Enoch Smith Jr. - The Book of Enoch Vol. 1

[GA Russell]

Pianist Enoch Smith Jr. Returns to Recording After an 8-Year Absence with "The Book of Enoch Vol. 1," Set for November 7 Release On Misfitme Music Recording Features 7 Hymns, Both Traditional & More Contemporary, Given Smith's Own Mainstream Jazz Treatments & Played by His Trio   September 15, 2025 Enoch Smith Jr. gives the gospel music repertoire a fresh infusion of blues and swing with the heartfelt, hard-driving The Book of Enoch Vol. 1, to be released November 7 on his own Misfitme Music. Played by his trio of bassist Kai Gibson and drummer David Hardy, the album—Smith’s sixth, and his first in eight years—obviously draws deeply on the gospel tradition but presents its seven tunes in the context of soulful, infectious straightahead jazz.   In other words, it might not be the sound one first associates with a collection of hymns old and new. Yet Smith, who is director of music and worship at the Allentown Presbyterian Church (APC) in New Jersey, had done many of these rearrangements and reimaginings for its jazz vespers. Everyone who heard it encouraged him to share it with the world. “Even the patrons at the services were, like, ‘Are you going to do anything with this? This is some really great music.’ So that’s what led to recording it,” Smith says. “You know, these are great songs. These songs feel good. These songs make me feel good.”   How could they not, the way Smith plays them? His take on Andrae Crouch’s “Soon and Very Soon” is loaded to the brim with hope and good cheer, while “Gracefully”—the pianist’s own adaptation of “Amazing Grace”—is indeed full of grace but also a firm resolve. Meanwhile, the traditional hymn “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho” balances lively, forward-moving swing with a lithe, almost flamenco-like Afro-Latin flourish. Enoch Smith Jr. (center) with bassist Kai Gibson & drummer David Hardy. There is also a more introspective side to The Book of Enoch. It’s on display in the quiet splendor of “Holy City,” and in the subtle, serene, yet confident readings of Kenneth Morris’s “Christ Is All” and Ralph Carmichael’s “A Quiet Place.” Even as the closing “Mitch’s Moves” radiates celebration from its bouncy rhythm, it also suggests a more personal, thoughtful trajectory in its melodic and improvisational movement.   Smith, Gibson, and Hardy have long played these songs at APC’s jazz vespers services, and when they took the material into the studio they approached it in a similar fashion: played as one full set, all the way through. It captures their skill and spontaneity, but also the joy and assurance that each musician (and all of them, together) bring to the performance. “To be honest, I hadn’t really missed recording,” Smith says of his long absence from the studio. “I’ve never loved the scene itself…. I've just always loved creating music. I’m hoping to just add something to this beautiful landscape.” Enoch Smith Jr. was born November 24, 1978, in Rochester, New York, and was already musical by the time he was a toddler, singing in the children’s choir at church. It set the course for his childhood, which would include trumpet in middle school, concert choir in high school, and drums in the church—before he began teaching himself piano at 14 and also became the church’s substitute pianist.   As he exhibited and developed these talents, Smith found encouragement to continue music as a serious pursuit. He thus matriculated at Boston’s Berklee College of Music; Smith had learned to play by ear, and now he needed to learn sight reading and theory just to keep up with his own classmates. (It left him feeling like a misfit, hence the name he would one day give to his record label, Misfitme Music). He continued to play in the church, keeping in touch with his musical roots and inspiration, as he also gained new inspiration from his studies at Berklee.   Settling after college in Brooklyn, NY, Smith recorded his first album, Church Boy, in 2010, with the next two, Misfits and Misfits II, following in 2011 and 2015, and To Houston, With Love in 2018. Each recording experimented with the possibilities of pop, rock, and R&B, while also anchoring themselves at the natural intersections of gospel music and jazz. 2016’s The Quest: Live at APC hit that intersection where it lives: at Allentown Presbyterian Church, where Smith serves as director of music and worship.   Smith spent the next eight years focusing on a life in Allentown, raising a family, teaching Brazilian jiu-jitsu to underprivileged kids in the community, and leading Jazz Vespers at APC. The overwhelming positive reception he received for putting his own twist on the hymns he played each Sunday led him back to the studio to make The Book of Enoch, Vol. 1.         Photography: Mark Krajnak   

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