John Duffy Autumn Leaves Theater Pipe Organ LP

[@Yury1957]

Lovely Hammond! Romance...

[@TheMoonBoy7]

That reverb is awesome. Was it form the organ/speaker or a studio effect?

[@paulj0557tonehead]

+TheMoonDuster It's undoubtedly the theater where the organ is at, the pipe chamber playing out into an empty theater, which is giving the lush reverberation. Then the mics are probably a nice pair of studio tube mics from the 1950's-60's era that made the best Neumann U47 tube condenser mics for recording. These vintage mics are still in demand today and are bringing as much as $17,000 each! Here is what they look like in case you happen upon one at a yard sale ( you wish)- www.gearslutz.com/board/neumann/u-47-g1389/ ! These mics are being re-issued today for their superior tone and still are in the thousands of dollars even for reissues. Before vacuum tubes were manufactured again in Russia and China people paid over $1,000 just for the small vacuum tube for a U47. The big majestic silent movie theaters ( like the Ohio Theater here in Columbus Ohio) have STEREO pipe chambers. That is, there is a pipe chamber located on the LEFT and the RIGHT of the theater ( usually up high and to the sides of the seating. Because VOLUME on a THEATER PIPE ORGAN is controlled by LOUVERED SHUTTERS see this 31 second video of exactly how they operate- kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3nJm358bteid7c . In a theater organ, or any pipe organ air is kept at a constant pressure EXCEPT for the quivering TREMULENT bellows which rapidly oscillate the pressure for the lush vibrato+tremolo effect used on the TIBIA CLAUSA and VOX HUMANA pipes. Raising the pressure raises the pitch of the pipe and lowering pressure lowers it, this is why the tremulent works. Besides this effect the pipe pressure must be exactly the same, a pressure regulator does this. So in other words the shutters are the only way to control volume expression. Note in the video how some of the shutters open and close independent of the others. this is because in the pipe chamber the pipes are set up in rows ( like in a corn field). The BRASS PIPES ( called REED voicing, as there are 4 voice groups in a theater organ- TIBIA ( or flute),DIAPASON ( organ's ONLY unique voice, that is, the only voice the organ hasn't borrowed from another instrument group), STRINGS, and REED ( or woodwind instruments, which for the theater organ REEDS also includes Brass- ie. trumpet) DON LESLIE, inventor of the LESLIE ROTATING THEATER SPEAKER, was also a theater organ buff. He reasoned that if he placed a rotating baffle over the speaker, where a portion of the sound was directed in a small portion of the baffle ( drum baffle for LOW speaker cone, and horn baffle for HIGH speaker) and spun around the room it would imitate the theater tremulent exactly because of the DOPPLER EFFECT ( or FM- FREQUENCY MODULATION), and the the fact that the to and fro directed rotation of the sound raises and lowers the volume as well (AM- AMPLITUDE MODULATION). The fact that in 1941 when Don invented the speaker only the Hammond Organ was available to the masses meant players were first exposed to the effect on a Hammond organ. It being an ALL FLUTE organ made it ideal for such a speaker (remember the theater tremulent works with FLUTE pipes). The Hammond organ+ Leslie sound became, and still is THE sound of organ players. Although for theater organ playing it is best to also have REED,STRING, and DIAPASON pipe voices as well, it means that ultimately, to achieve Don Leslie's original intentions one would put a Leslie ( as they are called) on just the TIBIA (aka Flute) section of an ELECTRONIC THEATER ORGAN (ETO). In 1961 DON LESLIE did just that when he teamed up with electronic organ engineer DICK PETERSON of GULBRANSEN to create the LESLIE ISOMONIC SPEAKER SYSTEM for the VERY FIRST SUCCESSFUL, SPECIFIC FOR- ELECTRONIC THEATER ORGAN PLAYING, GULBRANSEN RIALTO-K ELECTRONIC THEATER ORGAN (ETO). The RIALTO K was so successful that CONN, ALLEN, RODGERS, and WURLITZER even got in the game beginning in around 64'. It's ironic that WURLITZER got in the game later ( 1966) with their 4520 ELECTRONIC THEATER ORGAN being the first 'horseshoe' shaped cabinet, mimicking the Gulbransen, which copied the original- THE GREAT WURLITZER THEATER PIPE ORGAN of the 20's and 30's as invented by ROBERT HOPE JONES for Wurlitzer. When WWII began Wurlitzer's organ plant had to be retooled to make bombs of all things. They built no more theater organs, but did in 1946 begin offering the great WURLITZER ELECTROSTATIC REED ORGAN until 1961, when because of it's exceptional build quality and exceptional tone and performance, it proved to be too expensive to compete with the transistor models hitting the market ( like the Rialto K incidentally). So Wurlitzer offered all-tube models between 62' -63'. In 64' they came out with the greath WURLITZER all-transistor 4500 console organ. IT was REALLY their 1st ETO, but Wurlitzer put it in a straight cabinet and didn't call it that. the success was phenomenal for the 4500 ( and 4300 spinet) so they came out with the 4520 horseshoe WURLITZER ELECTRONIC THEATER ORGAN in 1966. For a true WURLITZER TIBIA CLAUSA theater sound like Jesse Crawford played nothing beats the 4520. So in the end they win out IMO. I have several organs that can play EXCELLENT as theater organs which were not called theater organs per say- My 1970 HAMMOND X66, and my 1958 CONN all-tube 815-CLASSIC model. George Wright played this model in 1958 on the record- GEORGE WRIGHT PLAYS THE CONN ELECTRONIC ORGAN (on KZbin by the way). To hear the Wurlitzer 4520 listen to (youtube search) DICK SMITH + WURLITZER 4520 ORGAN. Enjoy-Paul paulj0557 Many organ videos and uploads on my channel btw:)

[@MusicBlinded51]

Hi Paul, thank you for uploading this! On which theater pipe organ this songs were played? Such a soft sound.Great! Best wishes, William.

[@dougcarlson1319]

Please Upload "Johnny Duffy at the Magnificent Theater Pipe Organ An Excursion In Hi-Fi". Joseph Kearns (Best remembered for his role as George Wilson ("Mr. Wilson") in the CBS television series Dennis the Menace from 1959 until his death in 1962.) bought the large 26 rank Wurlizter organ that had been designed for Warner Brothers in 1929. He then designed and built a soundproof 2-1/2 story 5 level home around the organ. It was Joseph Kearns Theater Organ that Johnny Duffy played on the LP I mention.

[@paulj0557tonehead]

Thanks for the comment and story. I love Duffy's playing , as I'm listening the Autum Leaves album again as I type. Unfortunately I don't have any other John Duffy records, but I have over 100 more organ records I will post soon. I haven't uploaded a record in 5 or 6 years! I also have a rare and unique C' QATRON (seekatron, or sequ'tron as in sequence) STEREO-48, a 12 tape 8-track tape carousel rotating automatic player. I uploaded two videos of it playing tapes already if you look at my video uploads on my channel. I've recently changed the dual belts and cleaned/adj tape head and set azimuth. I have several dozen 8-track tapes I want to upload. since the Qatron plays 12 tapes I might do a long marathon post. Some are organ 8-tracks anyway.

[@paulj0557tonehead]

www.discogs.com/Johnny-Duffy-An-Excursion-In-Hi-Fi/release/8279180

[@paulj0557tonehead]

www.discogs.com/Johnny-Duffy-An-Excursion-In-Hi-Fi/release/8279180

[@ogrebattle22763]

Paul where is John Duffy from?

[@paulj0557tonehead]

ogrebattle22763 No clue really, but these guys might know ( I did try to find his obituary...) , but then looked here briefly ( maybe you can find, or request)- www.atos.org/where-are-theatre-organs-today

[@healthhub6623]

+paulj0557 Thank you for honoring his memory and music. Johnny passed at age 55 in 1972, living in California. I really appreciate hearing his music in this format.

[@paulj0557tonehead]

Health Hub You are very welcome and thanks for the info. This really is a special album that I put right next to my favorite- ORGAN MOODS JOHN WINTERS AT THE MIGHTY WURLITZER ORGAN [but it's really a CONN Classic or Artist ( vacuum tube organs) ]. I love these old organ albums. It doesn't get any better IMO!

[@ogrebattle22763]

@Tracijeff Madduxwhitmire Thank you.....

[@KH-sx1xv]

@Tracijeff Madduxwhitmire I'm a relative too...I think he was my grandmother's cousin. Yeh, he was born in Scotland. I imagine lots of distant relatives both in Scotland and the US.