Alligator Bogaloo (Lou Donaldson) - Nord C1 Hammond B-3 Organ Clone Clavia

Here is my arrangement of Alligator Bogaloo. This soul jazz song is composed and first recorded by Lou Donaldson (alto sax) in 1967, and released on the record with the same name. The song is also often spelled Alligator Boogaloo.

I play at around the same tempo as the original recording. Maybe a bit faster.

Chorus 1: The melody. I play the melody rather low to get a more 'meaty' sound.
Chorus 2: The melody. Repeated.

Chorus 3: Solo lower manual. Soft, melodic. I play almost legato.
Chorus 4: Solo lower manual, cont. Triplets with a bluesy feeling.

Chorus 5: The melody, upper manual.

Chorus 6: Solo, upper manual. A bit more 'harder' soloing from now on. A short two-note tremolo, followed by a longer downwards triplets run. Ends with a long one-note 'machine gun' tremolo.

Chorus 7: Solo. I keep striking the F with the little finger at the same time I play those other phrases. A few lower manual non-tonal keyboards 'thumps' (aka Hammond pop's) are interspersed. The dominant and sub-dominant are filled with thirds, and the tonic with sixths ('inverted' thirds).

Chorus 8: Solo. Long palm glissandos (downwards and upwards) with triplets between. Two-note tremolos on the dominant and sub-dominant.

Chorus 9: Solo. A very short Richards 'Groove' Holmes riff, repeated during the whole chorus, with other phrases in between.

Chorus 10: Melody.
Chorus 11: Melody.

I end the song with the Leslie switched to Fast. First a F6/Eb chord and then an octaved downwards glissando.

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The organ is a Clavia Nord C1 - a Hammond B-3 clonewheel organ.

Nord C1 Registrations and Settings:
Upper 88 8000 000. No Chorus. Percussion On, Soft, Fast, Third.
Lower 80 0800 000.
Bass lower manual 70.
Leslie simulator Slow position, except during the ending where I switch to Fast position.
Equalizer, Treble -5dB, Mid 0dB, Bass +5dB.
Overdrive not used.
Reverb Hall, Soft, 50%.
Tonewheel mode Vintage 2 (high level of tonewheel crosstalk and cable leakage artefacts).

The sound is recorded line out from the organ. No additional external effects, external amplifiers or speakers are used.
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Category:

Music

Tags:

• Alligator
• Boogaloo
• Bogaloo
• Lou
• Donaldson
• Nord
• C1
• Hammond
• B-3
• Organ
• Clavia

[TheHyde55]

With headphones, this sounds fan-fucking-tastic, if you'll pardon me for saying.

[rounder2u]

Thanks Hyde!

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[strangersound]

I'm plugging in my guitar right now. It's too late to play drums. :)

[rounder2u]

Hi strangersound

Great! Let's do it. Soul jazz organ with Kenny Burell-style jazz guitar will make for a nice duo.

Take 1:

- 2 - 4 - 2 (start pickup)

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[strangersound]

@rounder2u Can we get Bernard Purdie to play drums? ;)

[rounder2u]

Hi strangersound

That would be great! Purdie also did, among everything else, a couple of sides with one of the greatest:

Jimmy McGriff.

'M.G. Blues' and, of course, 'I've Got a Woman', both from McGriff's early production (early '60s) are two jazz organ trio favourites of mine.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[strangersound]

What I would give to jam with you...

[rounder2u]

Thanks Ron Gang!

Alligator Bogaloo is very enjoyable to play and to improvise over. I recommend the song for every soul jazz groover. I always have a mental note to myself for the left hand when playing this song: Long and full notes, no bouncing, no staccato :-)

About 'Green Onions', I thank you as it was you, Ron, who got me inspired to finally re-analyze the song and record an improved version.

Keep swinging,

Rounder