# Melvin Rhyne

Melvin Rhyne (October 12, 1936 – March 5, 2013), was a jazz organist best known for his work with Wes Montgomery.

## Biography

Melvin Rhyne was born in Indianapolis in 1936 and started playing the piano shortly after. At 19 years old, Rhyne started playing piano with then-unknown tenor saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk but quickly switched over to the instrument that would make him famous: the Hammond B3 organ. Rhyne's piano skills translated to the organ fluently and before long he was backing famous blues players like B.B. King and T-Bone Walker. In 1959 he was asked to join fellow Indianapolis musician Wes Montgomery's newly formed trio.
Rhyne then moved to Wisconsin and largely kept to himself for the next two decades. In 1991, however, he played on Herb Ellis's album Roll Call, Brian Lynch's At the Main Event, and his own album, The Legend. He continued to be prolific in the years to come, releasing eight more solo albums on the Criss Cross Jazz label. Rhyne also recorded with The Mark Ladley Trio for the 1992 release, Strictly Business and the 1993 release, Evidence. Both landed in the Jazz Charts at CMJ New Music Report and The Gavin Report. The group also appeared on a Jazziz Magazine sampler disc during that time. Altenburgh Records posthumously released, Final Call in 2013 by the same group.
In 2008 Rhyne teamed up with fellow Indianapolis jazz musician Rob Dixon to form the Dixon-Rhyne Project, a boundary-pushing jazz quartet that also includes Chicago guitarist Fareed Haque and drummer Kenny Phelps. The quartet released the album Reinvention in 2008 on Indianapolis jazz label Owl Studios. Rhyne's later career trio included guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Kenny Washington in the same organ, guitar, drum formation of the original Wes Montgomery Trio.
He died in his hometown of Indianapolis of lung cancer at the age of 76.

## Discography

| Year | Artist | Title | Label |
| 1959 | The Wes Montgomery Trio | Guitar on the Go | Riverside |
| 1959 | The Wes Montgomery Trio | Round Midnight | Riverside |
| 1960 | Melvin Rhyne | Organ-izing | Jazzland |
| 1963 | The Wes Montgomery Trio | Boss Guitar | Riverside |
| 1963 | The Wes Montgomery Trio | Portrait of Wes | Riverside |
| 1969 | Johnny Shacklett | At the Hofman House | Universal Artists |
| 1969 | Buddy Montgomery | This Rather Than That | Impulse! |
| 1991 | Herb Ellis | Roll Call | Justice Records |
| 1991 | Brian Lynch Quintet | At the Main Event | Criss Cross |
| 1991 | Melvin Rhyne Trio | The Legend | Criss Cross |
| 1992 | Mark Ladley Trio | Strictly Business | Altenburgh Records |
| 1992 | Melvin Rhyne | To Cannonball with Love | Paddle Wheel Records |
| 1993 | Ronald Muldrow | Yesterdays | Enja |
| 1993 | Mark Ladley Trio | Evidence | Altenburgh |
| 1993 | Mark Ladley Trio | "Coop's Blues" | Jazziz (Sampler Disc, Vol. 7) |
| 1993 | Melvin Rhyne Quartet | Boss Organ | Criss Cross |
| 1993 | The Tenor Triangle with The Melvin Rhyne Trio | Tell it Like it Is | Criss Cross |
| 1994 | The Tenor Triangle with The Melvin Rhyne Trio | Aztec Blues | Criss Cross |
| 1994 | Project G-5 | A Tribute to Wes Montgomery | Evidence |
| 1995 | Eric Alexander Quartet | In Europe | Criss Cross |
| 1995 | Royce Campbell Trio | Make Me Rainbows | Positive |
| 1995 | Melvin Rhyne Trio | Mel's Spell | Criss Cross |
| 1995 | Melvin Rhyne Quintet | Stick to the Kick | Criss Cross |
| 1998 | Juli Wood Quintet (feat. Mel Rhyne) | Movin' and Groovin' | Juli Wood Productions |
| 1999 | Melvin Rhyne Trio | Kojo | Criss Cross |
| 1999 | Mel Rhyne (feat. Royce Campbell) | Remembering Wes | Savant |
| 2000 | Melvin Rhyne Quartet | Classmasters | Criss Cross |
| 2004 | Melvin Rhyne Trio | Tomorrow Yesterday Today | Criss Cross |
| 2006 | Killer Ray Appleton–Melvin Rhyne Quartet | Latin Dreams | Lineage |
| 2007 | Melvin Rhyne Trio | Front & Center | Criss Cross |
| 2008 | The Dixon–Rhyne Project (with Rob Dixon and Fareed Haque) | Reinvention | Owl Studios |
| 2009 | Kyle Asche Organ Trio (feat. Mel Rhyne) | Blues For Mel | Tippin' |
| 2013 | Mark Ladley Trio | Final Call | Altenburgh |