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"I can take it anywhere it goes, right? I love to play inside, outside...but the organ swings best when it swings, doesn't it? That's what that organ is good for. You could try to play hip all you want, but when you swing that thing, there's no other feeling like it." - Doctor Lonnie Smith  Dr Lonnie Smith © Andrea Canter
Dr. Lonnie Smith performs with passion and skill, and has been thrilling audiences since the 1960's. Smith's 1968 debut with Bluenote, Think is solid soulful jazz. His long association with Lou Donaldson resulted in some of the most iconic soul-jazz statements of the era (including Alligator Bogaloo). Dr. Lonnie Smith was born in Buffalo, N.Y. into a musical family. His family had a singing group and a radio show. Smith credits his mother as a major influence in his musical career, introducing him to gospel, classical and jazz music.
Dr. Smith also has a Jack McDuff connection. He sat in with Jack's group in th early 60's and met George Benson, and shorty after that formed a successful group with Benson. After recording several albums with George Benson and Lou Donaldson, Lonnie became a solo recording artist and developed a career that has produced over 30 albums under his own name. Several legendary jazz artists have joined Dr. Lonnie Smith on his albums, including Lee Morgan, David "Fat Head" Newman, King Curtis, Blue Mitchell, and Joe Lavano among others.
"Music is like a wheel, When you drive a car down a street, you might go down the same street, but you'll run over something today that wasn't there yesterday, so that puts a new look on that tire, and that's the way music is. When it goes over, it picks up something that wasn't there before." - Jimmy McGriff
 Jimmy McGriff
Jimmy McGriff is one of the giants of the B3, especially when it comes to the blues. Blues is at the musical core of most of the major jazz organists, including Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff, but throughout his 42-year recording career, McGriff has stuck closer to the blues than any of them. He created a B3 sound all his own, somewhere between the jazz of Jimmy Smith and the r&b of Booker T. & the MGs. "People are always classifying me as a jazz organist, but I'm more of a blues organ player," he insists. "That's really what I feel."
McGriff was born on April 3, 1936 in Philadelphia, long the capital of the jazz organ world. Such seminal jazz organists as Milt Buckner and Wild Bill Davis frequently passed through town, and it was there that Jimmy Smith laid the groundwork for modern jazz organ. Other outstanding organists associated with Philly include Doc Bagley, Shirley Scott, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Joey DeFrancesco, and Charles Earland. In fact, Earland, who had played saxophone on McGriff's very first recording, a 1959 single on the White Marsh label titled "Foxy Due," learned the organ from McGriff.
In 1962 a scout from a tiny record label heard McGriff's arrangement of Ray Charles' "I've Got a Woman" and offered him a contract. As McGriff's single was taking off, Sue Records in New York purchased the rights and it became a smash, peaking at No. 5 on Billboard's r&b chart and at No. 20 on the pop list. His career first took off with the single "I Got A Woman", and he had a string of hits released through Sue Records including "All About My Girl," "M.G. Blues," and "Bump De Bump." During this decade McGriff was arguably the crown prince of the soul jazz organ movement (the undisputed King being Jimmy Smith). His stabbing style and shrill tone was much copied, particularly in the UK with the rise of the 60s beat and R&B scene. Georgie Fame and Brian Auger were greatly influenced by McGriff. McGriff helped to popularize a jazz-flavored style of R&B that still remains hugely influential in "acid jazz" circles.
 Rueben Wilson  Jerry Weldon © Andrea Canter
There is no better tenor to pair with these organists than Jerry Weldon, He has monster chops and is a master of both the hard bop and soul-jazz repertoire. A native New Yorker, Weldon came out of the Rutgers University Jazz Program (along with Terence Blanchard, Ralph Peterson and Thomas Chapin) under Paul Jeffrey in 1981. He then joined The Lionel Hampton Big Band in 1982 and toured extensively in the U.S., Europe, South America and Japan. Next came a long association playing with Jack McDuff lasting until McDuff's untimely passing in 2001. In 1990 Jerry became a charter member and featured Tenor Sax soloist with Harry Connick, Jr.'s newly formed Big Band. Jerry has toured the U.S., Europe, Japan and Australia and also performed worldwide with the Connick Big Band.
Guitarist Peter Bernstein has been playing the New York Jazz scene for over a decade where he has established himself as a consummate leader, a highly cooperative sideman and a gifted composer. He studied Jazz music at Rutgers University with influential coaches Ted Dunbar and Kenny Barron and also got a degree of music from The New School in New York City. While at The New School, Peter studied with Jim Hall who became one of his most influential mentors. Bermstein has worked with jazz giants Joshua Redman, Lou Donaldson, Jim Hall, Tom Harrell, Joe Lovano, Roy Hargrove and jazz organ greats Larry Goldings, Lee Konitz, Jack McDuff, Charles Earland, Dr. Lonnie Smith. To date,  Peter Bernstein
Come out and be a part of this celevration of great music as Hammond B3 organ greats Jimmy McGriff, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and Reuben Wilson with on tenor saxophone and Peter Berstein on guitar perform at at Smoke's "All -Star Organ Summit" on the evenings of Thursday February 15th through Saturday the 17th. Tickets are $30 each night. Smoke Jazz Club & Lounge is located at 2751 Broadway in New York. For more information call (212) 864 6662 visit www.smokejazz.com |
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Wednesday, 03 December 2008
