A brief essay of fact, opinion and some questionable assertions

The Hammond B-3 model, dual manual keyboard console organ is the greatest invention ever devised by man. That cannot be argued. It is a greater benefit to mankind than penicillin, the invention of air conditioning, the microwave oven or the one hundred disc CD changer. On the approaching eve of it's fiftieth anniversary, I thought it might be appropriate to say a few words about this wonderful instrument, and lay out the facts regarding its origin and its importance to progressive rock music, past and present. Without the B-3, Jimmy Smith would have had to play piano, and there would never have been an Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Would you want to listen to Niacin if John Novello was sitting in the corner plinking away at an upright piano? Would "Thick As A Brick" have sounded half as heavy without all of John Evan's furious B-3 work? Some keyboard instruments used by many progressive rock bands command legions of followers and have websites devoted to them, the Mellotron for instance. Mellotrons are worshipped by some, and I whole heartedly thank whoever it was that designed and built them. However, the real backbone of the progressive rock keyboard arsenal is the Hammond B-3, and properly used, the B-3 can surpass in power, strength, versatility and sheer exhilaration, any other keyboard instrument. (A note to persons with differing opinions: I am right and you are wrong).

The Hammond organ was the brainchild of Laurens Hammond (1895-1973), a clock and organ maker from Evanston, Illinois. Laurens Hammond was, surprisingly enough, not a musician, and was by all reports, tone deaf. But he was a great electrical engineer. His first tone wheel organ was patented in the United States in 1934, the Hammond Model A. The fledgling manufacturer set up his first factory to produce these instruments in Chicago, and in fact, operated for some time without anyone on staff who could actually even play the instrument. Hammond set this right a few years later by hiring a personal secretary, not that he needed a secretary, but basically because she listed an ability to play the organ on her employment application. In 1955 a new model, the B-3 was first introduced. This model was basically a much improved version of the original Hammond Model A, and it was a great success. Between its introduction in 1955 and the end of production in 1975 over 100,000 units were delivered. Countless B-3s made their way into the hands of church organists and musicians of all stripes, but one very special B-3 was destined to end up in the possession of a jazz organist named Jimmy Smith in the late 1950s. Jimmy Smith was one of the first, if not the first, to use a B-3 to record and perform be-bop jazz. He was the most influential jazz organist who ever lived. Whenever you thrill to the sound of Keith Emerson or Rick Wakeman ripping it up on a organ solo, what you are hearing is the legacy of Jimmy Smith. The amazing virtuosity and versatility shown by Smith made the B-3 first a staple of jazz groups and by the early sixties, a fixture in any recording studio. The unique and indispensable sound of the B-3 eventually made the instrument a basic stage essential of countless rock and R&B touring bands, most progressive rock bands included.

I first saw a Hammond B-3 on stage at a dance when I was in high school. As soon as I heard this instrument played, I realized that this was the beast that Rod Argent had used on the hit song "Hold Your Head Up," and that this was the source of Keith Emerson's incredible sound. The B-3, especially when used in conjunction with one or more Leslie 122 rotary speaker cabinets can produce the most earth shaking or sweet and gentle sounds. When a lead line is played, whether a closely spaced pentatonic lick (ala Wakeman) or a wide interval cascade of notes (like Emerson), the instrument is, with its full throated, raspy growl, capable of producing truly transcendent, multi-timbral, musical brilliance. The player has, at his fingertips, two banks of nine drawbars, each with nine settings. These, along with a few other simple controls allow up to 252 million possible tonal variations. Wow! Imagine that.

The B-3 is the perfect instrument, filling nearly all roles with great ease and authority. It can fill the role of the Mellotron easily, provide restrained or thunderous rhythm progressions or step up as the soloist and either swing or shred. It is not only the perfect and ultimate rock instrument, it is the greatest tool available to progressive rock groups. There are many great progressive albums or groups that did not employ synthesizers, or used very, very little; The Yes Album, for instance, or any work from The Nice. I could name many others. There are many bands that did not use the Mellotron, ELP most notably. But you can't have good progressive rock without a B-3, or if you can't do any better, a B-3 clone. You disagree? See the end of paragraph one.

The great proto-progressive bands, Procol Harum, The Nice, Fields, Argent, all featured Hammonds. ELP, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, Le Orme, Il Balleto Di Bronzo and Banco all owed much of their sound to Hammond. Echolyn's mei is built entirely around the sound of the Hammond organ. Transatlantic, Änglågard, Cairo, and Niacin all use the Hammond as an integral part of their sound, though Neal Morse, it must be said, uses a clone. For the uninitiated, a clone is a digital keyboard designed to mimic the sound and timbral characteristics of the B-3. There are a number of clones available from many manufacturers, and even Hammond is marketing a clone, the digital Hammond X2-B. A few of these clones actually produce a number of fairly accurate Hammond sounds, but the practiced ear will not be fooled. For all real intents and purposes, the only real advantage to a clone is the fact that they weigh much, much less than the B-3, which comes in at about four hundred pounds. Whether clone, or the real deal, the roar of the B-3 is not going to go away. It is the sound of progressive rock.

• Emerson, Lake & Palmer: "Tarkus"
• Yes: "Roundabout"
• Jethro Tull: "Thick As A Brick"
• Genesis: "The Knife"
• UK: "Carrying No Cross"
• Odin: "Life Is Only"
• Cairo: "Valley Of The Shadow"
• Argent: "Hold Your Head Up"
• Emerson, Lake & Palmer: "A Time And A Place"
• Focus: "Answers? Questions!, Questions? Answers!"
• Glass Hammer: "Empty Space: Revealer"
• Kansas: "All The World"
• Le Orme: "Contrappunti"
• Fields: "A Friend Of Mine"
• Niacin: "No Man's Land"
• Echolyn: "Mei"
• Transatlantic: "My New World"
• Gentle Giant: "Alucard"
• Triumvirat: "Across The Waters"
• Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso: "Cento Mani E Cento Occhi"
• Procul Harum: "A Whiter Shade Of Pale"
• UK: "The Only Thing She Needs"
• Yes: "Astral Traveler"
• The Dixie Dregs: "Cruise Control"
• Rick Wakeman:"Catherine Parr"

Links: Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Niacin, Rick Wakeman, Rod Argent, Procol Harum, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, Le Orme, Banco, Transatlantic, Änglågard, Cairo, Neal Morse

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Published on: 2004-07-06 (3420 reads)