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B3Wiki Index

Content catalog. Every wiki page listed under its type with a one-line summary. Read this first to find relevant pages for any query. Last updated: 2026-10-20 | Total pages: 80

Entities

Instruments

  • Hammond B-3 - The iconic 1954-1975 console with harmonic percussion; the definitive jazz organ.
  • Leslie Speaker - Rotating-horn/drum speaker creating the classic Doppler shimmer; models 122 & 147.
  • Korg CX-3 - 1980 single-manual analog clonewheel; the first clone to "approach a vintage Hammond."
  • Roland VK-7 - 1997 dual-manual virtual-modeling clonewheel in a wooden case.
  • Hammond-Suzuki XK-3 - 2004 prosumer DSP clonewheel; third-generation virtual B-3.
  • Clavia Nord C2D - 2012 dual-manual combo organ with LED-button drawbars.

Players

  • Jimmy Smith — Jazz organist who defined the modern B-3 style and the organ trio format.
  • Jimmy McGriff — Philadelphia soul-jazz organist (1936–2008); blues/"fatback groove" counterpoint to Smith's bebop.
  • Dr. Lonnie Smith — B-3 organist (1942–2021) spanning soul-jazz, funk and a late-career Blue Note return.
  • Jon Lord — Deep Purple co-founder whose classical-grounded Hammond playing drove hard rock and proto-metal.
  • Brian Auger — British jazz-rock Hammond specialist; Steampacket, Trinity, Oblivion Express.
  • John Medeski — MMW keyboardist (b. 1965); the B-3 anchor voice of the 1990s jam/acid-jazz scene.
  • Joey DeFrancesco — Jazz organist (1971–2022) who revived the B-3 in mainstream jazz; later acquired Jon Lord's modified Hammond.
  • Barbara Dennerlein — German "Organ Tornado" (b. 1964); bass-pedal virtuoso with MIDI/sampler-modified Hammond.
  • Booker T. Jones — Stax organist (b. 1944); "Green Onions" and the bridge from church/R&B organ to rock.
  • Eddy Louiss — French jazz organist (1941–2015); Nougaro's accompanist, Stan Getz quartet 1971, France's beloved Hammond voice.
  • Paolo 'Apollo' Negri — Italian organist (b. 1979) of The Link Quartet; Hammondbeat's most prolific solo artist.
  • Delvon Lamarr — Self-taught Seattle organist; leader of DLO3, drummer-turned-organist with perfect pitch.
  • Jimmy James — Seattle guitarist (not an organist) of DLO3 (2015–2022), True Loves, and now Parlor Greens.
  • Cory Henry — Brooklyn gospel-to-funk keyboardist (ex-Snarky Puppy); leads The Funk Apostles.
  • Keith Emerson — The Nice/ELP keyboardist (1944–2016) who made the abused Hammond a rock lead instrument; born of Jack McDuff's "Rock Candy".
  • Gregg Rolie — Santana founder-vocalist (b. 1947); B-3 in call-and-response with Carlos Santana's guitar, later Journey.
  • "Brother" Jack McDuff — Soul-jazz organist who switched from piano to Hammond in the 1950s; turned Keith Emerson onto the B-3.
  • Don Patterson — Post-Smith Prestige-label soul-jazz organist; Don Patterson Trio, Satisfaction! (1965).
  • Richard "Groove" Holmes — Soul-jazz organist who converted Jimmy McGriff to the organ; Groove Merchant veteran.

Bands

  • The James Taylor Quartet — British acid-jazz band (1985–) around Hammond player James Taylor; the template for the modern organ revival.
  • The Link Quartet — Piacenza, Italy quartet (1993–); Hammondbeat's flagship act, JTQ-influenced funk/rock/soul.
  • The Men From S.P.E.C.T.R.E. — Winterthur, Switzerland; spy-soundtrack Hammond organ rock (The Living Eye, 2006).
  • Leslie Overdrive — Danish organ-funk quartet (2005–); ...With the Hammond, In the Beauty (2007).
  • Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio — Seattle soul-jazz trio (2015–); Colemine's Billboard-charting flagship of the modern revival.
  • Parlor Greens — Jimmy James's 2025 organ trio with Adam Scone and Tim Carman (Colemine); Emeralds.
  • The Pulitzers — Dutch Hammond funk quartet (Frank Montis); Honk Honk (Zip Records, 2023).
  • Cookin' on 3 Burners — Melbourne Hammond trio (1997–); "This Girl", the Kungs 2016 #1.
  • Mother Earth (US) — San Francisco blues-rock band (1967); Living with the Animals (1968), organ chair Naftalin/Goldberg.

Labels

  • Hammondbeat Records — Organ-sound record label (2002), grown from the JTQgroove acid-jazz fan site.
  • Blue Note Records — Jazz label (1939); codified the soul-jazz organ with Jimmy Smith and Dr. Lonnie Smith.
  • Stax Records — Memphis soul label (1957); Booker T. Jones's B-3 turned church organ into hit R&B.
  • Verve Records — Norman Granz's jazz label (1956); carried Jimmy Smith to mass popularity after Blue Note.
  • Colemine Records — Ohio soul/funk indie (2007, incl. Karma Chief); flagship label of the modern organ-trio revival.
  • Groove Merchant — Sonny Lester's 1970s soul-jazz label; second act for McGriff and Lonnie Smith.
  • Zip Records — San Francisco/Amsterdam indie (1997); home of The Pulitzers' Hammond funk.
  • Wild Bill Davis - Bridge figure in the gospel-to-jazz-organ lineage; the catalyst for Jimmy Smith's switch to organ.

Manufacturers

  • Musik-Bertram - Freiburg Hammond dealer/chop-shop (from the 1960s): ~100 kg transportable "Bertram-Umbau" re-casings, 220 V/50 Hz chops, MIDI bass-pedal kit.
  • Hammond Organ Company - Chicago company (1928-1985) that built ~2 million organs; brand now owned by Suzuki.
  • Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation - Japanese conglomerate that now owns and produces the Hammond + Leslie lines.
  • Korg - Maker of the 1980 CX-3 / BX-3 analog clonewheels.
  • Roland Corporation - Maker of the VK-1, VK-7, VK-8 lineage of clonewheels (1978 onward).
  • Clavia - Swedish maker of the Nord line of stage keyboards and combo organs.
  • Farfisa - Italian maker of cheap transistor combo organs (Compact, 1964); the B-3's portability/price rival.
  • Vox - British amp maker (1957); its 1962 Continental drawbar combo organ is the classic transistor rival.
  • RMI (Rocky Mount Instruments) - Allen Organ subsidiary (1966-1982) making the Electra-pianos in Jon Lord's and Brian Auger's rigs.
  • Marshall Amplification - British amp maker (1962); the overdriven stacks Jon Lord used to make the Hammond heavy.
  • Crumar - Italian maker (1969) of the Organizer first-wave Hammond emulators and later clonewheel-era boards.

Albums

  • Machine Head - Deep Purple (1972); Jon Lord's Marshall-driven Hammond as hard rock's second lead instrument.
  • Abraxas - Santana (1970); Gregg Rolie's B-3 in call-and-response with Carlos Santana's guitar.
  • Brain Salad Surgery - ELP (1973); Emerson's Hammond and Moog as equal leads in "Karn Evil 9".
  • Back at the Chicken Shack - Jimmy Smith (rec. 1960, rel. 1963, Blue Note); the blues side of the Smith canon.
  • I Told You So - Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio (2021, Colemine); the organ trio charting in the streaming era.
  • Living with the Animals - Mother Earth (US) (1968, Mercury); blues-rock organ-in-support behind Tracy Nelson.

People

  • Laurens Hammond - Mechanical engineer/inventor (clocks, 3D glasses) who created the tonewheel organ in 1935.
  • Donald J. Leslie - Engineer who invented the rotating Leslie speaker; Hammond rejected it, history adopted it.
  • Renato Lombardi - Italian amp/sound engineer behind Brian Auger's signature sound (resistor fix, free PA stacks).
  • Mark Naftalin - Keyboardist (piano/organ/keyboards, ex-Paul Butterfield Blues Band) on Mother Earth's Living with the Animals.

References

Concepts

  • Tonewheel Generator - Rotating metal wheels + magnetic pickups producing additive tones, driven by a synchronous motor.
  • Drawbars & Additive Synthesis - Sliders mixing pipe-organ footages (16'-1') to shape timbre in real time.
  • Harmonic Percussion - B-3's decaying 2nd/3rd-harmonic "click" on the upper manual; the soul of the jazz sound.
  • Vibrato/Chorus Scanner - Delay-line scanner giving the Hammond its signature shimmer (C-3/V/CV models onward).
  • Clonewheel Organ - Electronic instruments that emulate the tonewheel-organ sound without actual spinning wheels.
  • Portable Hammonds - Factory portables (B-3mk2, Porta-B) vs chops (Keyboard Specialties, Bertram music); the 50/60 Hz problem.

Comparisons

  • B-3 vs A-100 - The 1959 self-contained B-3 with built-in amp and speakers — identical organ engine, simpler rig.
  • B-3 vs C-3 - Same tonewheel generator, different cabinet: B-3 open "showbiz" vs C-3 church-style with modesty panel.
  • B-3 vs Combo Organs - Tonewheel heavyweight vs transistor combo rivals (Vox Continental, Farfisa): portability and price vs depth of tone.
  • B-3 vs Clonewheels - Vintage B-3 vs CX-3/VK-7/Nord C/XK-3 digital emulations: what modeling caught up on, and what it can't (key feel, leakage, real Leslie).

Queries

  • Who carried the B-3 beyond Jimmy Smith? - Four channels of spread: soul-jazz legion, British rock, revival labels, gospel/modern trio mainstream.
  • Landmark Hammond albums - Great organ albums: Deep Purple (Lord), ELP (Emerson), Mother Earth (US; Naftalin), Santana (Rolie) — and what the Hammond does in each idiom.
  • The modern organ scene - Who carries the B-3 now: DLO3, Parlor Greens, The Pulitzers, Cookin' on 3 Burners, Cory Henry; labels, discovery, lineage.