Trudy Pitts and 'Mr. C,' Partners in Music

Photo: Courtesy Trudy Pitts

Bill "Mr. C" Carney, left, met Trudy Pitts in Philadelphia in the 1950s, when Carney had a band that included the young John Coltrane. Carney and Pitts have been married since 1958.

January 7, 2007
Trudy Pitts and Bill Carney have been partners in music, and in life, for half a century. Pitts plays piano and the Hammond B-3 electric organ. Carney, known as Mr. C, backs her up on drums.

Like many married couples who've been together for a long time, they often finish each other's thoughts. When Pitts and Carney play together, they say, words become unnecessary because they speak the private language of music.

"It's about knowing each other and feeding each other air and spirit," Pitts says. "He might do something on snare, or he might do a cymbal thing. If I'm working out something on the keys, he's into the point where he can lead me in a direction that I'm trying to go."

The two musicians met in Philadelphia in the 1950s. Carney had a group at the time called the Hi-Tones. It included a young saxophone player named John Coltrane, but Carney wanted to add an organist.

Photo: Courtesy Barbara Dennerlein.

Barbara Dennerlein and Trudy Pitts, after a concert at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia in 2007.

Complete on  >>  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6729759

Trudy Pitts (1932-2010)

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Trudy Pitts, a Hammond B3 organist with a swirling, stinging style rich with technique and whose attack on the instrument was as aggressive as many of her male counterparts, died December 19. She was 78.

A late jazz-soul bloomer, Pitts was signed by Prestige in 1967 just as jazz was losing young listeners to rock and soul. Unlike many organists of the period who had learned to play the Hammond B3 in church and on the road, Pitts studied music at the Philadelphia Musical Academy, Temple University and Juilliard. Pitts' move to the organ was encouraged by her husband, William "Mr. C" Carney, who had played drums with organist Shirley Scott and later would perform with Pitts.

Pitts recorded four albums as a leader for Prestige and a handful of others as a sidewoman with Pat Martino, Willis  Jackson and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. She also recorded more recently on piano. Pitts performed in 2006 at the 11th Annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and in Philadelphia on the Kimmel Center's 7,000 pipe organ. She performed at the Kennedy Center again in 2008.

It should also be noted that Pitts was a formidable vocalist with a deep, earthy sound reminiscent of Sarah Vaughan's in the mid-'60s.

JazzWax tracks: Two of Trudy Pitts' finest recordings are Introducing the Fabulous Trudy Pitts (1967) and Pat Martino's El Hombre (1967). You'll find Introducing as well as tracks from Pitts' These Blues of Mine on a compilation: Trudy Pitts and Pat Martino: Legends of Acid Jazz here.

Pat Martino's El Hombre has been remastered and is available at iTunes or here.

http://www.jazzwax.com/2010/12/trudy-pitts-1932-2010.html
Used with ermission by marc Myers