Blakey joins Smith for “The Duel” on disc 2 for a very intriguing drum and organ duet. It’s just a masterpiece of sonic textures with Jimmy heading toward free jazz territory. Sun Ra would be hard pressed to match the explorations of this track. Blakey plays off Jimmy with snare rolls that sound like bomb blasts. I’ve always harbored the idea that Jimmy Page developed the studio sound for John Bonham’s drums in Led Zeppelin from the Art Blakey drum sound that was so well produced by Alfred Lion at Blue Note. More exuberant organ work can be found on “Slightly Monkish”.
Disc 3 begins with 1958’s “The Sermon” which is a landmark Smith recording. Lee Morgan is on trumpet, Tina Brooks on tenor sax, Kenny Burrell guitar, Art Blakey drums, and Lou Donaldson alto sax. Burrell gets a nice fat tone, but the real star besides Jimmy’s organ work is Tina Brooks’ tenor sax performance. “The Sermon” is a true ensemble work that shows the possibilities of Jimmy’s playing with a larger group. The Ma Rainey song “See See Rider” is evocative of her time and is appropriately bluesy. Smith would have a hit with “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” with Donald Bailey laying down martial snare drum rolls. This instantly recognizable song soon goes into “Incredible” Jimmy improvisation territory that is cooking.
The fourth disc opens with one of Jimmy’s most well known pieces, “Back At The Chicken Shack” from 1960, which is another funky jazz classic with Stanley Turrentine’s tenor sax playing meshing well with Jimmy, Kenny Burrell, and Donald Bailey. Many of the sides on this disc feature nice walking runs. “Squeeze Me” is one of those tracks. Jimmy Smith lays down some almost comical horror film sounds ala Vic Mizzy in The Ghost And Mr. Chicken, but it still works.
Retrospective includes 38 choice performances with hours of listening. It captures Jimmy Smith playing in a variety of settings with other legends of jazz. The set comes with a booklet of liner notes by Bob Blumenthal. We can all be glad that the “Wild” Bill Davis prediction that it would take Jimmy Smith 50 years to properly learn to play the Hammond B-3 turned out to be untrue
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
excellent Wally, thanks so much, just linked to it from the obit