Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

I appreciate hearing the news about Leslie, Mr. Thompson. A guy who
pioneered a great invention that produces a great sound...right up
there with the great unique sounds that will drop you to your knees
or at least pique the interest of a critical listener, like
Orchestrons, Mellotrons, Theremins, Optigans, B-3's that I can pick
out no matter how deep in the recording mix they are.

Y'know--it's kind of like when your ears start ringing...it sort of
pre-occupies you for a bit.

I find it interesting that the Hammond company early on looked to
Leslie speakers as a tampering of their sound instead of a
compliment to it. Then again, Laurens Hammond himself was not even a
musician/player. When the first plug-in Hammonds came out, they
couldn't even be officially classified as an "organ", since forced
air wasn't sent through resonant pipes.

The article Thompson linked us to mentions the great Joey
DeFrancesco, IMHO the greatest B-3 player out there these days. He
did a great collaboration a few years ago on Concord with Jimmy
Smith called "Incredible" live in San Francisco. I thought these two
great players would snuf each other out, but the marriage was
perfect. The great highlight was active Leslie action; something
Smith isn't famous for.

On eBay, it's quite difficult to find a Leslie sold alone without a
B-3 or comparable keyboard. They just go together like bread &
butter.