Search - Korla Pandit :: Odyssey: Exotic East / Latin Holiday

Great sounds recorded perfectly - but taste, technique...?

Steven Strauss | Oakland, CA USA | 11/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Kinder commentators would just say Korla Pandit was truly intuitive in his approach to the organ. Even in Pandit's heyday, accomplished ensemble musicians (even adjusting for divergent taste) decried his sloppy technique and his inconsistent control of tempo. One can't help noticing that these criticisms are well-founded (Tale of the Underwater Worshippers in particular goes fast and slow, enough to make you dizzy, and it sounds entirely unintentional), but this album made me insanely happy, just from the big, over the top emotional quality and the rich sounds of the theatre organ, recorded in a very natural early stereo. (Pretty good date music, too, if your date can get that far out.) No one with impeccable taste ever went for Korla Pandit, but those folks don't go for a lot of stuff that gets me. ("That was real good. Now play me something I dig." -Miles Davis) Some parts of the more melodic second half of the CD can sound a little like music from the mechanical organ at the carousel (except for the tempos, as I say), but it's pretty doggone charming. If this record doesn't make you smile, you're too serious for me."

Mysterious & Fun

R. Williams | Philadelphia, Pa. United States | 07/13/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can see how Ray Manzorack (spl?) of the "Doors" was infuenced by this Organist. He exudes the same mystery from the organ keyboards. This CD is the combination of two of Korla Pandits ealier vinyl albums. It isn't just another organists music, it's meditative at times and mysterious at others. Some of the tracks are reminiscent of theater organs during the silent film era. Super."

A fair selection from the genie of the [organ] keys

theatre organ afficionado | spanaway, washington | 01/11/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The late Korla Pandit [neé John Roland Redd, b. 1922, d. 1998] was known as the "Genie of the keys" because he was among the most fleet-fingered and versatile of keyboardists [Hammond B-3, Piano, Theatrical Pipe Organ] as well as the fact of his far-eastern public performance persona. Mr. Pandit was unique in that he recorded the Theatrical Pipe Organ with prominent use of the Percussion Traps section, so that instead of a dry organ performance it sounded more like a percussive ensemble performance of multiple players, courtesy the magic of the keyboard trap linkage of the "Unit Orchestra," as these organs were called back in the days of silent movie accompaniment. Anyways, eight of the tunes on this disc are ethereally eastern-inflected, the other dozen are more popular in the style of pizza parlor-type favorites, including "Granada," "Besame Mucho," "Joyful Tango," and several similar selections. I recommend this disc for all Theatrical Pipe Organ enthusiasts, such as myself."