FOUR Hammond B3's playing "The Cat"

[Old No7]

FOUR B3s live on one stage -- is that what heaven is like?!?

 

Watch and LISTEN to this master class on Hammond B3 soloing to this Jimmy Smith tune.

 

Featuring Dr. Lonnie Smith, Doug Riley, Joey DeFrancesco, and Paul Shaffer, all cookin' on the B3s. 

 

Old No7

 

Music starts after 2:00...

 

 

[J.F.N.]

Dang!!

 

Joey rolling it out total Jimmy Smith style, an amazing organist in a class two steps up from the rest (RIP).

 

Schaffer delivers the Schaffer style way, as always, love his bag too! 

 

Not very familiar with the other two Aces but for sure they sound amazing too!!

[Muad’Dib]

That was amazing!

[lightbg]

Tony Paladino sat in for Joey at the rehearsal. Nice job there.

 

 

[Tom Williams]

Brought me to tears, even through my laptop's 4mm woofers.

[MathOfInsects]

That was bloated and unnecessary and hella fun. I wish PS had STFU for 12 seconds so we could hear everyone play. Yeah, Paul, they know they're getting another chorus, and yeah, we remember the name you just told us. They're famous, we know who they are.

I enjoyed hearing how everyone approached their playing after hearing what the previous guy did. Joey D in particular made a point to slow the pace down and let something build before doing those crazy 16th-note triplet arpeggio runs. I couldn't tell from his expression if he was enjoying PS's playing or bemused by it. 

[captaincoconut]

I wish to have just 1% of the ability these players have...makes me question my instrument choice again! 😭

[Delaware Dave]

Three dead cats and one dog ..  Paul doesnt even  belong on the same stage as them.  Joey smoked them all while keeping his left hand in his pocket.  

[J.F.N.]

1 minute ago, Delaware Dave said:

Three dead cats and one dog ..  Paul doesnt even  belong on the same stage as them.  Joey smoked them all while keeping his left hand in his pocket. 

 

Joey was definitely slaying, calmly enjoying the view from the top!

[DaveMcM]

32 minutes ago, Delaware Dave said:

Three dead cats and one dog ..  Paul doesnt even  belong on the same stage as them.  Joey smoked them all while keeping his left hand in his pocket.  

Doug, Joey and Lonnie are all great, no doubt. I kind of like Doug's take the best. But the high point of the video is when Paul Shaffer starts his theatrics and Joey glances over at Doug with a look of 'who is this clown' on his face.

[stoken6]

I remember when this was first posted. The consensus was that it was an breathtaking demonstration of Shaffer's abilities, spoilt only by a few guys playing a bit of Hammond organ.

 

Cheers, Mike

[MathOfInsects]

9 hours ago, DaveMcM said:

\when Paul Shaffer starts his theatrics and Joey glances over at Doug with a look of 'who is this clown' on his face.

Where in the video is that?

[Steve Beach]

When I got my B-3 at age 16, the first guy to ever play it was Doug Riley, the Dean of music in Toronto.  In 2011, the last guy to play my B-3 was Joey Defrancesco.  After that, my Hammond has been retired to my basement studio. 

[JoJoB3]

This old video. SMH. Not one of Hammonds best moments.

Of course...Paul yapping all the way through and over each of them. Ugh. (I don't dislike him, just he's a better actor and TV sideman than he is a player).

[funkyhammond]

I'm the one who posted that video on youtube many years ago after a fellow Canadian on a forum had sent it to me. This was back in 2007 and the guy didn't have the capability to upload a large file so he mailed me a CD with the video file that he ripped from a VCR recording of the show.

 

I understand some people's critical comments here and on youtube about Paul Shaffer but you have to understand the context. Paul was being inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. He and the show's producer decided to use the opportunity to educate the theatre audience and Canadian TV audience on the vanishing art of the Hammond B3 organ. Paul knows he's not a jazz musician but they made sure to get great jazz musicians. As for the performance, I also initially found his chatter over the playing annoying but after a few listens I didn't notice it anymore. Also, a music director added a comment on that video where he explained that Paul did exactly what he needed to because most people watching would really not understand what was happening. Regardless of what you think of Paul's chatter or his playing, you have to give him props for doing this. It was his moment in the spotlight, he didn't have to. And thanks to the guy who recorded it (whose name I've forgotten) and allowed me to upload it to the internet so it can be enjoyed by many (or disdained by many as the case may be lol).

 

One of my favourite moments is Lonnie starting his solo with those big stacked fourth chords! 

 

R.I.P. Joey, Lonnie and Doug

[JoJoB3]

3 minutes ago, funkyhammond said:

Regardless of what you think of Paul's chatter or his playing, you have to give him props for doing this.

Not really though.

[funkyhammond]

2 minutes ago, JoJoB3 said:

Not really though.

 

That's okay, you can be part of the "disdained by many" group. 😉

 

I think it's cool that he was trying to turn people onto what the Hammond B3 even is, which most people have absolutely no clue about. 

[JoJoB3]

20 minutes ago, funkyhammond said:

 

That's okay, you can be part of the "disdained by many" group. 😉

 

I think it's cool that he was trying to turn people onto what the Hammond B3 even is, which most people have absolutely no clue about. 

'cool'

(they still don't. They only know who David Letterman's sidekick was)

Btw no mention of Doug Riley, the local at the time onstage here?

I wonder what JOS would say about this one.

[funkyhammond]

6 minutes ago, JoJoB3 said:

'cool'

(they still don't. They only know who David Letterman's sidekick was)

 

Okay Mr. Positivity. I hear what you're saying but, to be honest, you really don't know. There could be someone out there that watched that and was inspired to look up the instrument. Or was inspired to look up one of the players. In this very thread someone mentioned that they don't know who Lonnie Smith and Doug Riley are.  

[JoJoB3]

Just now, funkyhammond said:

 

Okay Mr. Positivity. I hear what you're saying but, to be honest, you really don't know. There could be someone out there that watched that and was inspired to look up the instrument. Or was inspired to look up one of the players. In this very thread someone mentioned that they don't know who Lonnie Smith and Doug Riley are.  

Ohhhh. I didn't know today was my turn to be your personal 'positivity outlet'. 

[funkyhammond]

Just now, JoJoB3 said:

Ohhhh. I didn't know today was my turn to be your personal 'positivity outlet'. 

 

I've got a video of four Hammond B3's on stage for that.

[JoJoB3]

1 minute ago, funkyhammond said:

 

I've got a video of four Hammond B3's on stage for that.

It's fine.
Just, the whole 'Paul' thing in regard. No thanks.

[funkyhammond]

Like I said, I hear you. I get it.

 

But to me this is the key part of what I wrote earlier: There could be someone out there that watched that and was inspired to look up the instrument. Or was inspired to look up one of the players. In this very thread someone mentioned that they don't know who Lonnie Smith and Doug Riley are. 

 

In this very thread.

[JoJoB3]

5 minutes ago, funkyhammond said:

Like I said, I hear you. I get it.

 

But to me this is the key part of what I wrote earlier: There could be someone out there that watched that and was inspired to look up the instrument. Or was inspired to look up one of the players. In this very thread someone mentioned that they don't know who Lonnie Smith and Doug Riley are. 

 

In this very thread.

You're the one tagging me. I get it too.
I do not feel the majority of the audience learned much of anything outside Paul's parading.
(the STFU and play method is far more powerful than....this. Ages better too!).

It's just a slice in time though. I once had a brilliant mullet!! No big. 

[funkyhammond]

32 minutes ago, JoJoB3 said:

You're the one tagging me. I get it too.
I do not feel the majority of the audience learned much of anything outside Paul's parading.
(the STFU and play method is far more powerful than....this).

It's just a slice in time though. I once had a brilliant mullet!! No big. 

 

I was replying to everyone being critical in the thread. And I was just giving context that people may not have been aware of. You then quoted me, so you started the tagging.

 

This was a Walk of Fame show that includes various fields not just musicians. So what if the majority of the audience did not learn anything? It would be futile to educate the majority of a general audience on some niche thing. It's about planting seeds and seeing what takes. If some people were inspired to look up the instrument or look up the players then it did something.

 

I am not a big fan of Paul's personality, so I understand the annoyance some people feel. But I also understand the perspective of the music director that commented on the youtube video. Paul was doing his job cueing the theatre audience. And for people that can appreciate the music, it's easy enough to filter out Paul's chatter and just focus on the playing. 

 

It was just a slice in time but thanks to the guy that mailed it to me, it is now on the internet for eternity (however long that is). If people weren't still enjoying it, this thread would have never started. 

[Old No7]

Not one...

 

And not two...

 

No, not even three...

 

But four -- count 'em -- FOUR Hammond B3s on one stage.

 

That's ALL this post was about.  The FOUR B3s.

 

Watch, listen (to the "music only", if so inclined) and learn.  Enjoyment is optional... 😉

 

Old No7

 

 

 

[JoJoB3]

[HammondDave]

I would bet that Paul could run rings around most of the members of this group, me included!  How about enjoying this rare moment celebrating the B3 without criticizing the players? As my father used to tell me, you never look good bad-mouthing your colleagues. 

[MathOfInsects]

On 4/28/2024 at 12:23 PM, lightbg said:

Tony Paladino sat in for Joey at the rehearsal. Nice job there.

 

 

That was so great to see. First of all, props to Paladino for copping Joey's style and almost directly predicting certain moments of Joey's playing. A great couple of choruses from him. And interesting to see that Schaffer had essentially prewritten his solo. It's a blues in F and he's certainly got the chops for it. I wonder what prompted him to go that route. Maybe just intimidation from the three guys he invited onto stage? Maybe he should have gone first, in the end...?