Track Listing

1. Adelita
2. Kickin' Up Dust
3. Spell
4. Cuervo
5. Criminals Have a Name for It
6. 34 Small
7. Don't Hate, Congratulate
8. Poor Tom
9. (Smells Like) Dad's Drunk Again
10. Big Dummy
11. Hardware
12. Cabrillo

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50325 in Music
• Released on: 2005-08-30
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Album Description
On Super Heavy Organ, Robert Walter is in able company as he constructs what he calls "soul jazz". For one thing, there’s the rhythm section, culled from the finest of the New Orleans old and new guards: Johnny Vidacovich and Stanton Moore, respectively. Although they don’t join up on these tracks, they do perform together frequently under another banner. Then we have Tim Green, James Singleton, and Anthony Farrell, as competent as it gets on sax, bass, and vocals. But they deliver more than competence here. It’s more of a hardiness, a rollicking funk, done up in contemporary New Orleans style.

From the Artist
Stanton Moore owns up about the first track: "I’ve always enjoyed working with Robert. He’s a great player and a great writer. I always look forward to learning whatever new tunes he brings to the table. I learned ‘Adelita’ at the session and it’s become one of my favorite tunes to play live."

About the Artist
It’s a cross to bear, the Hammond Organ. You ask anyone who’s played one on the club scene and they’ll tell you horror stories about jacking the B3 up fire escapes or about removing doorframes, not to mention the sheer weight alone. No question, the Hammond is a super heavy organ, and you need a strong bass player!

Then there’s what’s under the hood. Talking about a mid-fifties B3, there are layers of keys, a twenty-five note pedal bass, four sets of draw bars, eighteen changeable presets—with, arguably a sound that smokes any modern instrument. You need a driver’s license to run it and you need a musician behind the wheel or, somehow, the Hammond doesn’t erupt in those fat, bubbly tones, or in those long glissandos that rip the paint off the wall.

"I just love the instrument," Robert Walter enthuses. He knows the mantle he wears when he plays the Hammond and the Leslie. He knows the lineage, which, in no particular order, includes Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, and new comers like Joey DeFrancesco. Walter wasn’t born behind an organ; in fact, he began gigging with piano and Fender Rhodes. But the story goes he wanted something more powerful, wider in bandwith—something heavier. The Hammond fit perfectly with the name of his band, and the name of this disk, Super Heavy Organ. No stranger to Magna Carta Records, Walter has also recorded with The Clinton Administration and has released Giving Up The Ghost.

Walter proves himself aware of the past, which he’s appropriated by means of oral history and by playing with key exponents. This is his route to originality, and what provides him with a contemporary edge. As he laments in the video interview (insert the CD in your computer), "Everybody’s playing the same shit in the same ways." It’s not enough to play the same old voicings over the same old changes. It’s not enough just to play worn out funk. Of course, the task is easier when you’re surrounded with colleagues Skerik, Charlie Hunter, or the current crew.

Customer Reviews

Percussive gumbo stew!
For lovers of Hammond B3 music this album is highly recoomended. Walter also manages to get some clavinet, piano and melodica in there as well,as well as adding more percussion. The album is highly percussive with not only Stanton Moore but Johnny Vidacovich adding drums,cymbals and percussion to a variety of the tracks. Its driven along by James Singleton on Bass and some splendid, often tortured Tenor Sax work from James Singleton. To add to the variety Anthony Farrell, described as 'a special guest' is quoted as providing vocals on tracks 3,5 and 7, but if you find them please let me know! Recorded in New Orleans in January 2005 the tracks seem to have been recorded in a relaxed manner, with a lot of studio backchat. There are a variety of styles 'Criminals have a name for it' has a tricky percussion led intro which builds to a strong finish. '34 Small' is a much more moody effort whilst "Don't hate, congratulate' together with 'Big Dummy' are my current favourite tracks. One further point, the sleeve notes note that it is "enhanced" and certainly the difference between playing it on the in-car stereo and letting it rip on my domestic system was marked. I hesitated before purchasing and I really do wish that I'd had the foresight to buy it on its release.

Solid Disk
First, I am really glad to be able to say that the mastering on this disk doesn't ruin it. It is loud, but it is not REALLY loud. So you can expect some distortion/clipping/dynamic range compression but not so much that the music becomes unlistenable.

So like the other reviewers have said, if you like the Hammond and funky jazz drumming this one is a no brainer.

Just great

I purchased this disc along with another one from Stanton Moore and this is also full of excellent funk. Great for wooshedding at home.