It's been awhile since I've written about an organ wailer and now is as good a time as any. Admittedly, I have a limited number of Hammond B3 sides in my collection but I surely love the ones that I do have. And here is one of the best, "Grease Monkey" by Brother Jack McDuff.
Here we have a number penned by McDuff that was recorded live at the Jazz Workshop. "Grease Monkey" features McDuff's great, pumping organ, plus horns, percussion and a nice jazz guitar solo. It's very upbeat and has a bit of a gospel feel to it. In fact, the live audience starts clapping to the beat about midway through and only fuels that feel.
I'm not sure who the other players are here but the guitar playing is especially noteworthy. Maybe one of the big, jazz organ fans out there knows the lineup. Me, I'm gonna try and track down more like this. My appreciation for organ grooves has risen considerably the past couple of years.
2 comments:
Great 45. One of a number of quality 45s by Mr. McDuff. There's a Prestige discography here: http://www.jazzdisco.org/prestige/
According to this site, the players on this 45 were: Harold Vick (ts, fl) Red Holloway (ts, ss) Brother Jack McDuff (org) George Benson (g) Joe Dukes (d)
Thanks for all the info, Dave. George Benson on guitar, interesting.
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