The Hammond organ

Here at Old Days New Ways, we're reminiscing about the great lead guitar players that we experienced during the progressive era, the 1970's, the progressive, "prog rock" era. Well, recently we had another very interesting birthday to celebrate. Laurens Hammond was born January 11th, 1895 and he died July, 3rd, 1973. In 1973. I was a junior in high school and I was just beginning to love the sound of the Hammond organ in groups like Deep Purple & Chicago. Then they came to the forefront with my favorite bands, who's front-men were keyboardists like Emerson, Lake, and Palmer with Keith Emerson on keyboard. Yes, with Rick Wakeman on keyboards, and a completely different style and Tony Banks the awesome keyboard player of Genesis. What a trifecta, growing up with those three guys and hearing what you could do on the Hammond organ.

​Now, Emerson, of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer is widely known as the first person to ever tour with a Moog synthesizer. As the synthesizer started to come into vogue in the seventies. They were around in the sixties, but they came into the big time with Keith Emerson, who toured with a Moog synthesizer. But they all had Hammond keyboards and there was a Hammond C3, I think there was a B3, maybe something like that. And what was so cool, if you remember, about the Hammond organ in concert was they were always connected to what were known as Leslie speakers. Leslie speakers were a special set of speakers, but at the top of the cabinet there was a fan that would turn on and off when the keyboard player would hit vibrato on the stops or on various buttons on the side of the keyboards. They were a two-keyboard instrument. Usually the upper keyboard was the melody, the lower keyboard was chords. However, in a band you had the bass player and the guitar players to take that over so you could get very creative and create different sounds on the lower manual and the upper manual. Keyboards were also known as manuals.

So, Laurens Hammond was born on this day in 1895. Now he was an engineer, of course. Anyone who develops electronic devices is an engineer of some sort. I think every artist in the seventies had a Hammond organ. Me personally, I was talking recently about the birthday of Jimmy Page and how much him and three other guitar players, Steve Howe, Peter Townsend, and Brian May influenced me as I grew up. They were with me through my childhood and early adulthood and have stayed with me to this day. My favorite instrument is keyboard. I actually play a little bit, but I am not a keyboard player really. I can play some chords and get by, but it all started when I first heard Tarkus, the album by Emerson Lake and Palmer. My friend David invited me over and had this great new album by this group, ELP or Emerson, Lake, & Palmer as we called them then, and we sat down and listened to this keyboard masterpiece called Tarkus. I don't know what you'd call it. Is it rock? Is it classical? Is it... what? That was the beginning of my love affair with Emerson Lake and Palmer and all the other keyboard players that I have mentioned. Rick Wakeman, completely different style, awesome player, amazing. It was so cool to see these guys on tour. Emerson would tour with 13 keyboards on stage! Wakeman had 13-15 keyboards and he would play them all during the concert, it wasn't for show! They were different keyboards for different songs and just amazing. We wont go into the different types of keyboards that and the evolution to keyboards that were around in the sixties and seventies because, you know, there was a piano then there was the Mellotron; then there was the Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, ARP synthesizers and all were used to different degrees to create great sounds and unique effects.

This is Brad from Old Days, New Ways. Celebrating the birthday of Laurens Hammond, who invented the Hammond organ, who was born in 1895. Rock on.