Dan Fogel stands among the distinguished Hammond B-3 jazz organists who rose to prominence in the 1950s, following the path established by Jimmy Smith, Groove Holmes, Jimmy McGriff, and Wild Bill Davis. Born on June 21, 1948, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, he is Jackie Gleason’s second cousin; his aunt, big-band vocalist Helen Forrest, performed with Benny Goodman, Harry James, and Artie Shaw. At seven he began shining shoes outside the historic Club Harlem, where the jazz sounds emanating from within left a lasting impression. Groove Holmes’s B-3 interpretation of “Misty” proved decisive, prompting Fogel to take up the instrument. Piano lessons began at ten, yet the organ remained his focus; with family support and earnings from his shoeshine work he acquired his first B-3 at eleven. Two years later he made his organ debut at Atlantic City’s Wonder Gardens and soon performed regularly throughout the region as a teenager, maintaining the area as his lifelong base. His associations include Pat Martino, Odean Pope, Billy James, Eddie McFadden, Sunny Murray, and Cecil Payne. On his Laughing Waters label he issued six albums: Movement de la Mer (1983), Naked Flowers (1986), Something Like That (1996), Oracle (2001), Soul Eyes (2004), and 15 West (2006).
