Intimately Live At The 501

The Best Live Hammond Organ Jazz Cd in All The History of The Organ Jazz !!!:
This is the best Live Hammond Organ Jazz record in all the History of the Jazz Organ !!!! I know what I' m telling, because I have almost all the live organ jazz CDs, from the jazz organists Will Bill Davis, Jimmy Smith, Earl Grant, Shirley Scott, Richard " Groove" Holmes, Jack McDuff, Carl Wilson, Winston Walls, Charley Earland to Joey DeFrancesco ! In comparison with the late, grate Jimmy Smith, Tony Monaco said himself : " I'll never live up to that... it's too much. Didn't they hear that I didn't quite execute that passage right! " But he was mistaken ! And if you buy and listen to this cd, you will become aware of this!!! This cd has 9 spectacular tracks performed by Tony Monaco's Trio (Hammond B-3 Organ-bass pedals & Leslie Speaker, Guitar and drums) and recorded live the 5:01on Sunday, May 26th 2002. YOU CAN NOTE THE PERSONAL, ORIGINAL AND UNIQUE PLAYNG STYLE OF TONY, ESPECIALLY LISTENING TO THE EXTRAORDINARY RENDERING OF THE TRACKS " MELLOW MOOD " (THAT IS SUBLIME) AND "THE CAT". I like the Hammond B-3 organ timbre tonality used by Tony Monaco in this record and I hope that in the future Tony will use the same organ timbre!!! With this timbre you will note and listen to the effects of the Leslie's whelling round speakers, and that is a DIVINE SOUND never listened by the other jazz organists!!!!! If you listened to the Jimmy Smith's trio live record at Harlem ( NYC) at the Small's Paradise club on November 15, 1957, with Eddie McFadden at the guitar, you'll recognize 2 tracks played by Tony Monaco :"I' Can't Give You anything but Love" and It's Only a Paper Moon". After 44 years of Organ Jazz History, we can tell that the Tony Monaco's skill at the Jazz Organ fully stands up to comparison with Jimmy Smith!!!! Personally I prefer Tony Monaco's playng style, that is sole and unique. I PREFER TONY MONACO TO JIMMY SMITH AND TO ANYONE ELSE JAZZ ORGANIST !!!!!!!!!!!!!! At the Tony Monaco's website you can listen to 2 other tracks never released from this live session: 1) Best things in life are free; 2) Clockwise; these 2 track are as excellent as this cd!!! Also you can find the DVD "Killer B3 - A tribute to the Jimmy Smith " with a Live Tony Monaco Trio. IF YOU DON'T HAVE THIS CD, I TAKE THE LIBERTY TO TELL YOU THAT YOU HAVE NOTHING ABOUT THE LIVE ORGAN JAZZ!!!!!!!! "

Tony is a blessing:
I strongly recommend this CD to all who appreciate the B3 as the most emotive of jazz instruments. Tony is a magician, bringing forth all that the B3 has to offer. His support is right there and Tony gives them room to shine. All in all, one of the best organ trio sessions I have heard in years. Great job guys! PS Come to upstate NY for a gig. You will receive a lot of support.

Interesting soul organ live date from a serious B-3 burner!:
Look out for this organist - Tony Monaco is definitely a Hammond B3 burner with serious soul- and blues organ chops and great technique, to take into account. Monaco have studied with all the organ daddies - Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Dr. Lonnie Smith, so he keeps the soul organ tradition very much alive. But does he sound too much like his organ mentors with less Monaco identity? After listening to this good 2002 trio live album - "Intimately Live at the 501" - for hours, I'm not sure where he's heading with the tunes he has chosen for this album since I have heard them by other organ masters. Monaco has balls when he jumpstarts this album with the Jimmy Smith trademark "The Cat", which swings like the late master with great support from drummer Louis Tsamous and guitarist Robert Kraut. Unfortunately he continues with Jimmy Smithy trademarks like "I'll Close My Eyes" and "Sweet Georgia Brown" which is well played but only becomes average copies of the master takes. When Monaco turns into new territories with "Takin' My Time", "Take The Coltrane" and "Footprints", he changes dramatically. Now we hear a much more daring and inventing trio with great interplay who stretches out when Monaco uses the sounds dynamics and registrations of the Hammond B-3 organ...this is serious stuff!! On this album Monaco pays (too much) tribute to Jimmy Smith (like Joey DeFrancesco on some albums), and this limits his creativity and freedom trying to match the old master, so my advice is - stay away from the the organ daddy trademark tunes and explore new territories. "Intimately Live at the 501" is an interesting live album from The Monaco Trio with superb recording quality.