Thelonius / Jeff Beck
Great one!
Apparently “Stevie Wonder wrote this song for Jeff Beck as a form of payment for doing some studio work for him. But before Jeff could release it on his own album Stevie Wonder performed this song and it became a huge hit and became better known as his own song and not Jeff’s. The old bait n’ switch.”
Here’s one with a slower groove:
Booker T. Jones got his hands on a Clavinet C in 1968.
Confession: I was only recently made aware that the electric whammy clavi is real, I thought they were synths.
I submit Higher Ground and Maybe Your Baby.
As for Led Zeppelin, there’s also “In the Light.” Not their best, but a decent song.
I kinda went down a rabbit hole on these. Fascinating to see all the different ways they can be played.
I know what you mean, I did the same a month ago after seeing one in the Snarky Puppy Tiny Desk concert vid below. The video is shot in such a way I could only see the wham handle and I honestly did not guess it was a keyboard instrument at all when I was googling to learn what it was.
There’s one for sale locally, $ten grand.
Well, I thank you for this thread. I’d never heard of a clavinet. Now I know I have heard a clavinet.
Play that funky music!
(discourse thinks clavinet is not spelled right. And neither is Calvinet, but that’s on me.)
Close your eyes, and that’s a guitar played through an effect. I wonder if that’s part of the impetus.
DAMN that song grooves when he stops using the whammy and they’re all in it.
You’re welcome! Wait until my theremin thread, that’ll be just as fun.
And, before anyone says that Good Vibrations is their favorite theremin song, I think that’s actually a synth.
I LOVE the theremin! Somewhere…over the rainbow. Can’t touch this!
My perfect band consists of a theremin, a mellotron, and a glass harmonica.
Oh, let’s also have a thread about the mellotron, the empress and diva of all keyboard driven instruments.
Btw., my Chrome spellchecker also doesn’t know the word “mellotron”.
Capitalize the “m” - AIUI, “Mellotron” is a trademarked name.
They spell it Mell-o-tron, oh!
Quite rightly!
In case you haven’t heard it played so.
Multiple sources indicate that Electric Light Orchestra’s keyboardist, Richard Tandy, used a clavinet (among other keyboards) on several songs; of those, this is my favorite.
Isley Brothers, Live It Up:
Totally, I thought it was a DIY pedal (edit:steel) guitar in the Tiny vid and was very surprised to learn the truth. I’ve played keyboard for decades and always thought those sounds/songs were electronically generated, solid state oscillators and filters.