Everyday I Have the Blues ( Live at the Woodlands)
When I saw this for the first time many years ago, made me wonder why Gregg was so reluctant to be more improvisational on his solos in hot lanta or liz reed. He rarely deviated from standard solo.
When I saw this for the first time many years ago, made me wonder why Gregg was so reluctant to be more improvisational on his solos in hot lanta or liz reed. He rarely deviated from standard solo.
A friend of mine who is a most excellent guitarist and who also posts on this site ("Goldtop") explained it to me this way: In tunes like Liz Reed and Hot 'Lanta, Gregg wrote a specific "solo" part to fit in with the song. So really at least in those tunes, in his organ break, Gregg is playing the song exactly as he wrote it, which would be no different than a guitarist playing the melody refrain within a tune. That makes sense to me. In other words, that organ break was meant to be a composed portion of the song, not an improvised one.
When I saw this for the first time many years ago, made me wonder why Gregg was so reluctant to be more improvisational on his solos in hot lanta or liz reed. He rarely deviated from standard solo.
I would guess it is for the same reason he rarely played any acoustic guitar songs other than "Melissa" & "Midnight Rider"..He did not like to practice. I've always wondered why with his Blues background and influence he never ventured into the realm of Jimmy Smith & Dr. Lonnie Smith for a solo record. Some here have stated that he didn't "Have the chops"...How do you acquire them?
That being said, I always liked the B-3 solo on "Pegasus"
I would guess it is for the same reason he rarely played any acoustic guitar songs other than "Melissa" & "Midnight Rider"..He did not like to practice.
This doesn't jive with anything we all know about Gregg. For one, he didn't like to jam, he was a singer in a jam band. And if you've heard any of Gregg's acoustic stuff, you know he was an accomplished acoustic player who wrote most of his songs on acoustic guitar. He rarely played exclusively acoustic sets in his solo band. Still, with his solo bard he stepped out from behind the hammond for "Come & Go Blues" and "Multi-colored Lady", and later on electric for a number of tunes.
There are numes of references by
other players of the difficulties getting GA into rehearsals, back in the daze.
2. He was absolutely a tasty player. It's a great mystery why he didn't step out more especially
with his own band, whether or not those breaks were more composed or spontaneous
3. We don't know if he worked out his solo in advance for the video clip
4. There's more variety in his playing in the early years of the band.
Thanks, man that's great, I too wonder why Gregg didn't do more stuff like that, would love to have heard him in a sort of Hail to the Hammond: Gregg Plays Old-Favorite B-3 Blues Favorites -- his sound is totally his, always loved his playing especially Pegasus as BigV said, also Jelly Jelly, obviously DWYKMore, the first solo on the first song of the first ABB record
this tops em all, thanks again
He was primarily a "singer/songwriter " who played organ and some guitar. He was not Jimmy Smith or Joe Defrancesco. I'm sure he would agree.
Yeah looking at that clip that's the first thing that comes to mind; Singer/Songwriter -- how could anyone possibly think of Jimmy Smith or Joey when looking at that clip --
I certainly enjoyed it
also meant to mention his Gambler's Roll solo
Gregg's solo on Mountain Jam from Eat A Peach is real fine. The solo is very tasty and Jack Pearson mentioned just after Gregg's death how good Gregg was at working his drawers on the organ. And it's cool to listen how the rest of the band backs Gregg on this solo. Berry Oakley's bass is outstanding and Jaimoe is doing what Jaimoe is famous for. Dickey has what at first seems a laid back solo but continues to build with Duane Allman right with him with back up and twin leads.
I noticed the 30 minute track has hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube.
I always enjoyed Desdemona.
"How good Gregg was at working his drawers on the organ"
:-))))))
When I saw this for the first time many years ago, made me wonder why Gregg was so reluctant to be more improvisational on his solos in hot lanta or liz reed. He rarely deviated from standard solo.
I would guess it is for the same reason he rarely played any acoustic guitar songs other than "Melissa" & "Midnight Rider"..He did not like to practice. I've always wondered why with his Blues background and influence he never ventured into the realm of Jimmy Smith & Dr. Lonnie Smith for a solo record. Some here have stated that he didn't "Have the chops"...How do you acquire them?
That being said, I always liked the B-3 solo on "Pegasus"
Saying that Gregg "did not like to practice " is dumb. He was a successful professional musician for 50 years. Just because he played a Hammond organ, you think he should have made an instrumental jazz solo album 😛 First of all, he did not have the musical training for this, second, he didn't need it, or want it. He made millions doing what he was good at, and carved his place in history. It's like you saying, " why didn't Chuck Berry make a jazz album like Wes Montgomery." Because he didn't like to practice. 😛
I’m curious how BIGV knows Gregg didn’t like to practice?
Is he aware if he practiced at home? Privately?
[Edited on 9/1/2019 by dadof2]
Listened closely to the Fillmore Mountain Jam last night, I could swear as the song plays on and all the guys are creating their sonic joy, it seemed to me that its Gregg's smooth, rock steady, powerful B-3 that is driving the the song, it is the foundation, the powertrain???..........Peace........joe
I’m curious how BIGV knows Gregg didn’t like to practice?
Is he aware if he practiced at home? Privately?
Just an opinion based on all of the years of his music being the soundtrack of my life, that's all. The "sameness" in his solos and the lack of playing a greater majority of the things he penned that we all would have loved to have heard on the acoustic guitar...
I’m curious how BIGV knows Gregg didn’t like to practice?
Is he aware if he practiced at home? Privately?Just an opinion based on all of the years of his music being the soundtrack of my life, that's all. The "sameness" in his solos and the lack of playing a greater majority of the things he penned that we all would have loved to have heard on the acoustic guitar...
Based on our personal opinions we could assume anything we want and reach any conclusion we want. Many of us here had his music as the so called soundtrack of our lives(whatever the heck that means) and have reached different conclusions than you. A classic case of proving the point that opinions are like a**holes-we all got em.
[Edited on 9/1/2019 by dadof2]
Listened closely to the Fillmore Mountain Jam last night, I could swear as the song plays on and all the guys are creating their sonic joy, it seemed to me that its Gregg's smooth, rock steady, powerful B-3 that is driving the the song, it is the foundation, the powertrain???..........Peace........joe
With the thinking that a few hours of practice will make someone into an improvisational master I guess If I start shooting 3's from the line I could take Steph Curries job from him.
Big V....is a lack of practice the reason you never made it in music or are there people who are just more inclined to be good at a particular art/sport...etc regardless of effort put in??
By the way do you have any recordings of you rippin on the B3 or the guitar?...got any songs you wrote people are singing along with?...maybe a few hours practice will give you all those. As it seems to be the way you process and then respond...were all waiting to hear the next great song you wrote or the rippin B3 solo or acoustic guitar gems you haven't shared
Just a Saturday morning bump for this oh so fine clip - yep see the sig line - love seeing the comments in the other thread about Gregg way up in the mix on the Fillmore West release
Gregg's voice was his true musical instrument and he happened to play the B-3 and acoustic guitar.. We will not see a talent like him in a very long time.
By the way do you have any recordings of you rippin on the B3 or the guitar?...got any songs you wrote people are singing along with?...maybe a few hours practice will give you all those. As it seems to be the way you process and then respond...were all waiting to hear the next great song you wrote or the rippin B3 solo or acoustic guitar gems you haven't shared
There is a VERY solid explanation for this, Ron.
As Vince explained it to me, he has a vast repertoire of tunes that he has composed and has in digital storage. They are SO good, in fact, that he is waiting for the last two remaining original ABB members to pass away before he releases them. He has a LOT of respect for ABB and does not want to embarrass any original member who might then realize that a Hittin' The Note website follower could do much better than they ever did.
By the way do you have any recordings of you rippin on the B3 or the guitar?...got any songs you wrote people are singing along with?...maybe a few hours practice will give you all those. As it seems to be the way you process and then respond...were all waiting to hear the next great song you wrote or the rippin B3 solo or acoustic guitar gems you haven't shared
There is a VERY solid explanation for this, Ron.
As Vince explained it to me, he has a vast repertoire of tunes that he has composed and has in digital storage. They are SO good, in fact, that he is waiting for the last two remaining original ABB members to pass away before he releases them. He has a LOT of respect for ABB and does not want to embarrass any original member who might then realize that a Hittin' The Note website follower could do much better than they ever did.
Yes those songs are so awesome he's worried there will be a riot...much like when Stravinsky introduced the Rite of Spring in 1913...so revolutionary it caused a riot in the music hall...We should be grateful for his concern 😛
