Paolo "Apollo" Negri (b. 1979)
Italian Hammond organist, keyboardist and songwriter from Piacenza — the organist and principal songwriter of The Link Quartet since 1997 and the most prolific solo artist on the Hammondbeat roster (four catalog albums under his own name).^[raw/articles/linkquartet-lastfm-apollonegri.md]^[raw/articles/wikipedia-hammondbeat.md]
Career
- Born 1979; at 16 founded his first band, the psychedelic-prog trio Nice Price (influences: The Nice, Quatermass, Arthur Brown). Joined The Link Quartet in 1997 after it split.^[raw/articles/linkquartet-lastfm-apollonegri.md]
- His style "reminds Brian Auger, The Mohawks, and in a certain way Booker T, but keeps always a strong personality" (IAJO); Booker T-style groove with Auger-style aggression.^[raw/articles/linkquartet-lastfm-apollonegri.md]
- With Link Quartet: support tours for JTQ, Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, Manu Chao; albums Episode 1, Beat.it, 4, Hotel Constellation.^[raw/articles/linkquartet-lastfm-apollonegri.md]
- Central member and songwriter of the hard-prog band Wicked Minds (2000–2013). Session work on 300+ albums; also played with Black Widow, Ray Daytona & Googoobombos, Low Fidelity Jet-Set Orchestra, Fred Leslie's Missing Link.^[raw/articles/linkquartet-lastfm-apollonegri.md]
Hammondbeat solo discography
- A Bigger Tomorrow (HBR-009, 2007) — a collaborative album inviting 20+ guests from the worldwide Hammond community (New Mastersounds, Diplomats of Solid Sound, Phat Fred, Nick Rossi Set members…), recorded on Hammond A-102 with pedalboard, Rhodes, synths and Mellotron
- The Great Anything (HBR-012, 2010)
- COBOL (HBR-014, 2011)
- Hello World (HBR-017, 2014 — the label's last main-catalog CD)
Within the revival scene he is the clearest through-line from the jimmy-smith-derived organ trio language into 2000s European club music — like Eddy Louiss in France, a national scene's reference organist.