Music George Papageorge ’89
Keeps the Jazz Organ Tradition J
azz-blues-funk organist George Papageorge ’89 is devoted to his Hammond B3. “Just seeing a B3 gets me excited,” George says. “Most people would walk right by one and think it was a table.” The organ is hard to miss, weighing in at more than 300 pounds. Originally intended as a church organ, the sound instead found a place in jazz clubs and dimly lit juke joints. Developed by clockmaker Laurens Hammond in the 1930s, the Hammond organ requires electricity and a unique speaker system dubbed “the Leslie” for its inventor, Don Leslie, who also invented 3-D movies and missile guidance systems. The combination of organ and speaker renders the sweet sound that is so familiar in blues music and has also penetrated other musical genres. George, who owns three of the vintage organs, used to move his heavy-weight instrument from walk-up apartment, to van, to gig, more times than he can count. Now, the organs are strategically placed: one in his van, one in his Queens apartment that he shares with wife Dana Troetel and one in his family’s rainbowcolored basement in Canton, Massachusetts, where George played as a teenager.
26 Milton Magazine
“My playing the Hammond is a true expression of my soul,” George says. “I’m comfortable with that. I know myself well. And I know an instrument I love.” George considers the B3 an extension of himself. That connection was achieved through more than a decade of working the blues circuit in the Northeast, playing organ trio gigs and free-lancing with other artists. It was as a college sophomore that George knew he wanted to flee the audience for a place on the stage – that he wanted a career in music. “I saw the jazz trio, The Fringe, in Boston that winter. It wasn’t so much that I wanted to play like them, but that I wanted to be the guy playing.” George returned to the University of Rochester that spring to declare a major in music. But, he says, it was the words of English teacher, James Connolly, that made him believe he would succeed. “He encouraged all students to think about matters of the heart, life and death. These are what count, he told us. It’s ideas about the heart and life and death that I express through my music.” While some remain untouched by these matters, George knew them early: “I was in the eighth grade at Milton, and my dad died suddenly of a heart attack right in front of me. I was 13 and that defined me. It forced me to grow up quickly,” George says.
Alive While at Milton, George studied piano with former Milton instructor, Steve Heck, and jazz improvisation with Bob Sinicrope. (“Sini exposed us to the right stuff at the right age. He put on Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue, which was pretty important,” George says. ) With Milton friends, Justin Campbell ’89, David Harris ’90, Samuel Brigger ’90, Will Carswell ’89, Rebecca Rubel ’89, Leisel Euler ’89, Peter Barrett ’89 and Jay Sullivan ’89, he was part of a U2 cover band, which often consulted with George’s big brother and fellow musician, Chris ’82. “I knew then that I had talent, but I hadn’t yet decided to take it seriously. In high school, I still had a long way to go. I still do.” George spent the ’90s becoming a part of New York’s jazz and blues scene: He has played at New York City’s classic 55 Bar at the Cotton Club in Harlem, once with singer-guitarist George Benson in the audience. He has toured Europe and recorded with soul singer, Mighty Sam McLain. Since the mid-90s, he has toured and recorded with soul-jazz guitar great Melvin Sparks. George has also recorded with the Papageorge Organ Trio, which