Well I love how Jelani combines traditional phrasing with modern, more complex and elaborate arrangements and chord voicings/progressions. This is as good as it gets: so full of emotion, so huge sounding, at the same time honoring the grand theatre organ masters of the past. Jelani is the best!
Absolutely! It helps that the pipe ranks of this particular organ are magnificent. It still takes an ace virtuoso performer such as Jelani to come up with such a fantastic version, with all the voicings, timbres/registrations and dynamics (swell, second touch......) in place to make the magic happen. Jelani definitely is the very best theatre organist alive today. Why isn't he a "star"????
Totally awesome! This organ is beautifully in tune and the pipe ranks sound fantastic - but this means nothing if not played by an ace theatre organist like Jelani. I am so happy knowing hat this art has not been lost. Jelany essentially plays authentic theatre organ style, but he throws in some modern jazz voicings (like upper structure major triads) just at the right places, same like virtuoso gospel Hammond players. What would life be without such awesome music? It's a slice of Heaven.
This is probably my all-time favorite. I wish I could have been there to experience it in person. The ending must have shook the place. Awesome instrument and musician!
I love the body language too on this fine arrangement. Wonderful control of a magnificent organ! I don't know how anyone could not like this performance!
A great lesson for people that think a click track and clockwork tempo is the ultimate quest. Sweet and expressive arrangement without being cloying. Jelani is continuing the traditions of this unique art form without becoming a museum. Bravo.
Excellent performance! How great it is to hear music with this dignity, this grandeur! I heard quite a bit of music like this as a child also, from records my folks had. So your songs also bring back dear memories of a simpler, more virtuous and less hectic era, when music was more commendable.
Who wouldn't want to "go to church" at this place?!?!? Wow! How blessed they are. Hope they have an organist who is worthy of this instrument and understands it and is capable of bringing out the rich variety of voices and registrations. Beautiful instrument!
This is an absolutely magnificent performance! I remember watching 'The Wizard of Oz' as a lad, and how beautiful the song was, and Jelani captures the memory of those times in this emotion-filled performance...gave me goosebumps! Thank-you so much!
Holy s__t! Such an amazing choice of voices, registrations, and dynamics and musicianship rolled into one performance! I think this is absolute musical genius at work. The last minute or so of this piece takes my breath away.
I agree with everyone below, this is a totally outstanding arrangement, just beautifully played and registered. Magnificent finish as well!!! Thanks so much for sharing... Bermuda.
Wow! Everything is beautiful... the sound... the melody... the arrangement... the playing... just everything. As if the song is really meant to be played for this organ.
Jelani is the "real deal" - Absolutely amazing in his skill and execution! Perfect tonal shadings...spot on tempos, and, lightning quick stop changes. He epitomizes everything a theater organist should be!
I've been into theater organ for 25 years now, and shame on me for not hearing Jelani's music sooner than this. Jelani, they don't call you one of the all-time greats for nothing!
Tastey. In fact rich, filling, thoroughly nutritious for the heart & mind, in the best of ways. Wonderful musicianship. Wonderful. Bravo. And thank you.
I just love it ALL!! Thanks for sharing and please do some more - I like the way you get dresed up for the event!! :) Would love to hear you pulling out all the stops ans letting it rip!!
I saw Jelani Eddington playing in Toronto on the Casa Loma Wurlitzer. Man could he make that instrument sit up and sing, just like he is doing in this video. He is one great master of the Theatre Organs.
Theater organs are one of the most versatile musical instruments. they are built on a different tonal platform than the traditional classical organ. focusing on more orchestral sounds that you would find in a typical orchestra. including real drums and cymbals. this type of organ can be credited to an English organ builder by the name of Robert hope Jones at the turn of the last century. truly a versatile man. look him up hes fascinating to read about
I really enjoyed the Vegas MGM prior to its remodelling as it had a Wizard of Oz theme with art deco green. The church in which I grew up built a new fellowship hall around the late 1930's. It incorporated some elements of the emerald city. It had a stage and proscenium, backstage, dressing rooms, and lighting. For a Baptist church in 1930 this was really innovative. To this day I cannot enter that hall without thinking of Wizard of Oz.
OMFG! Whenever I heard such music I thought it was played by a group of people, not just one man on one instrument! Hail the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, and everyone who has ever played on such an instrument.
I would absolutely love to hear you play Pure Imagination! Your skills are amazing, I still remember attending your performance at Stephenson High School on the Page Pipe Organ that my father had donated to the American Theater Organ Society. You played Phantom of the Opera then, and I would love to see that make an appearance on your channel as well!
I am not sure if Over the Rainbow is the right choice to be played on the theatre pipe organ but this Jelani Eddington certainly knows the difference between his instrument and the church pipe organ. I've noticed most theatre organ players on RU-vid play it tutti and fortissimo from the beginning to the end.
Fabulous!!! I would love to know how exactly some of the sounds are generated. Some combinations sound very similar to strings and choir. The vibrato and throaty wind sound definitely has to do with it. There seem to be also almost all important traditional pipe organ sounds covered. Definitely early 20th century magic. Fantastic playing!
Love the tone of this organ. Don't see why we draw such a line between church and theatre organs. (We can generally do without the kitchenware!) This one does the job beautifully - in Jelani's great hands of course! Second only to Australia's Tony Fenelon!
Today’s trend is to junk the organ and go rock band. So it’s nice to see one that bucks the trend. I know know 3 unemployed former pianists/organists. Thankfully it was a weekend job only.
Beautiful! I love your artistry and this original arrangement! Too bad no one else plays the first part. Do any of your CDs have this recording-I would love to buy it! Thanks Jelani!!
was this organ built or rebuilt because i dont hear the pneumatic combination action... anyone got stats on this organ? thanks .. And this song always makes me cry ... even in the movie... and done on the theater organ growing up around the organs of Detroit, ive heard this many many times ... jelani is one of the best. Brilliant organist.
Daniel Madera Only the pitch, and extremer for the higher frequencies than the lower, thus it can bring an organ out of tune. But the sound colors / voicing stay the same.
Thank you for your reply. I may order this book, but the one I really want will be the one with Somewhere Over The Rainbow included. Or, if the sheet music is available, I would like to purchase it. Thanks. Keep up the good work. I am an organist, and I really love the Theatre Pipe Organ, although I don't ever get to play one.
Not a bad rendition of this Harold Arlen/E. Y. Harburg show tune; makes one wonder how it'd sound on the Austin organ at Balboa Park, San Diego, CA, USA - a hybrid pipe organ with orchestral Choir, Swell and Solo and classical Great and Pedal.
Are you referring to adjustments (reacting with the volume pedal to volume changes when switching registrations - because pipes only speak with a fixed wind pressure (=volume) so the vertical shutters do the volume/expression) or exaggeranted expression such as crescendi /decrescendi as part of the performance? There is a huge difference. I only play the Hammond, but I know a little bit about that. I think Jelani does it perfectly.
I wasn't thinking about anything technical. I was just thinking that sometimes it would get too quiet or too loud rather than staying more in the middle. If its louder or quieter, that's what I understand to be a volume adjustment, regardless of any technical way it's done. And when that's the concern, then the "how it's done" doesn't matter, as long as it can still be controlled. Happy Independence Day (USA)! Mike
O.K. So you think Jelani exaggerated on the volume changes. That's a legitimate opinion and I respect that. Sorry if I went into technical detail - I didn't mean to be lecturing or anything. I'm located in Europe, no Independence Day here. But: Happy Independence Day for y'all in the US! :-D
Well actually, aren't there any nations there in Europe who *did* become independent from someone? I know that the people in Great Britain or England or at least *some* part of the UK didn't have to become independent from anybody, but that *we* became independent from *them*! Thanks for the greeting! So weren't there any European countries that did become independent from someone? Yeah, this is definitely a great organist all right, but during the quiet areas I turned my volume up, and then that made it so that when he played loudly again, my volume was turned up too loud. Hopefully he'll play this again for us without so much swing. Having a good dynamic range is nice as long as it isn't *too* much, so that the lower volumes sound somewhat like dropouts. Haha. And even though you asked me if I was referring to such-and-such a thing regarding volume, as if it mattered that properly played pipes only have one good volume while the adjustments we're hearing are from shutters (almost as if the word "volume" couldn't be referring to that effect too), I can still appreciate getting some of the technical information, because I am interested in that kind of information too (but just in a separately delivered situation where more detail would be expected, so thanks for your little follow-up here). Have a nice day, and again, thanks for the Independence-Day greeting for us here! A parade just got done not terribly long ago, and now in a bit I'll be doing some other little patriotic activities, and then in several hours, a fireworks show! Mike
Hey :-) as I said, I didn't mean to bring in unnecessary tech details, which might be more confusing than helpful. :-) About inependence in Europe: Oh that's a very long story. In fact it's so complicated (Greeks, Roman Empire, Arabs occupying and bringing their culture in to Continantral Europe during 600 years, exaggerated patriotism leading to horrible conflicts. Constant changing of boarders (Germany is basically still a small version of "United States"), colonization, wars over there resulting in their independence. I know quite a bit about Europe«s history - and it still is just a tiny fraction. Been to the US four times - love it! Cheers!
