"How does it feel in the swing?" - That Hammond B-3 Thing

I had the good fortune to hear Don Pullen on the Hammond B-3 organ as part of David Murray's group in Ann Arbor, Michigan many years ago. In my previous Friedrich Gulda post, I mentioned that Gulda had performed with the organist Barbara Dennerlein. Aside from her appearance on Gulda's Mozart No End and the Paradise Band Sony CDs, I hadn't any deep impressions of her Hammond B-3 artistry.
      Since I hadn't quite finished with what I had to say about Friedrich Gulda and related subjects, I thought I'd see (and hear) what Barbara Dennerlein had to say on YouTube - see the links herein. The Dennerlein YouTube clip featuring the organ, tenor saxophone and drums reminded me of David Murray's group that I heard in Ann Arbor (where else!) featuring the greatly missed Don Pullen on the Hammond B-3 organ. One organ-thing led to others.
      I resisted organ music during my formative years. Then I heard the fabulous Hammond B-3 master Jimmy Smith in the mid-1960s at the 20 Grand Club in Detroit. Imagine J. S. Bach improvising on a great organ in Weimar (circa 1714). Jimmy Smith was one of the most magical musicians that I have ever heard - and I've been involved as a devotee in a lot of music magic and wizardry. The thing about playing a Hammond B-3 is that one has to use one's arms, fingers, and both feet. This creates a dance vibe immediately. And Smith's sublime ballad artistry is on a par with that of that master of masters, Milt Jackson of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Smith and Jackson are bebop-masters, masters of swing. Paul Berliner in his book Thinking Jazz writes,

Within the musician's scale of values, rhythmic aspects of performance are fundamental. "One of the most obvious aspects of the music to people who know jazz," observes Chuck Israels, "is: How does it feel in the swing? These are things that are very subtle and that jazz musicians appreciate in a particular way. [244]

      There are certainly swing elements in the Beethoven piano sonatas, in Bach, in Bartok, in Schoenberg - listen to the Julliard Quartet's mono performance of Schoenberg's 1st String Quartet, one of the most intense swinging things we'll ever hear. I've heard Bud Powell in Beethoven and Bartok in Max Roach's double-quartet. So all of this great music is just that: It's great music.
      Friedrich Gulda, one of the great 'classical' pianists of the 20th Century, understood where music greatness resides. It resides in the music and not in the music-labels. Music-making is a performance-art - great music resides in performances of music. [One might even think of the art of painting as performance-art, as recordings - how many takes were there before the final take that we know as the Mona Lisa, and was it the final take?] There may never be another musician like Friedrich Gulda. But I hope there are some classically-trained cats in hats out there.
      In the mean time, thank goodness, there's also Oliver Lake's Organ Quartet - the link appears below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcT2HE5agiE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYP7Mxss3_U&feature=BFa&list=PL05818E4F3CB74566&index=22

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtVMNKLkbTs&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98XyM-Fbx1k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra4kYAYCdeI&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUW9iwcwEKY