At Large by Daniel Formo

At Large

After having played the Hammond B3 organ for some ten years, I started feeling that there was so much more to be played and done than are usually called for in a typical Hammond environment. The organ is after all the queen of instruments, and though the B3 fits very well into the bluesy corner it traditionally occupies, I wanted to explore all of its potential uses and be able to put the whole instrument to work – the Hammond organ at large.

The Hammond organ encompasses a rather special blend of sonic history. It was conceived as a cheaper and smaller alternative to church organs, trying to mimic their pipes and registers with the electro-mechanical technology available in the 1930’s. That made it one of the first electric instruments widely used, so in addition to its legacy from the pipe organ - which is basically a mechanical assembly of woodwind instruments – the Hammond organ also pointed forward into the electronic musical realm to come with electric guitars, synthesizers and the later digital sounds of today. In fact the instrument itself embodies both the acoustic and electric sound realms, as the mechanically produced electric sine waves are translated into sound waves in the rotating Leslie speaker cabinet, which – as the big resonant wooden box it is – acts much like the sound box of an acoustic instrument. That is where the electrical contact noise and tube amplifier distortions come together with the acoustic wooden resonance and the organ’s historic heritage of flutes and pipes.

These influences spanning centuries of sound idioms and musical genres all came into play when I started pursuing the Hammond organ’s full potential – on the loose, on the run, free from its traditional role and stylistically at large.

– Daniel Formo

***

‘At Large’ is part of a triple release entitled “Hammond dialogues” by Daniel Formo, exploring improvisations on the Hammond B3 organ in solo, duo and quartet settings, giving a wholly new voice to the Hammond organ traditionally associated with blues-related genres.

The triple release consists of the following three recordings:
“At Large” – Daniel Formo, solo Hammond B3 organ;
“Organ Point” – Nils Henrik Asheim (church organ) og Daniel Formo (Hammond organ);
“Twined” – Michael Duch (double bass), Lene Grenager (cello), Bergmund Skaslien (viola) og Daniel Formo.

Daniel Formo has established himself as a stylistically innovative hammond organ player, improviser and sound artist, working as a musician, composer and researcher within a broad range of musical genres from improvised and written contemporary music, to jazz and popular genres, as well as electroacoustic music and electronic art.

danielformo.com