There is actually as much
jazz
and
rock & roll
as
R&B
on this intriguing and generous (it comes in with a running time of just under 80 minutes) disc from
Bear Family
, which features instrumentals from almost two dozen Hammond B3 players popular in Britain in the 1960s. Among the highlights of
Hammond Heroes: 60's R&B Heroes
are
Steve Winwood
's
"Stevie's Groove,"
recorded in 1966 when he was still a member of
the Spencer Davis Group
; the fiery
"Zoom Widge and Way"
from drummer
Bobby Graham
with
Kenny Salmon
on organ; a hard-charging and
-inflected version of the
gospel
classic
"Wade in the Water"
Graham Bond
at the keys and a rhythm section of
Jack Bruce
on bass and
Ginger Baker
on drums from 1965, and
the Nice
's rendition of
Charles Lloyd
"Sombrero Sam,"
featuring
Keith Emerson
on organ, from 1968. Also worth noting is the massive, swelling
"Back in the Grass"
recorded by the group
Motherhood
in 1968, and featuring
Klaus Doldinger
on tenor sax and
James "Ham" Jackson
on organ. The liner notes for this set are top-notch, beginning with a brief history of
Laurens Hammond
, the man who invented the Hammond organ (he also invented those familiar red and green 3-D glasses, by the way), and once he added
Don Leslie
's rotating speaker system to the organ frame, a stone cold classic instrument came to life. What we need now is for
to do a companion volume of American Hammond players like
Jimmy Smith
,
Jack McDuff
, and
Jimmy McGriff
. ~ Steve Leggett