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Earl Grant


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Anyone else familiar with Earl Grant? I grew up listening to my dad's albums but they were all organ-only, like Lenny Dee. I only found out much later that he also sang, and sang well. He was called "The Next Nat King Cole" (he sounds just like him), which was a pretty heavy pressure. I think he died in an auto accident.

 

He got some great tones from his Hammonds. I'll post a few.

 

[video:youtube]

The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers

 

People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin

 

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Interesting piano style:

 

[video:youtube]

The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers

 

People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin

 

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Here, singing a very Nat Cole type song:

 

[video:youtube]

The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers

 

People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin

 

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Earl Grant! Wow - I had almost completely forgotten. My father too liked Earl Grant and had one record - Stand By Me. So long ago, but I remember being really impressed by his sound and a very short time later shocked when my father told me he died in a car accident.

 

April in Paris

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His rendition of Ebb Tide on the B3 is a classic. One of the first songs I learned on the Hammond! That dates me, doesn't it?

Thanks for this one. Ebb Tide wasn't on the record I had - never heard it till now.

B3 bird calling! (For me that's a new trick. Never heard anyone do anything quite like that before.):

 

[video:youtube]

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Never knew him as a singer and Wow he does sound like Nat King Cole. I remember seeing him on the Ed Sullivan show doing Ebb Tide on a B3. Just him alone on the biggest show on TV at the time. Chirping Seagull sounds, smears for waves and all. I copied that arrangment and used it for years.

 

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When I was a kid I remember hearing his version of " Fly me to the Moon" and being very impressed. It was around the same time that I first heard Jimmy Smith.

 

I listened to him later after I got into Hammonds and noticed that he must be using a BC model or something like that. Very unusual tremelo....

 

I will have to go back and listen more. I know he was capable of a lot more than what we often heard, as he seemed to aim for commerciality during those years.

 

 

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Another EG album worth checking out is Beyond The Reef. It's a great EG album, but beware of the CD "reissue" - it was mastered in mono from one channel of the record...whole instruments are missing! Good Decca stereo pressings are around on eBay, vinyl is the way to fly with most of the EG stuff.

 

TP

---

Todd A. Phipps

"...no, I'm not a Hammondoholic...I can stop anytime..."

http://www.facebook.com/b3nut ** http://www.blueolives.com

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Loved listening to Ebb Tide as a child every time my father would play his album - looking back, probably one of my earliest keyboard influences.

 

Same for me, along with Lenny Dee.

The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers

 

People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin

 

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Another EG album worth checking out is Beyond The Reef. It's a great EG album, but beware of the CD "reissue" - it was mastered in mono from one channel of the record...whole instruments are missing! Good Decca stereo pressings are around on eBay, vinyl is the way to fly with most of the EG stuff.

 

TP

 

That's generally considered his best album. Amazon has it as .mp3 downloads, so those are prolly OK.

 

This is the one I listened to over and over again as a pre-teen: https://www.discogs.com/Earl-Grant-This-Magic-Moment/master/766931

 

R-2317322-1412838341-7534.jpeg.jpg

 

All instrumentals.

 

Pretty impressive discography for a guy who very few people remember: CLONK

The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers

 

People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin

 

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