The Hammond B-3 player known for his Wes Montgomery recordings By Chris Cooke
Omaha, Nebraska – A longtime presence on the Jazz scene, Soul/Bop Hammond B-3 player Melvin Rhyne will be featured on Thursday's Jazz in the Afternoon.
Rhyne performed with his trio at the Iowa City Jazz Festival this summer. The legendary Killer Ray Appleton on drums and guitarist Ilya Lushtak joined Rhyne on Hammond B-3. For the latest recording Latin Dreams, the trio was accompanied in the studio by conga player Milton Cardona. Jazz in the Afternoon host Chris Cooke will feature music from this recording as well as excerpts from an interview conducted with Rhyne following his Iowa City performance.
Born in Indianapolis and self-taught as a pianist, Melvin Rhyne was an important part of the city's Jazz scene. He played with the then unknown Roland Kirk in the mid 1950's. Switching to organ, he also had opportunities to back a series of blues players (including T-Bone Walker and B.B. King) and R&B artists. Melvin Rhyne became well known as a result of his participation on four Wes Montgomery Riverside sessions (including Montgomery's first and last album for the label). Rhyne was part of Montgomery's group from 1959-1964. Melvin looked back fondly at those times with Wes Montgomery while speaking with Jazz in the Afternoon host Chris Cooke.
In 1969, Melvin Rhyne moved to Madison, Wisconsin, and four years later he relocated to Milwaukee, where he remained active locally for the next two decades. Returning to the major-league jazz scene in 1990 with sessions with Herb Ellis and Brian Lynch, Rhyne went on to record for Criss Cross, including a quartet session with tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman as his sideman.
Melvin Rhyne's latest effort is a program of solid small group interplay, driven by his solid Hammond B-3 artistry.
You can listen to excerpts of an interview with Melvin Rhyne and selections from his recording Latin Dreams on Jazz in the Afternoon Thursday on KIOS-FM.
Chris Cooke is the host of Jazz in the Afternoon and Last Call on KIOS-FM.