Japanese jazz organist Midori Ono will perform Friday at ProArts Playhouse in Kihei and Sunday at Maui Kuʻia Estate Chocolate Factory in Lahaina. Ono is known for her soulful, hard-swinging Hammond B3 style. Courtesy photo

A “Jazz Organ Summit” concert at ProArts Playhouse on Friday will showcase two outstanding Hammond B3 players — Japanese musician Midori Ono and Hawaii Island’s Jocelyn Michelle.

First introduced in 1937 as an affordable alternative for churches, the Hammond B3 became an iconic jazz instrument thanks to Jimmy Smith, whose groundbreaking recordings included “Back at the Chicken Shack.” Its distinctive sound later helped define soul classics such as Booker T. & the M.G.’s “Green Onions” and pop landmarks like Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”

“I first started hearing the Hammond B3 when I was just a kid,” Michelle recalled. “I went to a private school and I would ride to school in a taxi cab. The driver would sometimes put on the rock-and-roll station and I would hear Santana’s ‘Black Magic Woman’ and Sugarloaf’s ‘Green-Eyed Lady,’ and the Hammond was a kind of intoxicating sound, very voluptuous and alluring.”

Releasing the critically acclaimed albums “Time to Play” and “Live at Viva Cantina,” Michelle began piano lessons at 7 years old, later attended the University of Miami School of Music and then played organ all over south Florida.

“By my teen years, I was listening to Emerson, Lake, Palmer, Deep Purple, and the Allman Brothers Band,” she continued. “I grew up on a lot of classic rock and started getting hip to jazz, hearing Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff and Jimmy McGriff, and all the great organists of that era.”

Reviewing her album “Time to Play,” jazz magazine DownBeat praised: “Each of the covers is special. Marvin Gaye’s ‘Trouble Man’ is given a soulful reading, and the love song ‘Never Let Me Go’ is Michelle’s most fully realized, most moving performance.”

Her live album featured covers of The Rascals’ “Groovin’,” Antônio Carlos Jobim’s jazz standard “One Note Samba” and “The Pink Panther Theme.”

For the Friday show, “I’ll do a set with my band, and then Midori will do a set with her trio, and it should be a blast,” Michelle said. “My husband and I have a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization to bring blues and jazz to the people of Hawaii, and we were fortunate enough to get Midori to come from Osaka.”

Hawaii Island musician Jocelyn Michelle will perform with Midori Ono during two upcoming Maui concerts featuring the Hammond B3 organ. Michelle’s albums include “Time to Play” and “Live at Viva Cantina.” Courtesy photo

An acclaimed Japanese jazz organist, Ono is renowned for her soulful, hard-swinging Hammond B3 style. After beginning piano lessons as a child, she switched to the organ at age 11. By 17, she had won the prestigious All-Japan Hammond Organ Competition.

Known for her bluesy, funky sound, Ono has built an international career that bridges the Japanese and American jazz scenes. Along the way, she has collaborated with Hammond organ legends Jimmy McGriff, Dr. Lonnie Smith and Jack McDuff.

“Midori is a wonderful player,” said Michelle. “She will probably play a mix of jazz standards, and maybe a jazzy version of a pop song, which is also what we like to do.”

As far as her own repertoire Michelle said, “We’re going to have a few jazz standard tunes, like Lee Morgan’s ‘Sidewinder.’ I have a couple of original tunes and then we have some jazz up versions of pop tunes. I’m writing charts for an arrangement of the old Jackson Five song ‘I’ll Be There.'”

Michelle will be backed by an ensemble including her husband John Rack on guitar, Steve Kovalcheck on guitar and Sammy K on drums. “We have a wonderful drummer, Sammy K, from Pasadena, California,” she said. “We’ve worked with Sammy for many years since we lived in California, and we’re fortunate that he’s able to come out and do these shows with us. He’s really very talented. Also we’re having Reggie Padilla on sax from Oahu, and a friend of his, Will Magid, on trumpet.”

The Jazz Organ Summit will start at 7:30 p.m. Friday at ProArts Playhouse. At 5 p.m. Sunday, the Jocelyn Michelle Jazz Organ Band with Midori will perform at Lahaina’s Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate Factory, as part of the Jazz Maui Sunset Jazz Series.