Donald Leslie, RIP

By David Pescovitz at 2:02 am Friday, Sep 10

BB mourns the passing of Donald James Leslie, the inventor of the Leslie Rotating Speaker that provided the Hammond organ with its signature sound. The "Leslie" speaker spins inside its cabinet at a constant speed around a fixed point, providing an unmistakable Doppler effect. From the Associated Press obituary:

Leslie was captivated with the sound of the Hammond organ when he heard it at a Barker Bros. furniture store in downtown Los Angeles, where he worked repairing radios. In the store's large showroom, the organ introduced in 1935 sounded much like a theater or church pipe organ. However, Leslie, was unimpressed with the organ's sound quality in the confined spaces of his home. He began tinkering with devices to make the instrument sound more like labyrinthine pipe organs, using mechanics and electronics experience he gathered from a series of jobs, including one at the Naval Research Laboratories in Washington, D.C., during World War II.

Donald Leslie was 93. Link (Thanks, Vann)