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 Jimmy Smith - The Sounds Of Jimmy Smith
Musician focus
Dr. Lonnie Smith quote
I really was thinking Jimmy Smith but it just always came out different
 John Patton - Accent On The Blues
Jack McDuff quote
Some people are messin’ with the drawbars so much they don’t get any playin’ done.
 Joe Dukes - The Soulful Drums
Dr. Lonnie Smith quote
I really was thinking Jimmy Smith but it just always came out different
 Lonnie Gasperini - North Beach Blues
 Gerrit Veldman
 Rasmus Stenholm - For Those About To Roll
 Lou Bennett - Blue Lou's Blues
 Gerard Gibbs & ReORGAN'YZ - Livin' & Learnin'
 Art Davis
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Van Merwijks Music Machine
An unusual line up it was indeed on friday night 23 february at the Bimhuis, Amsterdam. Carlo de Wijs on his heavily own customized Hammond B-3 organ, Konkie Halmeier playing two beautiful sounding steelpans, Roberto Vizcaino on his Cuban percussion island and the man giving the band its name, Lucas van Merwijk on drums; Van Merwijks Music Machine. That is two and a half for rhythm and one and a half for tone, a ratio I think represented also roughly the interests of the public that came in large enough numbers to have a full house.
But some people must have made the cross-over after this concert with varying proposal. There was full band swing with several influences from Cuba, the Caribbean, Calypso, jazz and a little soul jazz but also free-style drums and percussion solo's. When I say free-style I don't mean to under estimate the incredible synchronicity between Lucas van Merwijk and Roberto Vizcaino. There was a subtle steelpan solo performance by Konkie Halmeier but also several full band compositions from Carlo de Wijs with sufficient dirty organ grinding to satify the Hammond lover came along. According to Lucas van Merwijk this is the first project ever to combine a Hammond organ and steelpans on one stage. I haven't checked that assertion but I assume he's right. I like that. To me it seems like a further expansion of the succesful cooperation between the vibes and the Hammond organ that one can experience on recordings like Let 'em roll from John Patton and Organic Vibes from Joey DeFrancesco, both with Bobby Hutcherson on vibes. In the very last extra song the Hammond B-3 stopped producing sound, an inconvenience Carlo de Wijs solved professionally by improvising on the extra tiny keyboard mounted on his B-3 (see picture).
To be honest, to me the added value of the extra gear attached to the B-3 was not entirely clear. I have heard some sounds coming along that aren't possible with a "plain" one but I also would have enjoyed the concert without them. Apart from the sound, the quality of the organist Carlo de Wijs is beyond doubt. Great.
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