There's an album coming out in late February called "Charles Earland's
Organ Summit" that could very well be an incredibly sick affair. It was
recorded live last year at the DuSable (sp?) Museum of African-American
History in Chicago and features a pretty amazing lineup: "The Mighty
Burner" (of course), Dr. Lonnie Smith, Jimmy McGriff and the late Johnny
"Hammond" Smith (his final performance). I think at one point they've got
all four on stage at once.
It's on a label called Cannonball out of Minneapolis that is also doing new
stuff by Melvin Sparks, Idris Muhammad, Pucho & The Latin Soul Brothers and
Reuben Wilson. Ron Levy, a great B3 player himself (he was with B. B. King
for 7-8 years in the '70s and has played with every blues guy and gal under
the sun) owns and runs the label. Definitely check it out. They must have a
homepage, but I haven't seen it yet.
See ya,
B.Ski.C
Beantown
p.s. As far as I know, Dr. Lonnie Smith lives in Ft. Lauderdale, FL still
and performs pretty regularly with Lou Donaldson, and occasionally does
solo gigs. He played in Boston about a year-and-a-half ago with his own
group and it was amazing.
>At 10:59 AM -0800 12/11/98, Tony Reid wrote:
> DK> If you're interested in getting to B3 heaven, you must check out
> DK> Chicago's very own Charles Earland and Lonnie Smith (I believe he
> DK> resides in Miami ?!?! Go figure ... )
>
> what's charles up to these days? my partner, junior roach, is playing a
> really dope old track of his a lot. also, lonnie's not still playing too
> much organ is he? isn't he on that effected rhodes trip still? not that
> i don't like it--i do--but his organ stuff is funkier...
>
> t-bird