The New Yankee organists

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Ed Alstrom, Yankee Stadium Organist

by Ed Alstrom, courtesy of Alan Ashton

"My dad was an organist (plumber for a living, but played the organ recreationally, and constantly); knew a million songs by ear, never read music. Learned stuff by hearing it once, better ears than any musician I've ever seen.

"He had a lot of old organ records, so I grew up listening to Lenny Dee, Jesse Crawford, Don Baker, etc., and I grew up playing organ myself, since we didn't get a piano until I was 13. We had a Hammond M-3 when I was little (I was playing it before I could reach the pedals), then my Dad got a Conn Theater organ, then later a B-3.

"I went to my first Yankee game in 1967, which I believe was Layton's first year. I had been to a couple of Met games prior to that and heard Jane Jarvis, who knocked me out too. I instantly was a big fan of not only baseball, but the organ at a baseball game. I always thought, "I wanna do THAT", but never dreamed there would actually be the chance to do it at Yankee Stadium.

"I had contacted the Mets once when I thought there was an opening there for organist in the late 70's, but was sent back a form letter stating that they were not looking for a 'mascot' at the present time (!).

"I did meet Mr. Layton briefly about 7-8 years ago, after smooth-talking my way into the press box somehow. He was gracious and showed me the rig, which was then a Hammond Colonnade they purchased in 1985, plus a Korg Poly-61, a Kawai Portable keyboard, an old Roland TR-707 drum machine, and a Kat synthesizer (Crumar's answer to the Mini-Moog).

Photo Courtesy www.organfax.co.uk, Alan Ashton & Ed Alstrom

"In March of this year (2004), I obviously knew Mr. Layton was retiring, so I took a chance and just called them up and asked them if they were looking for a replacement. To my surprise, I got through to the right people and they said, "Sure, come in and let's hear you play". I went out to the Stadium and positioned myself at the mighty Colonnade, with Mr. Layton standing in the doorway 'requesting' tunes: "OK, play me a little 'NY, NY'..... play me 'Happy Birthday'.... how about some 'National Anthem'.... Canadian National Anthem'.... 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame'.... I played about 30-45 seconds of each, and that was the audition; the whole thing was about 5 minutes.

"They reacted favorably and told me they would contact me. About 2 weeks later, I was called and told that they needed someone to do Saturdays and Sundays, since Paul Cartier had already been contracted for the weekdays, but had weekend commitments that precluded him from playing at the Stadium. I, of course accepted, and here we are!

Photo Courtesy www.organfax.co.uk, Alan Ashton & Ed Alstrom

"The rig now: the Colonnade is still there, of course. It's one of Hammond's passes at a theater organ; has cheesy rhythms, auto-chords, lots of bells and whistles, alternate sounds, banjos, zithers, vibes, and a 'Symphonic Strings' section that sounds exactly like an old Farfisa. In the end, it does have drawbars, and that's what matters most.

"Paul and I exorcised most of the old gear (Poly-61, Kawai, and TR-707). However, we left the Kat there as a shrine, since it was too difficult to remove (it's bolted to some scaffolding on the wall). We both own a Yamaha Tyros, so we decided that I would bring mine in and put it on top of the organ.

"We run a line directly out of the Colonnade to their main mixer. The line out of the organ bypasses the built-in Leslie (which has its own separate amp and speaker system in the Colonnade), so we don't have the use of a Leslie when we're playing. We monitor thru headphones directly off the organ itself, which also bypasses the Leslie. The Tyros is connected by a line in to the organ.

"I don't know the exact specs of the sound system. Layton used to say it was '50,000 watts' and it probably is something like that. We are mostly heard through a massive column of speakers in centre field, and there are speakers throughout and outside the stadium. When we release a chord, there is about a 6/10 second delay, which is fun to catch the end of as the sound rolls around the place!"

Special thanks to Alan Ashton at www.organfax.co.uk and of course Ed Alstrom.