The most exhilarating and mesmerizing experience I can ever recall from watching live music, was watching and listening to a friend of mine perform who was a wild man on organ. Before I go into that, I have to explain why it was such an incredible experience.
I compare that experience to riding on an old rickety wooden roller coaster because I experienced the same emotions (excluding the fear); I was mesmerized, which is a combination of hypnotized and exhilarated. No recording can compare to being close to a wild man on a Hammond B3; the dynamic range is so wide, that only a reel to reel tape could even come close to duplicating it, plus the frequency range goes beyond audibility, but when you're right there, you can hear sounds that seem to emanate from close to your ear, like a ringing maybe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy8dZEpEYrAJimmy Smith is the closest I can come to duplicating this experience. This is the first time I've even attempted to describe that experience because that music was not recorded, and I can't post a link so that you don't have to take my word for what I'm telling you, but this time you will have to take my word for a most incredible experience that I was fortunate enough to enjoy many times, and each time seemed like the first time.
This "wild man on organ" was a close friend of mine and I drove him to his gigs, that allowed me to witness his performance many times, and each time was so different that it seemed like the first time every time; can you imagine Charlie "Bird" Parker on Hammond B3 organ; my man could play notes on the organ as fast as Bird on alto sax, and they would all be clear, articulate and musical; none of this wild "free jazz stuff"; pure music, the same as "Bird". Improvisatory hard bop is what it was, and after word got around that he was in town, the joint was always packed.
St. Louis was a kind of town with a demand, but no supply; the demand was for improvisatory hard bop, but there was no supply, so when word got around that it was in town, the clubs were packed where ever he played.
He played the biggest stage in St. Louis, that was the 4th of July St. Louis Fair and got a grand write up, that's the only historical black and white evidence that what I'm telling you even occurred, which is why I've hesitated in telling you.
If you can imagine Jimmy Smith playing a little wilder and faster, you'll get an idea of what I was listening to.
I was always seated close enough to where I could see the expressions on his face change as he played; they went from grotesque, to pure ecstasy when he hit a note just right that sounded so good to him that he closed his eyes; I was experiencing the same emotions.
This is the closest I can find to duplicating what I was listening to;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gobKu4UlxSANow that I reflect on it, that was the grandest Summer of my existence.
