[HAM] Here's Why It *Had* To Be McDuff (BF Test #9)

[John Brevik]

Hey, Scott,

I'm  with you -- I heard it and said to myself, "Wow, I can't imagine  
that ain't Duff." I just didn't respond because I've been called an  
idiot enough lately.

Hope yer doin' well.

John Brevik

On May 15, 2007, at 8:50 PM, Scott Hawthorn wrote:

> At 09:19 PM 5/14/2007, Randal Muir wrote:
>> Fair go old sausage :-).... I have never heard McDuff solo with  
>> pentatonics.
>> Every time I hear one of these tracks, I am reminded of my incomplete
>> knowledge and ignorance.  I hear a bit of one player and then a  
>> bit of
>> another etc.  I thought Larry Young but he didn't play bass like  
>> that.
>> That said thanks for the track, brilliant.
>> cheers -Randal
>
> Man, I am chuffed to be called an old sausage and not for the first  
> time,
> mind you!
>
> OK, I'm sitting here marvelling at why what sounds to me to be  
> unmistakably
> Jack McDuff does not have the same effect on anyone else posting  
> here. And
> why I have no idea where the commas should go in the previous  
> sentence. I'm
> starting to think the reason might be that most people haven't  
> played the
> jazz organ records over and over hundreds of times like certain freaks
> have, or that they don't listen that closely and rather just follow  
> the
> groove. Nothing wrong with that; what I need to do is lay out some  
> specific
> examples from this last tune we just did, "Black Jack." I'll try to  
> point
> out features that are patented Jack McDuff licks and would never be  
> played
> by all these other cats that were mentioned.
>
> These files are real short, very small. Just do them one at a  
> time-- read
> what I have to say and then check out the MP3. It didn't take long  
> to make
> these files, 20 minutes tops. I just whizzed through the file and  
> grabbed
> the obvious ones. The tune is in 'C.'
>
> 1. The C13 right on the downbeat, the WAY IT IS PLAYED. Jimmy Smith  
> and
> other organists certainly did use this high C13th chord, but not  
> this funny
> sort of "melting in" to the notes, starting at the bottom, moving  
> to the
> top. Jack loved to use this trick on downbeats, lower manual  
> always. The
> second lick in this example is a patented McDuff lick, the rolling  
> bit in
> the first part and then the last three notes, C D Bb (one, nine,  
> seven).
> <http://www.organfreak.com/listen/BF9ex/ex1.mp3>
>
> 2. This particular way of powering up the diminished scale is  
> patented and
> probably should be copyrighted. Why? I think it's the timing of it, it
> pushes way ahead of the beat. He's in a hurry. The next lick here  
> is pure
> McDuff but I can't explain why.
> <http://www.organfreak.com/listen/BF9ex/ex2.mp3>
>
> 3. Triplets on Eb, E-natural, A, when the chord is C7. I have heard  
> Johnny
> Hammond Smith do it, I have heard guys in bars late at night do it,  
> but
> it's seldom played on any records. What's up with that? McDuff  
> loved it, he
> owned it. (Now I got it, heh heh). What I learned was, it better be  
> played
> right on time, or forget about it.
> <http://www.organfreak.com/listen/BF9ex/ex3.mp3>
>
> 4. Very common way he had of improvising on chords that were at all  
> out of
> the ordinary, or even on major 7th chords-- down chromatically from  
> the 5th
> to the 3rd. He uses it all throughout his non-blues material.
> <http://www.organfreak.com/listen/BF9ex/ex4.mp3>
>
> 5. A longer example, here's the meat: None of the other guys ever  
> got nuts
> like this as far as I know. Our hero is playfully whacking various  
> random
> notes in 'C' in the top octave of BOTH manuals. Don't forget, he's  
> way out
> in front of the beat, but the timing is deadly accurate. The second  
> part of
> this section shows clearly how McDuff uses the same blues-scale  
> notes as
> everyone else, but he makes them sound only like him by several means:
> playing clear, accurately-timed eight notes, eight-note triplets, and
> 16th-notes in  solid groupings that change on purpose on specific  
> beats. I
> know that sounds like a description of what anyone should do in a  
> solo, but
> he makes a point of putting the different note values in discrete  
> blocks
> that are like beautiful, standalone groups. Also, there is a  
> certain kind
> of note separation that should say "McDuff," or at least, Johnny  
> "Hammond"
> Smith.
> <http://www.organfreak.com/listen/BF9ex/ex5.mp3>
>
> 6. A little about the bass. First, this is the "pedal bomb" that  
> everybody
> does, just for reference. Getting that second note (an 'E') to be  
> early in
> just the right, swinging place is something only Jack (or Ray  
> Brown) did
> (hoping for an argument here).
> <http://www.organfreak.com/listen/BF9ex/ex6.mp3>
>
> 7. But THIS pedal line, descending, is something I almost never  
> hear from
> any other player. Why not?, I axe myself. It's easier than the  
> previous
> example; you just walk down from C to G, but it sounds fantastic.  
> The pedal
> addition to the fingers starts on the Bb, walks down to the G, then  
> back
> up. After that, you can hear the pedals resume to plain tapping.  
> When I
> used to see McDuff live, he was all over the pedals unlike anyone  
> else I've
> seen except maybe Groove Holmes, but the best part about it is that he
> saved it for something special, didn't do it constantly, so when it
> happened, it tended to raise you out of your chair and say yeah.
> <http://www.organfreak.com/listen/BF9ex/ex7.mp3>
>
> 8. and finally, speaking of Groove Holmes, here is something Groove  
> liked
> to do with the bass quite often. I don't know who had it first or  
> if they
> came up with it independently-- they were friends. The chord is 'C'  
> and the
> bass is all the way up on C3, the third C from the bottom. It goes
> chromatically up to D and back down to C, in case that isn't  
> obvious. The
> strong, tight pedal tap is extremely important in a passage like  
> this so
> the bottom doesn't totally drop out.
> <http://www.organfreak.com/listen/BF9ex/ex8.mp3>
>
> That's all I know.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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