Hi Scott

Yes, that's Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton. Also in the vid you'll see Charlie Barnet, Louie Armstrong and Tommy Dorsey starting right at the beginning as Danny Kaye is talking.

Yep, I love all that old big band stuff. "On my Way and Shoutin' Again" by Count Basie was a favourite.

Tying in big band with organ, being that some of us come from an organ background, it doesn't come any better than some of Jimmy Smith's albums on Verve. "Walk on the Wild Side", "The Cat", etc. In my book they're essential listening for keyboard players with a love for big band music.

Ah, Charley Barnett-Cherokee. My favorite of the big band era. He was from a well-off railroad family. He'd hire the best sidemen in the business for 6 months, work on an album for 30 days and let the band take off when it was done.


Loved Lionel in this piece, too. I still try to play 6-8 jobs including vibes a year, but as we know, the sampled vibes on many keyboards today are fantastic.


It's kind of like a B-3, Suitcase Rhodes or upright bass. They're big; sometimes heavy and not absolutely necessary.


But what fun!


Thanks. Good find!


Russ

The beauty of an arranger keyboard, is that we can combine very realistic Hammond-esque sounds with Big Band styles, hence giving the impression of an organist playing with a Big Band.

Even if we can't quite play to Jimmy Smith's level ( I know I can't), the arranger still allows us far more options than playing a traditional Acoustic piano, Rhodes...even the revered B-3.

I got turned on to Jimmy Smith in my early 20's...it was an ear-opener for me, and the start of looking for that "sound".

Were you a Hammond enthusiast, 124?

Ian

The Jimmy Smith and Tony Monaco Hammond B3 sound blow me away too, so I love my Sounds For Keys ‘Jimmy Smith Pack’ collection and use it regularly now in my playing, especially on jazz standards & R&B numbers. These realistic rich full sounding B3 voices sound a significant cut above even the ones included in Tyros 4 so continue to be my favorite go to voice collection to use when I want to emulate a Hammond B3 on Tyros 4. One nice feature I especially appreciate is the ability to change the Leslie Speed by key pressure. I can highly recommend this pack for Tyros 2,3,and 4 owner Hammond B3 lovers. IMHO, well worth the $ spent.

The following is a 'YouTube audio clip' followed by an 'audio only clip' of the sounds included in that pack though I can honestly tell you that (because these demo's are relatively low resolution compressed audio), they don't sound nearly as rich and full as they actually do live played on the Tyros 4 itself.:



More Sounds For Keys: Demos
Below the heading - 'Demo: Jimmy Smsith Hammond Pack', click on Sample demo (not a song) to hear individual sounds.

This Jimmy Smith Pack looks very interesting, Scott, although I must say, I'm very pleased with Tyros4's organ sounds.

Of course, anything can be improved.

I will investigate this pack and consider adding it to my Yamaha Tyros4 arranger.

Thanks for the heads up and the cool demo.

Ian

Was I a JS fan, Ian? In no particular order, Yes, Si, and Oui.

As you may know, in the mid sixties there were what were known as pirate radio stations operating just offshore of Britain's east coast. These came about because of the stodgy broadcasting policies of the BBC. Pirate stations were a lot freer in their makeup of playlists, and Jimmy Smith's Walk on the Wild Side started to get regular plays. I'd heard nothing like it before and was hooked from the get-go. He even did a live broadcast from one of the ships, and there's a famous photograph of his B3 dangling from the ropes of a small crane as it was hoisted aboard. http://browneyedhandsomeman.blogspot.com/2007/04/hip-ship-blues-incredible-jimmy-smith.html

Had to get me a Hammond. So I plunked down 300 pounds for a used L102 and schlepped that thing up and down the country and all over Europe for about twelve years. What a ride!