The Hammond Organ, Beauty in the B

• Buying secrets & maintenance tips • B-3 wannabes & Leslie simulators

• The Leslie speaker • Performance tips & cool licks

• The B-3 & other Hammond organs

This second edition celebrates the renowned pairing of the Hammond tone-wheel organs and whirling Leslie speakers that changed organ music and popular music forever. This book was the first to trace the artistic and technological evolution of the famous Hammond growl, spit, grind, and scream that has influenced gospel, jazz, blues, R&B, rock, and home entertainment since the first B-3 was built in 1954.

The Hammond Organ follows the unique instrument on its unlikely 40-year trek to musical fame. Packed with anecdotes from legendary Hammond players, the book also offers key performance techniques from artists such as Paul Shaffer, Jimmy McGriff, Tom Coster, Keith Emerson, and others. Crisp photos show these B-3 masters at work, as well as Booker T. Jones, Sly Stone, Billy Preston, Greg Allman, Jimmy Smith, and many other Hammond greats.

The Hammond Organ provides insights from Alan Young, a 30-year Hammond engineer and friend of the late Laurens Hammond, and from Don Leslie, inventor of the famed Leslie rotary speaker. Readers discover the technics behind the B-3’s drawbars, presets, pedalboard, percussion, and other characteristics that made this electro-mechanical organ so unique.

The Hammond Organ: Beauty in the B includes a wide-ranging discography of essential Hammond B-3 recordings, such as “A Whiter Shade of Pale” by Procol Harum and “Dance to the Music” by Sly & The Family Stone.