Long before the Hammond was invented the jazz had developped out of its roots of gospels.
At the very beginnings the piano took an important roll - who will forget about Jelly Roll
Morton or Fats Waller. There were countless organ players who did their job on the local
church organ accompanying the choir which sang the wonderful spirituals.
And it was Fats who initiated the organ as a jazz instrument. At that time it was of course
the pipe organ which was to be found mainly in churches, later also in theatres. After the
Hammond organ was presented, the pipe (or church) organ was no longer of interest for
the jazz - it was unmovable, the sound somewhat heavy.
For long time the church organ did not play any roll in the jazz music. It was in the 60's
that in Europe a certain interest awakened in jazz on the church organ. Young classic organ
players discovered a stream of new music in the jazz - and produced lots of compositions
which met between classic and jazz music. The very long tradition of organ music in
Europe has helped to develop a real scene which gave impulses to interprete many themes
in a jazzy way on the church organ.
Newer technical developments have led to pipe organs with some features known from electronics
instruments only, such as MIDI.
You will find a list of pipe/church organ players and their recordings as follows.
