A
new venue and a well tightened up program
gave this year's Dedication to Ken a fresh and very entertaining afternoon.
The show, which was hosted by The Beautiful Sound Inc. and supported by the
Chicago Theatre Organ Society, was set in the show room with literally dozens
of organs around the room. At one end stands a beautiful pipe/digital organ,
while at the other end stood a magnificent Allen George Wright 4-manual
Renaissance Theatre organ, which was going to be the
star of the show. It only arrived a couple of days beforehand and was
certainly Beautiful Sound's new attraction. To the far left of the George
Wright 4-manual Renaissance Theatre organ was a fine
Steinway grand piano, which could be played from the Allen via a midi
connection. Between these was the Hammond B3, the same one we rented last year
and which was being used today for the Ken Griffin Dedication. On the right of
the Allen was an equally fine two rank Allen. Down each side of the room were
numerous Allen church type organs. However also spotted in the back row was a
classical Conn and early Hammond.
The seating was arranged in
the center of these magnificent instruments and what better place to perform a
Dedication Show to Ken Griffin. It was standing room only by time the 80 or so
of an audience arrived, with people sitting on every available organ bench
around the show room.
The Dedication show began
with Andy Antonczyk playing Ken's
“Kringle's Jingle” on the Allen George Wright Signature organ, and a fine
job he made.
Andy Antonczyk at the Allen George Wright
Signature organ (Available light shots)
He then introduced Kurt
Armsden (at the Hammond B3), who began with great gusto with a very early
Ken number, “Redwing”, a fast bouncy number that left no doubt that we
were here to pay tribute to Ken Griffin. This was followed by “Have You
Heard”, another great favourite and virtually note for note to the record.
Kurt then introduced Sally
White who kindly gave a talk on her memories of Ken. From when they first
met to the last time she saw him alive. Kurt also asked Sally a number of
questions. She gave a very moving report and deserves our gratitude for
handling this so well, albeit at times she became rather emotional at all the
memories which came flooding back as she spoke, but she made a strong stand
and completed the talk by thanking all of us who continue to remember Ken and
still listen to his music.
Kurt was joined by Eric
Larson for Love Letters In The Sand, where Eric had set the Hammond to sound
like a Wurlitzer electrostatic organ, which Ken used for this recording. With Kurt playing the main melody, Eric
used the pedal synthesizer and Yamaha keyboard to imitate Ken's left-hand
accompaniment chords and his right-hand 'brassing chords. The Hammond
performed this task well, considering a Wurlitzer electrostatic wasn't
available for the event.
This dual performance proves just
how difficult it must have been back in the 50's for Ken to produce these
overdubbed recordings, simply using reel-reel recorders. We take
computerization and digital sound processors so much for granted today, but it
was pure belt & braces work back then.
Kurt then played
“Humoresque”, again with great feeling and so very close to Ken's
arrangement and concluded with my favourite of favourites “Hi-Li-li, Hi
Lo”. This is a very fast number which anyone trying to play like Ken will
agree is very difficult indeed, but again Kurt got it off note by note. It's
incredible how close to Ken's original recordings that Kurt manages to get to
and the applause was well deserved.
Chicago19thOct03.JPG)
Kurt at Andy's 3 Manual Allen Organ
Lee Moloney
next gave a very fine performance at the
Allan George
Wright 4-manual Renaissance Theatre.
Countryside18thOct03.JPG)
Lee Moloney at the Steinway
Interval
(20 minutes)
Once
again Andy's mother, Pat, did a nice job of greeting people at the door and
supplying most of the refreshments, for which we give a big thank you. However
a number of the Chicago Organ Group brought along packages of food, which
added to the nice turnout, which I am sure everyone appreciated.
Frank
Pugno, at the Hammond B3, started the
second half off with a delightful arrangement of Ken's “Do You Ever Think Of
Me” and “Ballad To A Lovely Lady”, one of Sally’s favourites. This was
followed with an excellent performance of “Barcarolle”, exactly as Ken
recorded it, with Eric playing the xylophone and bell trills on the electronic Yamaha keyboard. I learned from this that Ken actually fingered those bell sounds! I
had always thought that they were produced from a pre-set.
Next
Frank gave an arrangement of “Golden Sails” that you would be unable to
tell the difference from Ken playing it himself. He played the number fully as
Ken. On a personal note, I appreciated Frank making mention that he hadn't
heard this tune until I sent him a copy in an mp3 format. It says much that he
has since managed to get the tune and the 'Griffin Sound' off so well.
“Forget Me Not” was a new one to me but it turned
out to be one of those really cute little tunes that are simply entertaining.
This was followed with
another close-as-it-gets playing of “Auf Weiderseh'n, Sweetheart” that you
are ever likely to hear and not tell the difference from Ken's recording.
Last year Frank played, in
his own style, “Plantation Boogie”, which was a big hit with the audience
and it isn't surprising that this was requested to be played again. As Frank
explained "They threatened to cut my head off if I didn't play it this
time". It is hard to believe but I really think he played this even
better than last time. The audience was bouncing with him and to watch Frank's
footwork during the performance was quite magical and the roar of applause at
the end was richly deserved. This was one of the finest performances you will
ever see and hear of this great boogie number.
A Hammond Auto-Vari 64 rhythm unit was used to accompany Frank’s playing.
Frank then did what must be a very difficult thing for
any musician to do! Go straight from having played 'popular' organ music on a
Hammond B3, to a light classical piece, on the 2-manual, 27-stop Allen
Classical Renaissance organ. Frank gave a very beautiful arrangement of Bach's
“The Little Prelude in C Major” and once again earned the well deserved
applause.
Frank then played on the George Wright Signature IV
organ. His first song was “La
Donna e Mobile (The Woman is Fickle)” from Verdi’s opera “Rigaletto”.
For his final number, he played “We Just Couldn’t Say Good-Bye”
in typical theatre organ style.
Eric
Larson..... kicked off with “Marie”,
at the B3, with the great 'brassing', accentuation chords that made Ken so well known as an
organist. However, it was
when Eric played “You Belong To Me” that I was caught out and after a few
moments I had a job to see Eric and could almost see Ken sitting at the
Hammond. This was one of the most moving moments of the performance, for me,
note for note and the exact Hammond sound couldn't help but create a mental
image of Ken himself at the keyboards. This is what makes it so very rewarding
having got our little group of organists together and to make this dedication
to Ken. Anyone who knows this recording must have shared my thoughts that it
was so close you couldn't tell the difference.
Eric was next accompanied by
Frank for the amusing arrangement of Ain't She Sweet, where, with Frank at
the Hammond B3 playing the main melody, Eric created the 'Cutting Air' sounds
on the pedal synthesizer and the piano sounds on the Yamaha keyboard..
Eric then went to the Allen George Wright Signature
organ to play September In The Rain, which was followed by “Cabaret”. This mighty theatre organ can blast you off your
feet but when Eric sat at the keys he made the organ sing so sweetly that you
would swear that it was a different organ altogether. Eric has a very fine
touch at the keyboard and can make you tap your feet, or feel like getting up
to boogie or, as in this case, feel that you are listening to a great concert
organist.
For the finale, with Kurt on Hammond, Eric On George
Wright Allen, Andy on Allen, Frank on Allen 311 Theatre Renaissance and Lee on
the Steinway, we had a wall of organ sound for Ken's “You Can't Be True,
Dear”. However this was so well received that it was decided to give another
collective round for “Ain't She Sweet” that nothing better could have
followed and concluded another fine dedication show that I am sure would have
pleased Ken very much.
Eric at the Allen George Wright Signature and at the Hammond B3
The
show was brought to a close with Andy thanking everyone for a great performance.
Next Dennis Scott, the President of the Chicago Theatre Organ Society gave his
thanks and described his enjoyment of all the organist's performances and then
gave out details of the next meeting of the CTOS. It is good to know that such a
group exist and hold regular (monthly) meetings and are so enthusiastic about
all forms of organ music.
================================
23rdOct03.JPG)
Eric, Sally, Andy, Kurt and Bill at
Andy's Home.
Frank
Pugno, who didn't manage to join us
The portrait on the sheet music (far left) is of Ken,
on that evening at Andy's
home.
for his
arrangement of Beautiful Wisconsin.
Joy Collins at the Allen Protégé Theatre Compact Organ
Our Special thanks go to Joy
Collins, the owner of The Beautiful Sound for her kindness in allowing us to
hold the Dedication Show at the venue, and of course, to Lee Moloney for his
assistance and support.
I can't conclude this report
without
giving our thanks to Andy Antonczyk for the time and all the organising he put
into this great two hours of entertainment.
============================
N.B. It wasn't
suitable to take pictures during this year's performance due to the different
layout at the Showroom, which would have meant continually getting in front of
the audience. Most of the above pictures were taken on the Friday & Saturday
prior to the Dedication Show, or at Andy's Home. This does allow us to see
everyone who took part.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO EXPRESS YOUR THOUGHTS AND SHARE
ANY
PHOTOGRAPHS YOU MAY HAVE TAKEN DURING THE GATHERING PLEASE DO PASS THEM ON SO THEY
MAY BE ADDED TO AND RECORDED ON THESE PAGES.
Digital Photo's by
Bill Reid.
AFTER
THE SHOW
Again,
thanks to Andy's planning, a gathering was arranged at a nearby hotel
restaurant, where around 30 of us enjoyed a nice meal and shared some friendly
chat. All from the Ken Griffin Organ Society attended and the remainder was made
up of members and officials of the Beautiful Sound and The Chicago Theatre Organ
Organ Society. It was also nice too to meet Brian Wessel again, who missed most
of the show but managed to attend the meal. It turned into a great party and I am sure everyone enjoyed
themselves. This was an excellent conclusion to a really nice day.
Between
the clearing up and this gathering Sally and I managed to visit Ken's grave out
at Oswego. With thanks to Bob Potts and his wife Cindy who kindly drove us out
to Aurora and back to Countryside. You can see this report and photos in link 16 on the Home Page.
We enjoyed our chat with Bob who is very knowledgeable about Ken's and his recordings.
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18thOct03.JPG)
