The Hammond: A Vital Organ

The Hammond: A Vital Organ was a documentary presented by John Walters which traced the history of the Hammond organ, an instrument that survived decades of changing musical fashions. It was first broadcast as a single-hour-long programme on BBC Radio 2 on 7th October 2000, less than a year before Walters' death, and its most recent repeat was in two parts on BBC Radio 6 Music in August 2014, whence the downloads below are taken. As usual, Walters adopted an amusing and whimsical style, as can be glimpsed from his introduction to the first episode:
"Wasn't it Woody Allen who once described the brain as his second favourite organ? Well, I wonder then if his favourite organ could have been the Hammond? Doubt it, somehow. I mean, he's like me, an old jazzer, part of a breed for whom the Hammond held about as much allure as a garlic clove in Transylvania. For a start, it was electric. And yet, I've been close to the Hammond: my next-door neighbour (and it was a terrace) played the Hammond, and most evenings we'd settle down and hear a selection from The Jolson Story coming through the walls. But he was a gentleman and he never played past News At Ten."
==Music==
The narration was accompanied by music tracks in which the Hammond was used.
#Booker T And The MGs: 'Soul Limbo'
#Jimmy Smith: 'Walk On The Wild Side'
#Ethel Smith: 'Tico Tico'
#Procol Harum: 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale'
#Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and The Trinity: 'This Wheel's On Fire'
#Brian Auger: 'Indian Rope Man'
#Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg: 'Je T'Aime, Moi Non Plus'
#Stef Meeder: 'All Kinds Of Everything'
#Nice: 'Top Gear Theme'
#Nice: 'America'
#Bob Marley & The Wailers: 'No Woman No Cry'
#James Last: 'If I Had A Hammer'
#Klaus Wunderlich: 'Swinging Relations, Foxtrott'
==Available==
*Part 1, Part 2
Category:2001
Category:John Walters
Category:Available online