Search - Rhoda Scott :: Les Orgues De Noel

Holiday Surprise

Mark Jeffries | Chicago, IL USA | 12/08/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If I told you that this album was a Christmas record by a jazz organist, you'd probably expect a set of funky versions of standard Christmas songs and some blues. Well, American-in-Paris organist Rhoda Scott doesn't play that way, which makes her compilation of 1977 recordings (with 2 vocal/instrumental interpretations of Negro spirituals recorded in 1994) the last likely choice for your hot Christmas party-"Merry Christmas Baby" is nowhere in sight. Not that there isn't some swinging going on-particularly on most of the secular selections, including a finger-poppin' "Winter Wonderland" and a funky "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!." But except for the relatively-obscure folk song "I Wonder as I Wander," the more religious Christmas music isn't swung, but is still played beautifully by Scott (who played in a black church before switching to jazz), spotlighting her gift for arranging and orchestrating as she gets sounds out of her B-3 that most pianists-turned-organists wouldn't know where to get and with an almost-unerring sense of dynamics. The set's prime example is a gorgeous six-minute medley of traditional carols, with a Negro spiritual in the middle to give a little soul as Scott slips in the blue notes and switches her Leslie speaker into full speed. On the other hand, the one secular song that begged for a jazz treatment, "Jingle Bells," is disappointingly played more like a children's singalong. Also, although Scott's a decent singer and the two spirituals from 1994 boast some blistering sax solos from Houston Person (on all other cuts, she plays either with a drummer or unaccompanied-in a couple of cases, the drummer's playing chimes and not keeping rhythm), Scott plays the Hammond XB-3, the inferior digital replicate of the B-3, and that instrument just doesn't have the B-3 sound. If you're looking for a varied and lovely way to celebrate the holidays (and somehow, organs, whether pipe or electronic, do seem to fit), you'll enjoy this album. If you only like B-3s played hot'n'greasy, maybe Joey DeFrancesco will put out a Christmas album next year."