Germany & the B3 Organ
Image by Matthias Höing during Kulturring Shöepinngen
When Anne McCue invited me to Germany last February to play a festival with the Cubists, I said YES!!! And when she mentioned she’d like me to play the Hammond B3 organ that would be there, I said, OK! Despite playing the piano and keyboards since I was 6 years old, I’d never cracked the code on the organ before. I’d faked my way though with my Nord Electro and had some fun in studio sessions being directed for a part, but I’d never been unleashed on a full on Hammond with a leslie cabinet situation. To say the least, I was definitely a bit nervous. Especially since we were playing a JAZZ FESTIVAL - bound to be some heavy cats playing that thing.
Over the last few months, I took to studying it in depth. I had a lesson with Jen Gunderman, who I basically worship as a keyboard/organ/all around all star musician. She taught me a TON in a short time and what I learned was that I had a lot more work to do. My greatest fear was not being able to get it to make the right noises.
But through some simulated practices on similar instruments and listening to a LOT of Billy Preston and Jimmy Smith recordings, I had my program together for the most part and threw caution to the wind when it came time to play. A very sweet tech named Robin was there to make sure I found my sounds and away we went!
To say I had the time of my life playing such a gorgeous instrument was an understatement. The organ was in impeccable shape and it responded to the energy I gave it with even more presence than I could have expected. My sweaty hands mucked up the keys a little bit and for that I apologize publicly to the person (who is an actual well known player) who had to follow me, as we went over time and had to vacate the stage before I could wipe it down. But I guess that’s why ‘grease’ is often used in relation to organ playing. I hope so anyway. Here is a short vid from our soundcheck:
That’s Anne Mccue on lap steel, Jeff Thorneycroft on bass guitar, and Pete Pulkrabek on drums. The festival was in Schöppingen, which is in the northwestern Germany near Düsseldorf. And what a festival it was! Acts included the ‘Take me to the River All-Stars,’ Fantastic Negrito, Devon Allman, Vanessa Collier, Samantha Fish, our new friends ‘Grits and Greens’ and many other awesome acts. I LOVED that it felt like half of the acts were female fronted. And I also loved how cared for we were. The festival was run by volunteers who made sure we were where we needed to be, had enough food and drink and generously delivered us back to our very nice hotel when jet lag set in. My only complaint was that I wished we could have stayed longer.
I also got to play fiddle and piano in the band and I wore a new green suit which made me very happy.
I enjoyed a lovely breakfast spread each day and drank too much good coffee. My little hotel room was adorable and I dipped in the pool with Fawn Larson and cured my jet lag. I met awesome dudes named ‘Hubbie’ and ‘Boo’ and listened to their stories about traveling the world as artists. I listened to Anne speak impeccable German to the appreciative audience and felt their hearts melt for her. I ate more asparagus soup than I ever had in my life and it was good. I read 3 books on the flight home and was awake for 24 hours which proved to be slightly painful in the long run but the books I read were very good.
In conclusion, I hope Germany invites me back again and I promise to stay there a little bit longer next time! xoxo mp
