I Dream of Hammond

[John Bittner <jbitt@primenet.com>]

Maybe I was bewitched, but the dream factory in my head cranked out a night of
Living Hammonds.

I was sitting in a booth in a hotel lounge and a Hammond was playing.
Jimmy  Smith was in the booth next to me and sitting on the floor nearby
was Joey D. who had a big grin on his face while rocking back and forth
to music.  I don't know who was playing, but I think it was Ethyl Smith.
I looked up at the clock on the wall and noticed that it too
was a Hammond and that the show was over.

On the way out, Jimmy asked me if I would mind giving him some help
with his bags.  I said of course not and walked out to his car.  I told
him how much I liked the Fats Waller album he did for Blue Note in
the '60's.  He said that most people don't realize that Fats was THE REAL
AUTHORITY on jazz organ since Fats not only made some of the first
Hammond recordings, but he also was one of the few cats who could make
a pipe organ swing.

Jimmy invited me out to his house for further conversation, but I had
a plane to catch.  After a few non-Hammond dream scenes, I' m boarding
the airport shuttle bus.

It was a really cool bus with a custom hi fi system.  There was nothing
playing, so I got up to slip on a disk.  Since it was Halloween, I thought
I'd treat the riders to Virgil Fox playing Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor,
which just happened to be in the fine collection of records aboard the bus.

When I returned to my seat, I realized that the disks must have been
placed in the wrong jackets, because rather than the Foxmeister pushing
the pedals to the metal, I'm hearing Brian Auger and the Trinity boppin' out
"George Bruno Money."  Sure enough when the bus stops at the first
terminal and some passengers get off, I notice Brian himself sitting a few
seats over joking with some other passengers.

At that point I woke up,  which was a good thing since I think that bus
was probably the Oblivian Express.

My wife thinks I'm spending way too much time on this list.  How
about y'all?

John Bittner
X-77 owner