Jazz and the Hammond B

There's absolutely no doubt about the importance of Jimmy Smith. The Master. Before him, I recommend Wild Bill Davis (not Davison, who was a great cornet player) who knew how to "orchestrate" the sound of a B3. He's the guy who did the orginal arrangement of "April in Paris" that Basie copped. I finally found some Wild Bill from the 70s.."Impulsions" on Black and Blue and "All Right, OK, You win" on same label. This style of playing is also one of the reasons I like Joey DeFrancesco. He can also do the scrabblin' thing. Check out two of my favs..."Goodfellas" on Concord and "All or Nothing At All" on Big Mo. Wall and Goldings are also great. A little more on the 'purist' side rather than the 'fun' side. Just my 2 cents, of course.

Absract7, Get some Jimmy McGriff. He does a lot of stuff with Hank Crawford and David "Fathead" Newman. My personnal favorite is titled " Blues Groove" Telarc Jazz.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have more Hammond B stuff on order now than I currently own (great--now I have to find the time to listen to it). In particular--thank you Albert for making me salivate over something that is out of print: "I hate it when that happens" --I'll be looking on e-bay.

Also try Fred Jackson, "Hootin' and Tootin' ", on Blue Note BLP-4094, or CD equivalent. Earl Van Dyke played a Hammond B on that session, I believe.