ALBUM NOTES FOR LEON BERRY VOLUME 1 Leon Berry, the most celebrated skating organist of all time, was born in Selma, Alabama. Upon graduation from High School, his uncle treated him to a round trip ticked to Chicago. Leon never used the return trip, staying to apprentice for Kimball Pipe Organ Co. and graduating from American Conservatory of Music as a trained classical organist. While a student at the Conservatory, he took a job at the Hammond Organ Co. plant in Chicago. A salesman mentioned that he had sold an organ to a roller rink at Broadway and Montrose and had promised the owners he would find someone to play it. Leon's first recording was a 78 RPM record of Misirlou and The Sorcerer Tango, to be sold at the Hub Roller Rink as a souvenir. Local DJ's gave Misirlou a lot of air play, and the song gained popularity. Radio industry power brokers convinced Leon that the record needed the promotional push of a major label. A healthy Cash advance and a New Pontiac convinced Leon to go with Dot Recording company. Dot released the record under their label and it hit number six on Billboards Top 10. Dot released additional tunes several years later as 45 RPM extended play records, and on the 10 inch album reproduced here. 

 Based on the Success of Misirlou, the newly formed Replica Record Company struck a deal with Leon to make recordings at the Hub Rink. Although the recordings were all monaural, the fidelity and frequency range was state of the art. The dynamic range of the Hub Rink Wurlitzer showed off the recently introduced HI-FI systems to best advantage. Leon's innovative use of percussions, and powerful bass lines made his organ music a lot more appealing to High Fidelity enthusiasts than the "dreamy" music most listeners associated with pipe organs and his records sold hundreds of thousands of copies. For the opening of the Hub Rink, Leon helped rescue a Wurlitzer Rink organ from the closed Madison Gardens rink in Chicago. Mr. Berry advised this scribe that the Doppelflute and Cornopean heard on these recordings were quite literally rescued from the trash for $5 each from an organbuilding crew remodeling a Wangerin Church organ. The sound of the organ is built on these ranks, plus Wurlitzer Posthorn, Diapason, and occasionally a large scale Wurlitzer open flute. No string, vox, or short resonator reeds are heard. The low pedal notes are dominated by a Diaphone from a Kimball organ as well as the lowest octaves of the Posthorn and Cornopean. The Doppelflute is a large stoppered wooden rank with a mouth at both the front and back of the pipe, hence, "doppel." It is "unified," or wired to the keyboards at multiple pitches, much in the manner of the drawbars of a Hammond electric organ. It can therefore can be set up in some of the same combinations familiar to Hammond organists and listeners, including the frequent use of a heavy tremulant, the pipe version successfully imitated on the Hammond by the now familiar internal rotators of the Leslie Organ Speaker. This rank is featured prominantly in "Frasquita Serenade," "Alabama Lullaby," and throughout the recordings. The Posthorn's rasp has variously been described as a tuned chain saw, or sheet metal being ripped in half. It is probably the loudest rank in the Hub Rink organ, or in any theatre organ. It is heard both with and without tremulant in the opening of "Taboo," "Mad About Him Blues," and throughout the recordings. Diapasons are the fundamental sound of any church organ. The Wurlitzer version on high pressure here is somewhat flutelike, but with more bright overtones and much less "hoot" than the Doppelflute and is certainly not sacred sounding. Diapason alternates with Doppelflute on "Alabama Lullaby," where it is the last rank heard at the ending; as well as in "Wedding of the Winds," the final chords of “Song of Love,” and throughout the recordings. The Cornopean is a loud trumpet rank, smoother than the Posthorn. It is heard variously in the opening melody of "Perfidia," and the opening of "The Skaters Waltz." as well as throughout the recordings. The Kimball Diaphone is a wooden square shaped pipe variously one to two feet in diameter and up to 16 feet tall that sounds like a very loud but smooth tuba or bass trombone. It is played by the organist's feet from the pedal keyboard. The Diaphone is prominent in the pedal throughout the recordings The Glockenspiel, Xylophone, and various bass and snare drums, castinets, tamborine, and other percussions are actual instruments struck by beaters powered by the same air pressure that blows the pipes. They play from the manual keys and pedal board. The volume of the pipes is controlled by Swell shutters operated from a swell shoe by the organist's right foot. It resembles an automobile gas pedal in operation. The percussions are outside of the pipe chamber, in front of the shutters for greater audibility, and play at maximum volume at all times.