This collection, my first professional recording endeavor, has been a large undertaking for me, as many hours of work and preparation have gone into this recording by many, many people. However, I feel that it would be a great injustice not to thank a few of the people that have been paramount in the production of this recording.

First, I extend my genuine thanks to my recording engineer, Robert Ridgeway, with whom it was a great honor to work during this recording. And to my organ instructor, John Ferguson, I also relate a very warm "thank you." John has been a source of constant encouragement, wonderful tutelage, and sincere friendship for many many years. Likewise, I would like to thank the Central Indiana Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society for helping to make this recording a possibility and for the support that the club has given me over the past several years.

Of course, my sincerest and most heart-felt thanks and love go to my mother, Louise Eddington, and grandmother, Florence Arnold. From the time I was barely tall enough to sit at the piano and bang out "Chopsticks" they have always given me the support and encouragement that I needed, not only in the area of music, but in every aspect of my life.

The Emmerich Manual High School 3/26 Wurlitzer you hear on this recording was over three years in the making, including thousands of man-hours in labor and over one-hundred thousand dollars in cost, and the entire project was a volunteer effort planned and executed by members of the Central Indiana Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society (CICATOS). The result was one of the largest Wurlitzer pipe organs in a high school auditorium in the United States. The striking three-manual console controls 26 ranks of pipes of varying tone, plus drums, tambourines, bells, whistles and all the wonderful sounds that comprise the theatre pipe organ. At the dedication concert in 1990 the organ was presented as a gift to the Indianapolis Public School System from CIC-ATOS. Proceeds from concerts and the sales of this recording help CIC-ATOS maintain this instrument at no cost to IPS. We hope you enjoy this album and invite you to submit your name and address for inclusion to our CIC-ATOS mailing list to keep you informed of future album releases.

It is always difficult to resolve the question of what should be included in a recording, for there is a boundless wealth of wonderful music that has been written over the years. From Irving Berlin to Stephen Sondheim, the array of beautifully enthralling music is simply without end.

In fact, one of the reasons that I fell in love with the theatre pipe organ is because the instrument, originally developed to imitate the sounds of an orchestra, is full of color and a richness unparalleled by any other. What I have endeavored to do in compiling the music for this recording is to try to make use of the different rich colors of the theatre organ in order to paint a musical "picture" for you to enjoy.

A Word About the Artist
By Timothy Needler

If talent, dedication, and hard work are the ingredients for sure success, then Jelani Eddington has no worries, as he possesses all three in depth. Ever since I met Jelani when he was twelve, I have been sincerely impressed with his industry and his ability to focus on a goal and work steadily toward it until he conquers it. That he has talent was always recognized, but many people have talent and do little with it. Jelani took the gift God gave him and made sure it did not lie fallow.

Born in Muncie. Indiana, on June 20, 1974, the son of Louise Eddington and the late Robert Eddington, Jelani began on piano at the early age of four and studied ten years with his grandmother, Florence Arnold, a well-known piano teacher in Muncie. When he was ten, he also began studying the organ with instructors at Ball State University in his home town. Shortly thereafter, he discovered theatre organ, and he and his mother joined the American Theatre Organ Society and began coming to meetings of the Central Indiana Chapter of ATOS in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is in this capacity that I met Jelani and well recall his eagerness to participate in "open console" sessions, in which members and guests are welcome to play theatre pipe organs for other members. Jelani had no stagefright or shyness, and it was soon apparent to all that he possessed a great gift and was working hard to acquire a solid foundation in musical knowledge.

He began studying theatre pipe organ with one of the leading teachers of this instrument, John Ferguson, who was a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana at the time. With John's assistance and Jelani's hard work, he entered the Young Organist Competition - an international theatre organ competition, sponsored by ATOS, for young organists between the ages of 13 and 21. After winning the local chapter's competition, he was eligible to compete on a national level which he did and won at the age of 13, the youngest contestant to ever to have done so, before or since! Along with the first-place cash prize, Jelani presented a cameo concert at the following national ATOS convention, which took place in Portland, Oregon, in July of 1988. Jelani's concert was a smash success, and his career blossomed as he began giving concerts on theatre organs around the country.

Jelani did not neglect his scholastic studies and graduated from high school as Salutatorian in a class of 272. He won a four-year, full-ride scholarship to Indiana University where he majored in Political Science and French with a Minor in Russian Translation. While in college, he studied for a year in Strasbourg, France (in conjunction with the Intensive Study Abroad program of Indiana University) and also spent most of one summer abroad studying Russian Language and Literature in St. Petersburg, Russia. In June of 1996, Jelani graduated from Indiana University With Highest Distinction, having received numerous awards and honors, including Phi Beta Kappa.

During his college years, Jelani continued to concertize on theatre pipe organs around the United States. He has also performed many concerts overseas, including appearances in England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to this project, Jelani has released two highly acclaimed recordings (Here's Jelani! in July of 1992, recorded on the 3/26 Wurlitzer at Manual High School in Indianapolis, IN; and Jelani Eddington in Concert in November of 1994, recorded on the 3/28 Wurlitzer/ Kimball at the Organ Piper Music Palace in Greenfield, WI. Jelani is also equally adept in popular and classical piano repertoire.

At the time of this recording, Jelani is enrolled in Yale Law School pursuing a Juris Doctor degree. While other esteemed institutions offered him full-ride scholarships, Jelani chose Yale, which is recognized by many as the nation's leading school for the study of law. Because of his love of foreign languages and his studies in political science, Jelani will devote a significant portion of his legal education to the study of international law. His plans for the future including combining a passionate interest in theatre organ with a career in the legal profession.

I have no doubts that he will achieve exactly this as he continues to apply himself diligently to the goals he constantly sets for himself. He is gifted with numberous talents; he works very hard and achieves much. In addition, he is one fine musician and, perhaps more importantly, a very nice down-to-earth guy!