the disk forever. It's in my car right now.

It still blows me away. It might not be for everyone, but Jimmy and the like still blow me away! It's an acquired taste...NEVER boring if you know what you're listening to. Chas and I and others "get it".

It's part of what makes life enjoyable and the wonderful Jazz artform an American treasure.

I LOVE it!

R.

Good post Russ you have just put the "CHERRY" on the Personal Preference Sundae as it should be .....although hard to believe here on SZ where you can say anything you want & duck for cover, as long as you put a Smiley face after it....

Not sure about this, bit if you can't stand a form of music for more than 10 minutes, you are hardly in a position to judge who it's best practitioners are...

JMO, yada yada yada...

diki just .....voicing my preference after listening 1 min or 1 year big deal after all its just MY preference....

btw what is your favorite B3 player?
Another one of my favopreites growing up was Rod Argent & Mark Stein......
http://www.mark-stein.com/discography/discography.htm

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 08-30-2007).]

Donny is OK... I remember him writing once that his secret dream was playing the timbales in the Tito Puente orchestra, so it is obvious that he loves music with a strong, infectious beat.
A few days ago he wrote that he thinks that Bossa Nova after a while gets boring, so what do you say to that?

Who is right and who is wrong?
Is there an account for taste?
Where do we all come from?
Is there a life after the death?

Sorry for rambling...

I would love to be called on stage when Tito was performing and take his Timbale Challenge ...like in the Movie Mambo Kings !!! Oh man just one time!!!

Tito was Da man!!

Just like a certain body part... we all got em, eh?

Well, in no particular order

Keith Emerson
Gregg Rolie
Jimmy Smith
Rick Wakeman
Joey DeFrancesco
Charles Hodges
Benmont Tench

In fact, far too many to name or even try to pick a 'best'

Not the best, but great nonetheless AND certainly influential to my playing...

Felix Cavalieri
Steve Winwood

+1 on Gregg Rolie
Matthew Fisher

[This message has been edited by pianodano (edited 08-30-2007).]

Yep. How about that Blind Faith Album ?

All these guys mentioned can really (or did) shine.

I really like Leon Kuypers ... remeber that 1-hour Hammond demo on video he did a few years ago? The songs, his style, and the personality that Leon showed in that demo was very impressive to me. I wish he had more stuff available to listen to.

In the video, Leon moves to the B3 around 16:40 minutes in.
Leon Kuypers 1-hour Hammond Demo

I like Barbara Dennerlein too. I would need hip replacements trying to play those pedals the way she does.

Barbara Dennerlein (shows some good footwork)

Barbara Dennerlein (everythings shakin here)

I'd prefer to listen to Hector Olivera on an Atelier than the so-called art in that recording.

Excerpt below is from an interview with Tony Monaco.

The full interview can be found here:

Tony Monaco Interview

"That�s how I met Jimmy Smith. I was so into Jimmy Smith. Once I started getting some of these things down, I would start sending Jimmy Smith cassette tapes of me trying to emulate him on the accordion. That�s how I got a call back from Jimmy Smith, because he was honored that an accordion player, a little kid, was trying to sound like him. "

Although definitly B3 is a classic sound in our eyes growing up with so many memories & music....I think kids today couldn't care less if they know what a Hammond is at all.


and still another favorite...our own SZ member Dan O on the ketron SD5...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGwecUM7uDY



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 08-31-2007).]

Don't know how you define "kids today", but I doubt if that's true, especially if you're talking about the new crop of aspiring young musicians. If you're talking about some pimply-faced geek at a death metal concert or rave, then maybe you're right, but then if that's the case, who cares?

chas

BTW, I'd be curious to know if your friend, Uncle Dave (doesn't he work with "kids"), agrees with that.

That's right, Chas!

R.

I dont see any Jimmy Smith Mp3s on their Ipods do you?

Donny, jazz is an acquired taste. Kids in Jimmy Smith's heyday didn't have 45's of his music, either.


There is a small, very loyal base of jazz fans, and that includes younger people.

Foreplay (not traditional straight ahead jazz) sells 500,000 of each of their albums. You probably wouldn't expect to see Mp-3's of their music anywhere, either. And you're probably not "blown away" with their music (I am).

Sometimes the line between music and entertainment involving music is blurred. You are an entertainer first. Others are musicians, with no abiolity to, or interest in entertaining. It's a small (and poor) group, but, thankfully, it exists and helps perpetuate an art form that's a real American treasure.

It "ain't Buffet" (which I absolutely refuse to play), but has an honored place in music history for a fiercly loyal fan base.

R.

Russ, this young kid has Foreplay on his iPod

So true on the loyal small base of Jazz Fans. A number of years ago the late pianist James Williams was playing at the Knickbocker in Greenwich Village. At 11 PM my wife and I were 2 of the 8 people there taking in his show. Granted James was not one of the better know pianists but nevertheless, he played jazz.


[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 08-31-2007).]

....and if you visit every home in my newly adopted state of Georgia, you'd probably find more velvet Elvis's on the wall than all the Van Gogh's, Picasso's, and Rembrandt's (including copies), put together. Wonder what that means?

BTW, how come your posts started spiraling downhill, from "favorite B3 player" to "I can onlly take about 10 minutes of jazz organ". Also, what did impress you so about Tony's playing (back when you LIKED Hammond organ)? Was it the Jimmy Smith licks that we all spent hours practicing every day (back in the day), hoping against hope that hand speed and staccatto licks would somehow translate into more tips and applause from the drunks at the bar and more success with the ladies. Never worked. But hey, it impressed you.

chas

I enjoy the energy Tony emits when hes performing...as I do when I watch any performer play from their soul on any instrument. I get tired of B3 Jazz because of the repetitivness of it all...yes I owned & played B3 & C3 147's cut in half yada yada yada... as a kid in many bands.....when it was the Hip thing to have and nothing that we use now exists
"pre computer age"....when I need a Hammond fix I'll play a few things using my Sd1+ or whatever I have at the moment...sure its not "THE REAL THING" but close enough for me & much more practical ....you people that dole on Hammond fantasizing God speed to you!

enjoy it

------------------

You must be kidding? You just ain't listening hard enough, baby.

Hammond "fixes" can only be satisfied by playing a real Hammond...anything else is just methadone.

Ian

You actually got to LISTEN to some 'youngsters' music before you can make that claim, Donny.

Plenty of B3 on still popular bands like Matchbox 20. It's all over the indie rock/pop scene, like Edwin McCain. It's the primary keyboard color for most of the 'jam band' scene like Galactic...

You can't listen to a pop/rock station for 30 minutes before you'll hear a song with a Hammond on. But then again, you would actually have to LISTEN to a pop/rock station to know that...

[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 08-31-2007).]

When I was younger I could never understand the attraction of Jazz, but the older Guys and Gals loved it, but do you know what, I am older now, and I get it.
When you�re young, you want to avoid any music that your parents like, but when you mature you realise what you have been missing.

Bill

When I was young, I loved jazz (especially big-band and Ella) but it didn't stop me loving the Stones, Motown and the Beatles.

When I was at college, I STILL loved jazz (especially Weather Report, and Return to Forever), but it didn't stop me from loving the Sex Pistols, Elvis Costello and ska bands like the Specials.

Nowadays, I still love jazz (and still love Ella, big-band and fusion, Jamie Cullum and Diana Krall - but not so much 'smooth' jazz!), but it doesn't stop me from loving hiphop or indie rock, or artists like Bjork and Coldplay.

That, for me, is the real trick... To not let your love for jazz stop you from loving less sophisticated musics AS WELL.

Interviewer speaking with Yogi Berra about jazz.

Interviewer: Can you explain jazz?


Yogi: I can't, but I will. 90% of all jazz is half improvisation. The other half is the part people play while others are playing something they never played with anyone who played that part. So if you play the wrong part, its right. If you play the right part, it might be right if you play it wrong enough. But if you play it too right, it's wrong.


Interviewer: I don't understand.


Yogi: Anyone who understands jazz knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated. That's what's so simple about it.


Interviewer: Do you understand it?


Yogi: No. That's why I can explain it. If I understood it, I wouldn't know anything about it.


Interviewer: Are there any great jazz players alive today?


Yogi: No. All the great jazz players alive today are dead. Except for the ones that are still alive. But so many of them are dead, that the ones that are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead. Some would kill for it.


Interviewer: What is syncopation?


Yogi: That's when the note that you should hear now happens either before or after you hear it. In jazz, you don't hear notes when they happen because that would be some other type of music. Other types of music can be jazz, but only if they're the same as something different from those other kinds.


Interviewer: Now I really don't understand.


Yogi: I haven't taught you enough for you to not understand jazz that well.

Funny.. funny stuff. Kooky, wacky, funny stuff...!

Diki I think you just answered the question.

"Hope I die before I get old..."

(Well, at least John and Keith got that part right!)

Too bad that Tony, emitting all that energy and putting his soul into it, is only great for like 10 minutes and then becomes a real bore playing the same thing over and over again. Yet an arranger player can captivate his audience with his soulbearing stare... Oh right, Jazz players don't resort to chicken hats.

If Jazz is repetitious than most giggers here might as well pack up and stop boring their audience with the same chords, fills and runs. As if playing everything in the key of C is not repetitious...

If young people had more access to live-Jazz their number would grow. Inviting Jazz bands to schools might open those kids' eyes.

By the way, owning or having owned a B3 doesn't make one a Jazz player or even an organplayer.

Big Band + 10 minutes =?

Taike

I have a new favorite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA9qlWyk-7Q

Must be how your audience feels.

Taike

Ethel Smith....related to Jimmy Smith?



[This message has been edited by ianmcnll (edited 09-01-2007).]

Every Electronic Organ Player knows Tico Tico by Ethel Smith, and this is one of the reasons it is so popular on the Concert scene, unfortunately it was used in the 80s by organists to see how fast they could play, and thus outdo other organists, however fortunately it is now back where it belongs, A Classic.
Apart from Ethel Smith, it would either be the version by Klaus Wunderlich on the Wersi Helios or Max Takano on the Yamaha HX1 that would get my vote.
Isn�t music wonderful?

Bill

"If you come to a fork in the road, take it"

chas

But make sure you wash it, before using it for your steak

Bill

"Why?"



[This message has been edited by Dreamer (edited 09-01-2007).]

Diki, Chas and others get it. Perhaps some of the popular rythems seem repetitive, but the changes are often complex. Plus, the whole experience often involves interplay between players.

Boring after 10 minutes? Never to me, but if it "ain't your thing" I can see it.

Good, well-thought out posts, folks, this could have turned into a real "bashing" session, but it didn't. And, that's GOOD!

And, Donnie, one of the top historic B-3 tunes from Jimmy Smith and others was "Chicken Shack". I don't have to tell you what appropriater apparel would work if you incorporated that into your act!

R.

Too old to listen to new music?

We HAVE become our grandparents, haven't we?

Not me. I love to listen to modern music and I'm a grandpa several times over already. I like a lot of different flavors, including but definitely not limited to jazz. Good blues, good modern rock, even a well done ( and clean ) hip hop song, electronica, experimental genres... etc.

I like many of the B3 players mentioned, along with some that haven't been, but I guess my favorites growing up were Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman, and even though I don't think of him as being quite at the same technical level, Rick Wright, because he played "tasty" . As I was typing that, "Tasty", an old Good Rats tune, kept playing in my head.... you might remember them, especially if you ever "clubbed" in Long Island or the suburbs of NYC in the 70s or later.

AJ

Diki is so right. There is music of value across all styles. The key is to listen.

Victor Wooten...Robert Randolf family band...the guy who plays the tele/lap-steel combo and often does surf music...Modest Mouse...the list goes on and on (and on).
Traditional B-3 jazz is wonderful, but it (and jazz in general) is not the end-all whewn it comes to music and appreciation.

Thanks for the reminder, Diki.

R.

Right you are, Russ. No one has ever accused me of being a big country music fan, but.....I was watching Jay Leno the other night and the musical guest was Travis Tritt. Since I don't follow country music, he wasn't familiar to me (I'm sure he's big in country circles), but I have to admit, I really enjoyed his performance of an original, "He never takes me dancing" or something like that. I thought he had the makings of a first rate soul singer . Lot's of energy, lots of feeling, and just the right amount of rough edge to his voice.

First time in a long time that I listened to the entire performance since Jay usually features less-than-stellar rock groups and I'm outta there after about 4 bars.


chas