From robertkeirstead@yahoo.com Thu Sep 09 03:57:49 2004
Subject:Don Leslie

By Marshall Allen, Staff Writer

ALTADENA -- Donald James Leslie invented the speaker that made the
Hammond organ famous in jazz, blues and rock 'n' roll music, but the
instrument's creator never appreciated his contribution.
Leslie, who had more than 50 patents in his name, died Thursday
night at his Altadena home. He was 93.

The Hammond B-3 is still heard every day on the radio in rock 'n'
roll songs like "You Shook Me" by Led Zeppelin and "Smokin" by
Boston. Jazz greats like Joey DeFrancesco also highlight the organ's
sound.

But according to Bob Mitchell, 91, who has been a professional
organist since 1924, the Hammond sound was originally only good for
church music and comedy. The Hammond was missing vibrato when it was
introduced in 1935, Mitchell said.

When Laurens Hammond introduced his organ it sounded a "perfect
electronic tone," said Jim Leslie, 40, one of Donald Leslie's sons.
The sound was dull, shrill and still, he said.

Mitchell recalls that he was working as a staff organist at KHJ
radio in Los Angeles in 1937, when Donald Leslie introduced him to
his invention, now known as the Leslie Speaker. The speaker had a
distinctive "heart-throb sound," a vibrato that a pipe organ also
featured, Mitchell said.

"He revolutionized the electronic organ," making it possible to use
for entertainment, Mitchell said. "He was certainly a wonderful
genius."

The speakers were unique because they projected sound into two
rotating horns, one for treble, another for bass. The rotating horns
could spin at slow or fast speeds and caused sound to be projected
360 degrees.

Leslie offered to sell his speakers to Hammond, but the organ maker
refused.

"Hammond was very personal about his invention of the Hammond organ
and he didn't want any outsider fiddling with the sound," Jim Leslie
said.

In the mid-1940s, Leslie started his own company in Pasadena,
Electro Music, and began selling his speakers. Leslie and Hammond's
inventions had a symbiotic relationship. The Leslie Speaker was
designed to be used with the Hammond organ, but the items were sold
separately.

Hammond tried to shake the connection, Jim Leslie recalled. He
installed speaker connections that were incompatible with Leslie
speakers, which Leslie then matched. And Hammond did not allow his
dealers to sell Leslie Speakers, Jim Leslie said.

Hammond's attempts to ditch Leslie only made the speakers more
popular, Jim Leslie said. Leslie never had to advertise.

"Everybody loved it and they wanted the Leslie speaker along with
the Hammond."

Leslie sold his company to CBS in 1965 and stayed on as a consultant
until his retirement in 1980.

It was not until 1978, after the death of Laurens Hammond, that the
Hammond company honored Leslie's contribution, Jim Leslie said.

Leslie also was a pilot and held patents for radio control of model
trains and control and chlorination systems for swimming pools.

Leslie also is survived by his wife of 50 years, Carolyn, 73; a son,
Scott, 47; a daughter, Jeanine Sherlock, 48; and six grandchildren.

Bob Keirstead