Jimmy Smith At The Organ

Jimmy Smith single-handedly reinvented the Hammond organ in a modern jazz setting, and given the many Hammond players who have followed in his wake, most of them working off of the same template that Smith established way back in the early 1950s, it is easy to forget how amazingly brilliant he was on his chosen instrument, as innovative in his own way as Charlie Parker was on sax or Thelonious Monk on piano. Although he is chiefly known for his soul-jazz blues trios, Smith had a wider musical palette than that, as this fine reissue (with four bonus tracks), originally released by Blue Note in 1956, makes clear…

There is a fair amount of variety on this jam session LP. Organist Jimmy Smith plays "Summertime" in duet with altoist Lou Donaldson and, with guitarist Kenny Burrell and drummer Art Blakey completing the all-star quartet, performs swinging versions of "Yardbird Suite," "There's a Small Hotel," and Burrell's "All Day Long."

A New Sound… A New Star… (subtitled Jimmy Smith at the Organ Vol. 1) is the debut album by Jimmy Smith featuring performances recorded in 1956 and released on the Blue Note label. The album was rereleased on CD combined with Smith's following two LP's A New Sound A New Star: Jimmy Smith at the Organ Volume 2 and The Incredible Jimmy Smith at the Organ.
With less of an emphasis of low-key blues numbers than subsequent albums, the work here is informed by the energy and harmonic sophistication of bebop, and Smith is incandescent throughout…

Playing piano-style single-note lines on his Hammond B-3 organ, Jimmy Smith revolutionized the use of the instrument in a jazz combo setting in the mid-'50s and early '60s, and this piano approach makes him a natural to adapt the piano tunes associated with Fats Waller to the B-3, which is what he did at the January 23, 1962, session that is represented here (Waller, by the way, was no stranger to the organ himself, and recorded several sides on the instrument). Working with guitarist Quentin Warren and his longtime drummer Donald Bailey (who worked with Smith throughout his Blue Note years), Smith brings his amazing rapid runs to Waller standards "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose," and gives "Ain't She Sweet" a wonderfully warm and soulful groove…

Jazz pioneer and Hammond Organ s most acclaimed practitioner, Jimmy Smith bridged the gap between soul and jazz, and along with the likes of Ray Charles, forged a sound that appealed to a wide ranging cross-section of music fans during the 50s and 60s. Smith s instrument of choice, the Hammond B-3 with its unique sound and unusual range, adapted well to the genre s flexible leanings, and while Smith was far from the first jazz musician to utilise the organ - legends Count Basie and Fats Waller had both done so in an earlier era - Smith applied the instrument in such a way as to attract the mainstream; he was rewarded for this by becoming one of jazz music s household names and by having his albums fly high on the Billboard Chart in the early 1960s - an unusual feat for a jazz man. This 4CD compilation brings together eight of Jimmy Smith s finest albums, recorded for the Verve label between 1962 and 1964. Including a number of his most successful and critically acclaimed works, all of which originate from this hugely accomplished musician s golden age, this release will serve as both the perfect introduction to Smith s music for the less well versed, and as the ultimate collection for everyone else.