http://elvispelvis.com/charlesearland.htm#obit Progressive Soul-Jazz Organist Charles Earland Dies At 58 Charles Earland, who made his mark among the soul-jazz organists in the 1960s and modified his sound to embrace the funk-jazz 1970s, died of a heart attack Saturday (Dec. 11) after a performance in Kansas City, Mo. He was 58. Earland started his musical career as a saxophonist, but switched to organ in the 1960s and later recorded a series of successful albums on the Prestige, Mercury and Muse labels. When the Hammond B-3 sound with which he was associated began to sound too dated, Earland made the canny decision to augment his sound with synthesizers and a heavier funk beat. Said organist Jimmy McGriff, with whom Earland first became interested in playing jazz organ, "Charlie was the kind of guy, if you showed him something today, tomorrow he'd be playing it just like you'd play it. He was a good player and a very good musician. He was one of the guys, like 'Groove' Holmes -- if you'd listen to him, he'd have you tapping your foot." Said guitarist Pat Martino, who knew Earland since high school, "Charles, he was one of the most compassionate people who's been in the business. His playing is just superb. As a person, he was just a wonderful human being." Charles Earland was born in Philadelphia, May 24, 1941, and took up the alto saxophone in high school -- with fame-bound classmates Martino, Bobby Timmons and Lew Tabackin. After attending Temple University, Earland joined up as a saxophonist with McGriff's band, but became enamored of the Hammond B-3 sound and would experiment with the organ during intermissions. By 1963, Earland was leading his own band as an organist. He joined saxophonist Lou Donaldson in 1968, and played a crucial role in some of Donaldson's highly respected Blue Note Records releases. Earland also played with such soul-jazz artists as Joe "Boogaloo" Jones, Rusty Bryant and Willis "Gator" Jackson. Earland's first solo album was the 1969 Soul Crib on Choice Records, which led to a contract with Prestige Records. On his Prestige releases he was accompanied by such noted artists as Lee Morgan, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws, Houston Person, Billy Harper and Jon Faddis. His repertoire of original compositions and jazz standards was often augmented by his own adaptations of soul and pop hits like "Aquarius," "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head," "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?," "More Today Than Yesterday," and "We've Only Just Begun." Earland's career reached a new plateau with his 1973 recording space-funk album Leaving This Planet, which offered a psychedelic-soul style that was also followed by such '70s organists as Lonnie Liston Smith. As an enthusiastic convert to the jazz-rock fusion movement of the era, Earland kept musical company with some of its young lions: Grover Washington, Jr., John Abercrombie, Eric Gale, Billy Cobham, Michal Urbaniak, Patrick Gleeson, and Norman Connors. Earland also recorded the soundtrack to 1974 martial arts film Dynamite Brothers and contributed to the score of Ralph Bakshi's 1972 R.Crumb-based cartoon Fritz The Cat. In the 1980s, Earland ventured further into electronic pop-soul in recordings with his wife, vocalist/songwriter Sheryl Kendrick. When Kendrick died of sickle-cell anemia in 1985, Earland dropped out of music. He was coaxed back onto the scene in 1988 and resumed his career with a series of albums for Milestone, Muse and Cannonball Records. Charles Earland is survived by his second wife Sheila Earland. No funeral or memorial plans have yet been announced. -- Drew Wheeler
