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The Organ Grinders were conceived through a shared love of the early funk and boogaloo sounds of the 60s and 70s. Maff Potts and Andy Williamson had time to reflect on all this and put something into action in August 2007, when Maff donated one of his kidneys to Andy, who suffers from the inherited condition Polycystic Kidneys, and was already on dialysis. Somehow the search for a name for this new band came to an end and 'The Organ Grinders' were born.
Live Life Then Give Life
The first recording, 'Live Life then Give Life' was written by kidney donor and organist Maff Potts, and his recipient, saxophonist Andy Williamson within three weeks of their operation on 7 August, 2007. Along with several fine musicians, family and friends, the song was recorded at the Cold Room Studios in Oxford on 29 August 2007 by engineer, Rich Haines.
The aims of recording this song are:
- to encourage more people to sign up to the UK organ donor register
- to improve public understanding about the issues involved in living kidney donation, and to encourage more people to consider becoming living kidney donors.
- to raise money for Live Life Then Give Life to whom we have donated the rights in the song.
Have One Of Mine
The guys returrned to the studio on 11 November, 2007, essentially to knock out a quick rough demo of half a dozen tracks, to give people an idea of what we sound like. Almost as an afterthought, we included a half-written idea in the list for the day. 'Have One of Mine' was finished, while the gear was being set up, just seconds before we began recording it. We also recorded: the opening section of a new version of old classic 'Take the A Train'; 'I Gotta Go To Work' - a Monday morning lament by Maff Potts; Willie Bobo's 'Shut Up And Pay Attention'; Dizzy Gillespie's 'Bang Bang' and the Jimmy Smith classic "Organ Ginder's Swing' (which we couldn't really ignore).
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