Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Melvin Rhyne: Boss Organ

Melvin Rhyne: Boss Organ

By Chris May
November 16, 2022
View read count

Originally released on CD on the Criss Cross label in 1993, Hammond B3 organist

Melvin Rhyne

organ, Hammond B3
1936 - 2013

" data-original-title="" title="">Melvin Rhyne's Boss Organ is issued here for the first time on vinyl. Spanish archive label Elemental, under license from Criss Cross, has repackaged it as a double LP in a gatefold sleeve on 180-gram audiophile vinyl.

It is a blinder. Not because Rhyne deals in surging, heavily amped block chords, a la

Jimmy Smith

organ, Hammond B3
1925 - 2005

" data-original-title="" title="">Jimmy Smith, but because his style is utterly unlike that, putting him in a minority of B3 players who emerged post-Smith in the late 1950s. A closer comparator to Rhyne is the guitarist

Wes Montgomery

guitar
1923 - 1968

" data-original-title="" title="">Wes Montgomery, whose single-note runs he favours, though delivered with a more percussive attack than Montgomery, who famously used thumb and fingers rather than a plectrum.

Both players grew up in Indianapolis, and Montgomery, thirteen years Rhyne's senior, recruited Rhyne for the group with which he recorded his debut, The Wes Montgomery Trio, for Riverside in 1959. Rhyne recorded several more albums with Montgomery, including Boss Guitar (Riverside, 1963). Rhyne also played on Montgomery's younger brother, vibraphonist Buddy's This Rather Than That (Impulse!, 1969).

For reasons which remain unclear, Rhyne was off the scene during the 1970s and '80s, returning at the start of the '90s and recording prolifically until he passed in 2013. On Boss Organ, he fronts a quartet completed by the tenor saxophonist

Joshua Redman

saxophone
b.1969

" data-original-title="" title="">Joshua Redman, then at the start of his recording career, the guitarist

Peter Bernstein

guitar
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Bernstein, whose style is derived from Montgomery's, right down to the parallel octaves (as per his solo on Montgomery's "Full House" here), and the drummer

Kenny Washington

drums
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">Kenny Washington.

The music, all of it covers except for Rhyne's "Hatush Blues" (check the YouTube below), is hard swinging and amiable, the band tight and everyone is in top form, including a gutsy Redman, who would make waves later in 1993 with his sophomore album, Wish (Warner Bros.).

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Hattush��s Blues; Full House; You And I; Born To Be Blue; Shades Of Light; All God��s Chillun Got Rhythm; Bear��s Tune; Jeannine.

Personnel

Melvin Rhyne

organ, Hammond B3

Joshua Redman

saxophone

Peter Bernstein

guitar

Kenny Washington

drums

Album information

Title: Boss Organ | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Elemental Music

PREVIOUS / NEXT

November 2022: Novel No?l: A Jingle...
< Previous

Le Tre Sorelle
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.