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AOTW Feb. 13 Jimmy Smith "Sermon/Houseparty"


Soul Stream

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The Album of the Week for Feb. 13th, 2005 is Jimmy Smith's "The Sermon" along with it's twin "Houseparty."

In honor of the great king of the organ's passing. And just because it's simply one of the greatest jazz recordings in history.

However, the original "The Sermon" album only contained 3 songs. "The Sermon" "JOS" and "Flamingo."

On CD, Blue Note has mixed and matched the songs from "The Sermon" and "Houseparty" in various ways over the years since they come from the same 2 recording sessions of August 25th 1957 and February 25th 1958. So, I think it's fair to say all the songs from these two sister LPs are fair game.

The songs from The Sermon and Houseparty include.

The Sermon

JOS

Flamingo

S'Wonderful

Blue Room

Lover Man

Just Friends

Confirmation

Blues After All

Au Privave

Edited by Soul Stream
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Love this album. And the other one he did with a similar lineup (same? I'm away from my CDs)

I believe you're thinking of "Houseparty" which is also included in the AOTW along with "The Sermon" since they're culled from the same 2 sessions of August 25, 1957 and Februray 25, 1958.

I've since edited my original post to clarify it.

Edited by Soul Stream
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Great choice. I'll be putting on the vinyl of 'The Sermon' a bit later on. I'll also give the RVG CD of 'House Party' a spin too. Absolute classics.

Love the way that Jimmy pulls the stops out (I guess that's what it is? - not being an organ player) during his solo on 'The Sermon'. When that happens with the hifi cranked up it sets up a resonance in my front room !

:tup:tup

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I just had a quick look at CDUniverse, which often lists personnel. Cool Blues has at least three of the musicians on House Party: Lou Donaldson, Art Blakey, and Tina Brooks.

I've only ever owned The Sermon, but I've heard Cool Blues at a friend's place and really enjoyed it. Never heard House Party, but with that lineup it looks great. So it looks like Cool Blues and House Party will be on the buying agenda.

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When I first got into jazz, I was reading David Rosenthal's book- Hardbop. He spoke highly of The Sermon and the Sermon was one of my first 25 jazz CDs. What makes it so great is that it is a great sampler of the Blue Note artists. Lee Morgan is just great on it. I love Curtis Fuller feature on Blue Room and of course the rare Tina Brooks. I think George Coleman on Alto, which is also rare.

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Well done! Brilliant choice.

The Sermon is and was my first choice of cassette for the car if I was travelling any great distance. Driving to France I must have heard the title tune two dozen times. It has never put me off.

What a line-up too. Every solo tingles and buzzes -- and I don't thrive on tingles and buzzes, bit more melancholic, me.

The George Coleman solo on Just Friends has to be the second best solo on that tune ever.

Enough going on even without touching what Jimmy Smith contributes to these dates.

Edited by tonym
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Has anybody had a listen in the past few days to Six Views of the Blues but that is a fantastic album. It might be one of my favorite Jimmy Smiths, more so than the Sermon. And is that Cecil Payne's only BN appearance?

Heck yeah, that is a FINE album. I never thought I'd enjoy Blakey playing so understated, but it is soooooo sweet!

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140 minutes of Jimmy Smith straight off without a dull moment. Great stuff.

The February session is relaxed almost to the point of being casual, the August session is more lively but there's not a lot to choose between them. Everyone plays well and makes an impression though I'm not sure that George Coleman fits in that well with the format. I particularly enjoyed Flamingo with it's lyrical Morgan, a great way to end the cd.

I can remember when the B3 was rubbished in some of the British jazz press. That probably had an effect on my early listening, but then I heard Jack McDuff on Kirks Work, no going back after that.

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I've been screwing up my own AOTW....been listening to the hell out of the Chicken Shack/Midnight Special session.

Hard to believe they cut both those LPs in one afternoon. With no rehearsal. Turrentine said Jimmy drove by him on the way to the studio and stopped and asked him if he wanted to play.... It's sh*t like that which really blows my mind. I mean you can tell some of those tunes are johnny-on-the-spot made up (Messy Bessie, ect.)...

Even "Minor Chant"...Jimmy does that killer little chord intro into that...and it kills. You know he just threw it out off the top of his head. Bastard, he was a genius.

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I've been screwing up my own AOTW....been listening to the hell out of the Chicken Shack/Midnight Special session.

Hard to believe they cut both those LPs in one afternoon. With no rehearsal. Turrentine said Jimmy drove by him on the way to the studio and stopped and asked him if he wanted to play.... It's sh*t like that which really blows my mind. I mean you can tell some of those tunes are johnny-on-the-spot made up (Messy Bessie, ect.)...

Even "Minor Chant"...Jimmy does that killer little chord intro into that...and it kills. You know he just threw it out off the top of his head. Bastard, he was a genius.

Now let's hope they finally RVG them! I'm just spinning tons of Smith as I'll do a short memorial thing on radio on Sunday and have to decide on the tunes. Will definitely play the opener of "Back at the Chicken Shack", which probably still is my favourite Smith album (the first I got, too). How about digging the vaults and give us a bit of studio atmosphere, maybe a few false starts, and if we're really really lucky, there's an alternate or two? A nice 2CD set like the Turrentine/Three Sounds would be so sweet!

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I've been screwing up my own AOTW....been listening to the hell out of the Chicken Shack/Midnight Special session.

Hard to believe they cut both those LPs in one afternoon.  With no rehearsal.  Turrentine said Jimmy drove by him on the way to the studio and stopped and asked him if he wanted to play....  It's sh*t like that which really blows my mind.  I mean you can tell some of those tunes are johnny-on-the-spot made up (Messy Bessie, ect.)...

Even "Minor Chant"...Jimmy does that killer little chord intro into that...and it kills.  You know he just threw it out off the top of his head.  Bastard, he was a genius.

Now let's hope they finally RVG them! I'm just spinning tons of Smith as I'll do a short memorial thing on radio on Sunday and have to decide on the tunes. Will definitely play the opener of "Back at the Chicken Shack", which probably still is my favourite Smith album (the first I got, too). How about digging the vaults and give us a bit of studio atmosphere, maybe a few false starts, and if we're really really lucky, there's an alternate or two? A nice 2CD set like the Turrentine/Three Sounds would be so sweet!

Yeah, I'd love to hear some JOS false starts or studio chatter. Never really heard any on him, or any BN or Prestige organ date come to think of it.

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I've been screwing up my own AOTW....been listening to the hell out of the Chicken Shack/Midnight Special session.

Hard to believe they cut both those LPs in one afternoon.  With no rehearsal.  Turrentine said Jimmy drove by him on the way to the studio and stopped and asked him if he wanted to play....  It's sh*t like that which really blows my mind.  I mean you can tell some of those tunes are johnny-on-the-spot made up (Messy Bessie, ect.)...

Even "Minor Chant"...Jimmy does that killer little chord intro into that...and it kills.  You know he just threw it out off the top of his head.  Bastard, he was a genius.

Now let's hope they finally RVG them! I'm just spinning tons of Smith as I'll do a short memorial thing on radio on Sunday and have to decide on the tunes. Will definitely play the opener of "Back at the Chicken Shack", which probably still is my favourite Smith album (the first I got, too). How about digging the vaults and give us a bit of studio atmosphere, maybe a few false starts, and if we're really really lucky, there's an alternate or two? A nice 2CD set like the Turrentine/Three Sounds would be so sweet!

Yeah, I'd love to hear some JOS false starts or studio chatter. Never really heard any on him, or any BN or Prestige organ date come to think of it.

Maybe because it was "only" organ jazz they didn't do as many second takes etc as usual? Just a guess...

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