Tommy Gearhart. TOMMY GEARHART. Even the rhythm of his name has an air of sophistication. It's easy to imagine the statuesque Mr. Gearhart in the background of every black and white photo of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. swirling a martini, tie undone after a long night of giving the Bellagio all he's got. If you've heard Tommy's velvety tunes, at Vernon's for instance, then you know this guy means business. Old school business. He's a man about town, a go-getter, a hep cat and that's a fact. What you may not know about Tommy is that he's the guy next door. He's a Mid-Western fellow from Toledo, Ohio-- he's married with kids. He works hard. He's dedicated to the things that matter to him. Tommy is so dedicated to the eradication of Mulitiple Sclerosis that Tommy is nearly single-handedly presenting HEALING, HARMONY, & HEART a benefit concert in September featuring his mentor and 7-time Grammy award winning jazz legend, Jon Hendricks, along with his good friend, concert pianist, Awadagin Pratt because someone had to do it.
When Tommy says he's going to do something, he does it, and he does it big, even if that means dragging a hulking Hammond organ to your house. When we sat down to talk to Tommy about his upcoming gig at Jazz Under the Stars, he made us promise to get it straight and tell it all-- it's gonna take two blog entries, but Tommy, we won't let you down. Here, Tommy talks about the band, the Hammond B3 and his life-time love of the instrument.
[TG]
Please emphasize the importance and my great appreciation and collaboration with the musicians on this project, along with giving a shout-out to my longtime bassist, Dan Spanogle and drummer David Edwards, who are outstanding local jazz musicians and friends.
[MJ]
Sure thing. Tell us about the band.
[TG]
The band is Tony Cesarano on guitar, Steve Figueora on Hammond Organ, Chase Ellison on drums. "It's a pretty diverse band-- age, experience, approach-- it makes it unique. Tony is my primary collaborator. He grew up in the Bronx jazz scene. He just has an infinite sense of harmony. And, Bobby Shew just signed on to play with us-- we just had a smokin' rehearsal the other night!
[MJ]
Why the Hammond Organ for this project?
[TG]
I was a jazz drummer, sitting in and listening to some great organ players. It's the instrument that most articulates the sound of the blues within the context of jazz and how complicated it gets--that's the Hammond B3 organ.
[MJ]
So let me ask you this-- what has to go into the organ? What gets drawn from the fingers and the mind into that sound? Because when you hear that organ it conjures up an idea, you know, and you know exactly where to go to have that experience, that memory. How do you put that into the instrument?
[TG]
Well, Steve Figeruoa is the most soulful guy living here, and he's an amazingly competent jazz musician.
You listen to him. He was saying once that he was playing at the Telluride Jazz Festival when Clark Terry the famous jazz trumpeter sat in with the band. And, in the middle of his solo he looks back at Steve and says, "Maaaan, you sound like you been eatin' chitlin's!" And so that'll let you know about Steve. Steve said, "Well, I've been eating some menudo." He [Steve ] said that was one of the greatest compliments he's ever had as a player, because he does sound like he understands this music at the highest level.
[MJ]
Tell us more.
[TG]
When I started this project, I told Steve, "Be at my house tomorrow with your pick-up truck." He said oh what are you talkin about, Tommy. I said, I WANT YOU TO MEET ME AT MY HOUSE WITH YOUR PICK-UP TRUCK TOMORROW, you can ask Steve about this. He shows up with the pick-up truck, he doesn't know what the hell's going on. . . oh no, here goes Tommy, again. You know what we did? We loaded my A100 which is mostly the same as the Hammond B3, into his truck, drove it to his house and put it at the end of his bed. He's been playing it for about four, five, six hours a day. Not that he's not a great pianist. But being a pianist just doesn't translate to the organ. It's a whole 'nother level.
[MJ]
It's different than playing the piano.
[TG] I mean, we're listening to John Patten right now [in his studo]. [Hammond B3] is one of the first synthesized instruments made to recreate the sound of an enormous, monstrous pip organ. I've listened to Steve talk about his hardships in learning to play this instrument. I mean, with a piano you can barely hit it, you can control that dynamic, press it down and let up-- [the sound] decays. With the organ, when your finger comes up it's over, it's DONE. There's no sustain on it. Then there's all these settings, designed to recreate the sound of the pipe organ-- you'll recognize a lot of these settings within jazz, from the church. You know, like this is where the preacher gets up, he's asking for money-- there's a setting for that. All those guys like Jimmy Smith talk about the settings.
Also, and this is what's beautiful, I had a conversation with Steve once-- he said if I could do it all over man, I would play the bass, and I said, "Why would you play the bass?" He said, I would just walk like Ray Brown, just BE THERE-- it's the most thankless instrument. Steve's father, was a great bassist. His name was Conrad Figueroa, you know, very famous guy in the genres that he played. Steve said, I would just be there for the band, and just do it. People don't do that anymore. So that was feeding into me-- I thought, yeah, I've got the instrument for you. You want to be a bassist? You have to be a bassist and learn to become a bassist with your left hand, when you were just used to playing chords. Steve has had to learn to be that bassist he always wanted to be, on top of all the other stuff he has to deal with, playing the Hammond. You're playing with your hands, your foot . . . it's like a marriage between being a drummer, a pianist and a trumpeter-- that's what the organ was intended to create. An orchestra. It's an incredibly soulful instrument when it's played right.
Look for PART II of this interview on Friday. And don't miss the concert on Saturday evening.
[Marya Errin Jones]
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