Trudy Pitts

Biography

An excellent soul-jazz organist from the 1960s, Trudy Pitts continues to be relatively overlooked compared to the small group of other Philadelphians from the time who produced their mark using the Hammond B-3 body organ. Although she preferred a slightly even more pop-oriented audio than the majority of her peers, with an enchanting loungish atmosphere on a few of her recordings, she may possibly also burn off through uptempo music, sometimes adding some dinner-clubbish performing of her very own. Pitts went to Juilliard and got a qualification in music through the Connecticut College for females. She was carrying out some club performing and teaching when she was contacted by drummer Costs Carney in 1955 to fill up the body organ seat in his group, which got previously been occupied by Shirley Scott; Tootie Heath and John Coltrane had been also in Carney’s combo. Pitts hadn’t yet played frequently within the jazz design, and although the work went to another person, Carney prompted Pitts’ improvement on jazz body organ by assisting her get function. By 1958 she was playing in Carney’s group and wedded to Carney; the group assumed the billing of Trudy Pitts & Mr. C. Pitts created a style which was relatively much less blues-based than various other Hammond organists, partially due to her classical schooling and in addition from using her feet to try out bass rather than based on her remaining hand. Pitts documented several albums for Prestige in the past due ’60s, the very first handful of these offering Pat Martino on acoustic guitar, with Carney still filling up the drum chair. Although some from the songs on they were overt pop addresses such as Plant Alpert’s “The Spanish Flea,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” (from Fiddler on the top), and “A Whiter Color of Pale,” they were in fact interpreted with imaginative flavor and a fairly solid soul-jazz groove. Carney and Pitts also published some original materials in a far more straight-ahead jazz vein, and she demonstrated herself in a position to golf swing with the very best of these with liquid and passionate works on slashes like her edition of “Consider Five.” Pitts and Carney (aka Mr. C) halted touring in the first ’70s as their family members grew, and even though Pitts still takes on key pad for the theatre and restaurants, she mainly plays piano instead of body organ these days.

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