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Favorite Jimmy Smith tracks


Soul Stream

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The first jazz record I ever owned was BLP 1551 JIMMY SMITH AT THE ORGAN VOL. 1. The whole thing knocked me out, and I have a special attachment to it. "All Day Long" always kills me.

I also bought ORGAN GRINDER SWING early on, and the title track is always fun to put on.

There are so many more... B-)

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My dad (RIP) was a jazz fan, and I remember hearing Jimmy Smith's "Monster" when I was too young to know what the hell it was. Perhaps one of the more commercial Jimmy sides, but it attracted my attention and now (and forever)I'm a big fan. :tup

For sentimental value, I'd like to get Monster on CD if they ever release it.

At least I've got my dad's LP.

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My dad (RIP) was a jazz fan, and I remember hearing Jimmy Smith's "Monster" when I was too young to know what the hell it was. Perhaps one of the more commercial Jimmy sides, but it attracted my attention and now (and forever)I'm a big fan. :tup

For sentimental value, I'd like to get Monster on CD if they ever release it.

At least I've got my dad's LP.

Me too to all that!

I recently put together a Verve sides comp and gave a review copy to a friend just a couple of nights ago in that "you need this" way that as we jazz fans do. The 'Monster' is certainly worthy but I think Verve must read the same reviews that are all about. Silly! That was my first exposure to my 'moniker' cut.

I can still listen to "Walk on the Wild Side" and never tire of that complete throw down solo!

Those Blue Notes are as fine as can be but there is still something about those Nelson, Schifrin etc charts that get me! What is the greatest is that we get to choose these two dramatically different stylizations from the Master. How can you not just go wild with the groove on "Ape Woman" or "Burning Spear"!

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I hold his one recorded meeting with Eddie Harris in special esteem.

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And the way he plays on GROOVIN' AT SMALL'S PARADISE will continue to be revelatory to me, no matter how many times I hear that set. Especially "Body And Soul" and "Slightly Monkish".

Edited by Joe
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I have been enjoying the Mosaic box today - this 1957 stuff just does it for me. He's had some time to develop the style, found perfect company with Lou Donaldson, Kenny Burrell, Art Blakey, but it's still so fresh, not at all a hackneyed sound - and I love the registrations he uses with more top on them. Everything just comes together perfectly.

The "Yardbird Suite" solo has this point where he *lays* on that one note (I think it's a G) and just comes back to it again and again. The solos of this period have a thoughtfulness - the quotes don't seem like they're being done on auto-pilot, they're more reflective. There's also a particular eighth-note articulation that's a bit more choppy than usual, but it works.

This is wild stuff, but it's totally locked in thanks to Blakey.

Mike

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I wanted to post a list here. It was quite extensive. When completed, I decided not to post it. There are just too many tunes. It is an extremely rare occurence that I stop the playback of one of the recordings I have. I always play them until the end. Jimmy Smith is my "get-ready-for-the-weekend" guy - he smokes my speakers at least once a week, usually Fridays at around 18:00 (but certainly not only).

I think even the neighbours have started to like him ... I'm not really giving them a chance to decide otherwise.

Side-note: I have a rather warm-sounding Marantz/Dynaudio setup. Jimmy Smith just sounds super-bad on that system. I often put on some of his stuff at full blast for friends when I try to show off the capabilities of the system.

Jimmy Smith makes me want to buy a tube system and a better turntable. Now, how many other musicians are there that can conjure up that kind of wish?

Cheers!

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I have been enjoying the Mosaic box today - this 1957 stuff just does it for me. He's had some time to develop the style, found perfect company with Lou Donaldson, Kenny Burrell, Art Blakey, but it's still so fresh, not at all a hackneyed sound - and I love the registrations he uses with more top on them. Everything just comes together perfectly.

The "Yardbird Suite" solo has this point where he *lays* on that one note (I think it's a G) and just comes back to it again and again. The solos of this period have a thoughtfulness - the quotes don't seem like they're being done on auto-pilot, they're more reflective. There's also a particular eighth-note articulation that's a bit more choppy than usual, but it works.

This is wild stuff, but it's totally locked in thanks to Blakey.

Mike

I don't know why, but I always got the impression that this material was widely overlooked. I would always talk about the AT THE ORGAN sessions on discussion boards (and I admit it was partially my sentimental attachment to Vol. 1, as mentioned above), but I always seemed to get a lot of "blank looks". They could only be had as TOCJ's for years, and I really wondered if people had checked them out! Obviously, THE SERMON sessions were star-studded and legendary, and Jimmy was prolific on BN, but this little tight little gem of a group with Lou, KB and Blakey has always deserved more props, IMO. Mosaic helped, of course. I hope a lot of people grabbed that set despite possibly already owning a lot of Jimmy.

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I have been enjoying the Mosaic box today - this 1957 stuff just does it for me. He's had some time to develop the style, found perfect company with Lou Donaldson, Kenny Burrell, Art Blakey, but it's still so fresh, not at all a hackneyed sound - and I love the registrations he uses with more top on them. Everything just comes together perfectly.

The "Yardbird Suite" solo has this point where he *lays* on that one note (I think it's a G) and just comes back to it again and again. The solos of this period have a thoughtfulness - the quotes don't seem like they're being done on auto-pilot, they're more reflective. There's also a particular eighth-note articulation that's a bit more choppy than usual, but it works.

This is wild stuff, but it's totally locked in thanks to Blakey.

Mike

I don't know why, but I always got the impression that this material was widely overlooked. I would always talk about the AT THE ORGAN sessions on discussion boards (and I admit it was partially my sentimental attachment to Vol. 1, as mentioned above), but I always seemed to get a lot of "blank looks". They could only be had as TOCJ's for years, and I really wondered if people had checked them out! Obviously, THE SERMON sessions were star-studded and legendary, and Jimmy was prolific on BN, but this little tight little gem of a group with Lou, KB and Blakey has always deserved more props, IMO. Mosaic helped, of course. I hope a lot of people grabbed that set despite possibly already owning a lot of Jimmy.

Yes, "AT THE ORGAN" is really some of my all-time favorite Jimmy Smith stuff. No doubt about it. "The Duel" must be about the wildest and most genius organ track ever cut.

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Just was listening to "Down By The Riverside" off the Dynamic Duo record with Wes (they were playing it on the Wkcr tribute)....

anyway...Jimmy's BURNING on this thing. Flying, runs like you wouldn't believe. I'm thinking, oh Jimmy's really burning this F shuffle up! Then I check the key...he was burning it up in Eflat!!!! Maybe only another organist could appreciate this, but to burn the blues in Eflat like that on organ hasn't been done that much. Especially by Jimmy, his blues were almost always in F, G, C...Bflat was rare with him on a shuffle....but Eflat? No doubt that man could swing in Bnatural and you'd never guess. Pure genius.

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