Hammond B-3 Organ Summit 2002

Live at Sometime November 18, 2002

Ushio Sakai--organ
Yoshiki Uta--organ
Daisuke Kawai--organ
Yuta Kaneko--organ

Lovers of jazz organ were given a full dose of “vitamin B-3” on Sunday afternoon with four funky hours of Hammond B-3 jazz by four of the best organists in Tokyo. Jazz club Sometime was packed, with latecomers sitting on the stairs or standing where they could. Part of the crunch was a result of the massive vintage B-3 and two Leslie amplifiers brought downstairs and plunked in the middle of the club. Four huge professional movers were waiting outside the club door afterwards to haul them all back up the stairs again! Listeners inside thought it was well worth the effort.

Most interesting was the contrast in styles. Veteran keyboardist Sakai played with the power of experience. He clearly knew his way around the B-3 with a rousing version of “On Broadway” and one of his own original blues. Uta cooked on a low burner, but gradually turned up the heat to deliver a very elegant sound. His versions of “Surrey with the Fringe on Top” and “The Way You Look Tonight” were impeccable. Kawai’s style leans more towards a wild energy. He dug into the blues of “How Long, How Long” and  a gospel number with equal fervor. Kaneko has a funkier, tighter approach that reached its peak with drummer “Kalta” sitting in to drive him faster and deeper. They were all excellent, but in such different ways.

The three younger players took over the first set, dividing the 90 minutes equally between them. They were all three a little cautious at first, maybe because of so many fellow musicians and serious B-3 maniacs in the audience. During the break, Kawai gave a wonderful lecture and demonstration on the B-3, though one had the feeling that most of the audience already knew a lot. After the lecture, Sakai’s opening songs on the second set broke the afternoon wide open. His deep sense of cool and careful technique set the standard to which the other three younger players rose up. The three youngsters then took two songs each.

The climax was a final version of Jimmy Smith’s classic “Eight Counts for Rita,” which he played at his recent shows at Tokyo’s Blue Note. The greasy organ line is broken by the audience counting “1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8” in the funkiest way possible. This time, though, they changed it to, “1,2,3,4, we love B 3.” The crowd shouted this out with relish. While counting, the organists switched places at the keyboard, each one taking several choruses, then quickly jumping out of the way in time for the next to sit down and play. The drummers switched, too, which took even more careful timing, but never lost the beat! Another four hours would have been great, but the next summit will not come around again until next year. Until then, every other Sunday afternoon will feel a lot less funky in comparison.