Moanin’ – 1972
Rhoda Scott
The organist plays a surprisingly uptempo version of “Moanin’”
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Rhoda Scott, who turned 84 in 2022, has been a top organist since the early 1960s.
She never achieved much fame in the United States because she moved to France in 1967, only returning to the U.S. on a very infrequent basis since then, but she has been quite active for over a half a century overseas.
This rare television appearance from 1972 finds Rhoda Scott (who is accompanied by drummer Cees Kranenburg Jr.) taking “Moanin’,” which is usually played as a soulful gospel-inspired piece, at a blazing tempo.
She does sound soulful while cooking hard and clearly having a great time; check out the basslines that she plays with her bare feet.
-Scott Yanow
Ella Fitzgerald