The B3 and Me

Mort Weiss | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 12, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sms Jazz
• ASIN: B000I0QJPC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #307,947 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Ornithology

2. I Thought About You

3. Falling In Love With Love

4. Love Letters

5. Billy's Bounce

6. Autumn Leaves

7. Yesterdays

8. You Stepped Out Of A Dream

9. Fools Rush In

Editorial Reviews

Don Heckman, LA Times

"Mort Weiss...plays with "joy and enthusiasm".

From the Artist

"The liner notes of this CD will explain why this blurb is confusing. Concord Records will not allow me to use the name of the organist on this CD in any way to promote, publicize, or sell the CD. I can only say he is proclaimed the World's Greatest Jazz Organist, a Grammy nominee for his marvelous work on the Concord CD "Joe Doggs", a nice guy and he's Italian! Drummer Byron Landham and guitarist Craig Ebner are some of the most sought after players out of Philly. The group had just returned from a European tour to attend the NAMM Show where Hammond was introducing a new B3 named for our nameless organist. Their chops were up! Observing the session were Tony Monaco and John DeFrancesco."

Mort Weiss

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bambi Meets Godzilla, October 24, 2006

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The B3 and Me (Audio CD)

Mort Weiss is the Rip Van Winkle and Thomas Edison of jazz, a musician who dropped out of the scene and ignored his clarinet for forty years before making an incredible, possibly unprecedented comeback, then almost immediately achieved another first: complementing the diminutive woodwind with the Hammond B3 organ.

Although the real story behind "The B3 and Me" is the music on the disk itself, the peculiar history surrounding the date deserves at least some passing mention. The album was all set to go in the summer of 2003--distributors lined up, accompanying club dates and radio promotion scheduled, album art and marketing arrangements all but finalized--when Concord decided the release of Mort's album would be in competition with a CD featuring the organ star contracted to Concord. Hence, the plug was pulled on the project until, following considerable personal expense in time and money, Weiss was able to work out a deal permitting the release of "The B3 and Me" featuring "It's Him" (Joey DeFrancesco, the "Oscar Peterson of the Hammond," one of the stipulations being that neither the name nor photo of the organ star could be shown on the front cover).

So now we have the opportunity to hear Joey Defrancesco's potentially overpowering instrument with the apparently overmatched clarinet of Mort Weiss (or of any player of this comparatively neglected instrument since the days of Benny Goodman). The results aren't so much shocking as confirmation of the good judgments of both artists.

The opener, "Ornithology," is an impressive harbinger of what's to come, with B3 and clarinet in perfect sync--sonically and rhythmically. By the second tune, Van Heusen's "I Thought About You," you're addicted--to the sound of this unusual pairing but above all to the foot-tapping overall good vibes of a session that combines coordinated, empathetic playing with the loose and spontaneous feel of a blowing session.

DeFrancesco is not one of those numerous organists who limits himself to a mere one or two sounds out of the myriad possibilities available on his tonal palette. On Victor Young's "Love Letters" he pulls out all the stops, summoning up emotions ranging from soft-spoken whispers to passionate embraces, going from chamber-music intimacy to operatic-aria dramatics, then activating the Leslies and sweeping us on a rapturous glissando into the meditative, personal dynamic domain of Weiss' clarinet. It's doubtful, moreover, that any organist pumps the bass pedals with more authority, whether on the aforementioned ballad, a medium-tempo "Billy's Bounce," or a rampaging "You Stepped Out of a Dream." Translation: he swings his tail off.

Weiss' singular clarinet sound is beautifully recorded on the present CD. His tones are vintage, cured, complex--his sustained notes, especially in the mid-register, phosphorescent and alive, suggesting the playful movement of frequencies even when a single note is held. Despite an unaggressive, delayed attack, he possesses deceptive technique, perhaps not matching DeFrancesco's adventurous harmonic-melodic ideas but keeping up with him in speed.

The rhythm section is DeFrancesco's crack unit at the time. Guitarist Graig Ebner aims musical bullets with the purposeful accuracy of a Jimmy Ponder or Pat Martino. Byron Landham certainly knows how to lock in with the organist's left foot but also demonstrates a control of dynamics distinguishing him from most B3 drummers; in fact, he's one of the main reasons that DeFrancesco can scale his massive machine not only to match Weiss' overachieving miniature instrument but to achieve an expressive range of colors not normally associated with the B3--at least as it is commonly played. But then again, there's little about this extraordinary session that's "common."

4.0 out of 5 stars Odd couple: B3 and clarinet, December 28, 2008

By 

Marc Davis (Virginia Beach, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The B3 and Me (Audio CD)

On its face, pairing a Hammond B3 organ and clarinet on a jazz album makes about as much sense as eating a peanut butter and vinegar sandwich.

And then again, maybe it's not so bad.

Last year, a local jazz DJ played a cut from a CD that caught my attention. The CD was called "The B3 and Me" and it was by an unknown (to me) clarinetist named Mort Weiss, paired with organist Joey DeFrancesco. It was released in 2006.

Now, I'm a big fan of the B3. I have quite a few Jimmy Smith albums. I also like Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff and Shirley Scott. At the same time, I enjoy wild klezmer clarinets and even Benny Goodman's big band. So I bought the strange B3-clarinet CD.

And surprise -- it's good fun.

For the most part, this is a traditional B3 trio, with organ, guitar and drums. Most of the music would be familiar to Jimmy Smith fans. But in every song where a soulful sax might take the spotlight, there's a clarinet instead. It fits.

The music is mostly bebop, swing and ballads, and it is very fine. I particularly enjoy Craig Ebner's taseful guitar. It goes without saying that DeFrancesco is terrific. If you like the B3, he's the guy to watch these days.

Oddly enough, DeFrancesco isn't credited on the cover or anywhere else in the liner notes. Something about a dispute with his label. But it's not like the producer tried to hide him. The CD cover states, "FEATURING A VERY SPECIAL GUEST: The Finest Jazz Organist in the World, Concord Recording Artist... You Guessed It."

OK, that's not very subtle. But anyway, if you like B3 combos, this is one to try.

5.0 out of 5 stars Groundbreaking!, February 8, 2007

By 

Swing King (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The B3 and Me (Audio CD)

This album is as invigorating and juicy as it is groundbreaking. The uninitiated may believe there is nothing remarkable about a quartet of players jamming together on a Hammond B3 organ, clarinet, guitar and drums together. It sounds so likely, albeit a touch contradictory, that the organ and clarinet should have accompanied one another sometime before this date! Well, it had happened before. That was on Weiss's previous album with organist Joey Defrancesco on the SMS Jazz label titled the "Mort Weiss Quartet".

The music on here is one walloping soul-swinging bebop sound, entirely agreeable to your ears. For Weiss to have been absent from the music scene for 40 some odd years is mind-boggling. Jazz clarinet is a tough instrument to master, and Weiss left it shelved for 40 years only to return on the scene as if he'd never missed a day of practice. This album is a remarkable feat. If Sidney Bechet were to have jammed with Jimmy Smith, the result may have sounded a bit like this.

Weiss and Defrancesco are accompanied on this recording by Craig Ebner on guitar and Byron Landham on drums, both men providing muscular rhythms throughout these tracks. This is a robust album that gets played often at my house. Buying this album is a piece of cake. Unearthing the title is the hard part. Enjoy!