Post by s***@gmail.comhttp://youtu.be/xVaJWIVHg_c
Chances are I was listening to Herman before
you were born. Herman played a bit of organ/synth
now and then, and for that reason was interesting
(to me). He wasn't spectacular on the instrument,
but he didn't suck like a lot of piano players do
when making the shift.
Back in the day, Sun Ra was who you put on the
turntable when you wanted to show a beat chick
how hip you were. Sometimes you got some pussy.
I missed out on most of the beat shit, so I had
to be a hippie. Some hippies listened to Herman
to prove how outside and cosmic they were. Not
me. A lot of his schtick was boring and repetitious
(like yours) but occasionally he kicked ass. Of
course, he wrote and recorded so much stuff nobody
really had a handle on him. When his band (which
might include anyfuckingbody at all, from top players
to random dudes he found on the corner) got down
on some bebop instead of that space-jazz shit, they
could usually cut a decent groove. I started listening
to him in 1962. Mostly on the radio, since nobody
could afford all those fucking records. We were
fortunate to have two great radio stations in DC,
WOOK and WUST, when Jazz was still played on AM.
They played Sun Ra and a shitload of other dudes.
Hearing Groove Holmes on WOOK inspired me to become
an organist.
The rest is history.
Lord Valve, ThD
Organist (fuck you)