Though it’s been over two years since Yankee organist Eddie Layton’s passing, Hoppy Slope pays tribute to man he calls “one of the most imaginative organists of all in the 1950’s.” From WFMU’s Beware Of The Blog :
Layton became as nearly as indelible a part of the Yankee Stadium experience as anyone. In the process, he forged new ground through his (as he put it) “cheering with my music”. He claimed to invent the now de rigueur bugle-esque “Charge” (F-Bb-D-F—D-F!), although this is open to debate, as someone who frequented Shea Stadium a few years prior with a trumpet lays claim to it also.No matter. Layton, along with Gladys Gooding, Jane Jarvis, and many others, helped put the sound of the organ in everyone’s ears as part of the baseball game fabric, and it exists to his day, although not as prevalently as in the past. Layton also played for the Knicks, Rangers, and Islanders along the way, making him the answer to an oft-bantered trivia question about who ‘played for’ all these teams. He was not the first baseball organist, and not even the first at Yankee Stadium (a gentleman named Toby Wright apparently played there in 1965-66), but Layton is probably the most recognizable name and a true pioneer in stadium organ.
There’s a plethora of Layton MP3 links to be found via Slope’s original post, the author insisting, “anyone who is familiar only with Layton’s work at Yankee Stadium will marvel at what he really had up his sleeve when left to his own devices.”