Melvin Rhyne

Melvin Rhyne (October 12, 1936 – March 5, 2013), was a jazz organist best known for his work with Wes Montgomery.

Biography Melvin Rhyne was born in Indianapolis in 1936 and started playing the piano shortly after. At 19 years old, Rhyne started playing piano with then-unknown tenor saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk but quickly switched over to the instrument that would make him famous: the Hammond B3 organ. Rhyne's piano skills translated to the organ fluently and before long he was backing famous blues players like B.B. King and T-Bone Walker. In 1959 he was asked to join fellow Indianapolis musician Wes Montgomery's newly formed trio.

Rhyne then moved to Wisconsin and largely kept to himself for the next two decades. In 1991, however, he played on Herb Ellis's album Roll Call, Brian Lynch's At the Main Event, and his own album, The Legend. He continued to be prolific in the years to come, releasing eight more solo albums on the Criss Cross Jazz label. Rhyne also recorded with The Mark Ladley Trio for the 1992 release, Strictly Business and the 1993 release, Evidence. Both landed in the Jazz Charts at CMJ New Music Report and The Gavin Report. The group also appeared on a Jazziz Magazine sampler disc during that time. Altenburgh Records posthumously released, Final Call in 2013 by the same group.

In 2008 Rhyne teamed up with fellow Indianapolis jazz musician Rob Dixon to form the Dixon-Rhyne Project, a boundary-pushing jazz quartet that also includes Chicago guitarist Fareed Haque and drummer Kenny Phelps. The quartet released the album Reinvention in 2008 on Indianapolis jazz label Owl Studios. Rhyne's later career trio included guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Kenny Washington in the same organ, guitar, drum formation of the original Wes Montgomery Trio.

He died in his hometown of Indianapolis of lung cancer at the age of 76.

Discography Year Artist Title Label 1959 The Wes Montgomery Trio Guitar on the Go Riverside 1959 The Wes Montgomery Trio Round Midnight Riverside 1960 Melvin Rhyne Organ-izing Jazzland 1963 The Wes Montgomery Trio Boss Guitar Riverside 1963 The Wes Montgomery Trio Portrait of Wes Riverside 1969 Johnny Shacklett At the Hofman House Universal Artists 1969 Buddy Montgomery This Rather Than That Impulse! 1991 Herb Ellis Roll Call Justice Records 1991 Brian Lynch Quintet At the Main Event Criss Cross 1991 Melvin Rhyne Trio The Legend Criss Cross 1992 Mark Ladley Trio Strictly Business Altenburgh Records 1992 Melvin Rhyne To Cannonball with Love Paddle Wheel 1993 Ronald Muldrow Yesterdays Enja 1993 Mark Ladley Trio Evidence Altenburgh 1993 Mark Ladley Trio "Coop's Blues" Jazziz (Sampler Disc, Vol. 7) 1993 Melvin Rhyne Quartet Boss Organ Criss Cross 1993 The Tenor Triangle with The Melvin Rhyne Trio Tell it Like it Is Criss Cross 1994 The Tenor Triangle with The Melvin Rhyne Trio Aztec Blues Criss Cross 1994 Project G-5 A Tribute to Wes Montgomery Evidence 1995 Eric Alexander Quartet In Europe Criss Cross1995 Royce Campbell Trio Make Me Rainbows Positive 1995 Melvin Rhyne Trio Mel's Spell Criss Cross 1995 Melvin Rhyne Quintet Stick to the Kick Criss Cross 1998 Juli Wood Quintet (feat. Mel Rhyne) Movin' and Groovin''' Juli Wood Productions 1999 Melvin Rhyne Trio Kojo| Criss Cross 1999 Mel Rhyne (feat. Royce Campbell) Remembering Wes| Savant 2000 Melvin Rhyne Quartet Classmasters| Criss Cross 2004 Melvin Rhyne Trio Tomorrow Yesterday Today| Criss Cross 2006 Killer Ray Appleton–Melvin Rhyne Quartet Latin Dreams| Lineage 2007 Melvin Rhyne Trio Front & Center| Criss Cross 2008 The Dixon–Rhyne Project (with Rob Dixon and Fareed Haque) Reinvention| Owl Studios 2009 Kyle Asche Organ Trio (feat. Mel Rhyne) Blues For Mel| Tippin' 2013 Mark Ladley Trio Final Call'' Altenburgh