CJ Shearn

Kyo san, yokoso! Watashi wa CJ desu. Yoroshiku. Gomenasai, nihongo ga sukoshi wakarimasu. I've wanted to hear this, Hiromi is an amazing player. Sorry everyone, practicing very very bad, basic Japanese I've learned so far. Nihongo ga ja arimasen (I am not skilled or I am not very good in Japanese)

thats a shame. I hope she recovers. My mom has I think the album "Angie" on LP and she is quite fond of it.

RIP. this was a surprise when I saw this thread.

I still gotta grab this one. Tony's vocals on that one song crack me up "things don't change in the bed, just cause your wed. mmhmm, that's right, you heard me" something like that. I read somewhere that "Emergency" had some effect on the punk scene, as an influential album, any truth to that? Also the liners to VSOP "Live Under the Sky" state Tony made a punk album for Columbia that was rejected.

yeah, has anybody else played Tunisia like that? It's like in the A section hes playing it so fast hes skipping notes.

I think musicians like Kurt Rosenwinkel put out some incredibly creative stuff last year with albums like "Deep Song", I think with the exception of songs on it like "Cake" and "Use of Light" nothing really grabbed me emotionally. He is an incredible writer and I will continue to check what he puts out, but his music didn't get me the way releases like PMG's "The Way Up", the JOS/Joey record or even Bill Frissell's album last year.

yeah I wondered about Jimmy's organ at Rudy's (no pun intended) too. I wonder if the organ you see in the Mosaic set is JOS's own B-2(his first organ) or B-3 that he bought a bit later on. He started using percussion on the recordings the middle of '57 I think(when he stopped using the last drawbar for that whistle) I would assume the organ with cig stains is Jimmy's as seen is a session shot from "A New Sound A New Star"

what about domestic RVG's of "Elvin Jones Live at the Lighthouse"? sometime this year I'd like to get the Mosaic, primarily to hear these sides but also some of the studio ones. I have been enjoying Elvin's "The Truth" a lot over the past few days.

thanks, I was curious about the original release dates. I wasn't aware they were released that late. And you know, I never really thought of Crazy! Baby as an atypical BN cover because of the photo being taken by someone else.

in the liners, Jimmy said Jackie asked him when he next session was and he called him to be on the date.

"Plays Fats Waller" gets criticized? I like that album too, ContemporaryladySF. I wouldn't use it as an intro to JOS but I find it very tasteful and swinging.

Blue gets a nice tone on "My One and Only Love" definitely. beautiful, warm and full. Blue was another underrated player I think, despite all the albums with Horace.

the things we will never know. Also all the "blurry" images like Maiden Voyage, Night Dreamer, were taken by Reid too I think.

wow, great stuff MG. you think that "Home Cookin" was a 45 session possibly, thats interesting because the tune lengths indicate more stretching out within the limitations of a 45 format(between 3-6 minutes a tune ) if we discount the bonus tracks on the CD. I have "Home Cookin" behind "Crazy! Baby" on the shelf because the sessions were recorded in 58-59 for that album. Anyway, does anybody know why the graphic design of "Crazy ! Baby" on some original issues features the album title and logo in greenish-yellow while other issues including domestic and Japanese CD are in light blue?

wow! thats great.

interesting thoughts MG. Do you think that perhaps because of popular success Jimmy's style became more earthy, pared down the incredible Trane like flights in his first albums, because the grease connected with people more, specifically non jazz fans?

here is a review of the album I wrote at Amazon several years back, here it is with a few revisions I made just now. "Crazy Baby" was Jimmy Smith's first album of the sixties, acting as a bridge between the organist's earlier boppish recordings and the greasy soul jazz which would make him a household name to the public later on that decade. Jimmy is joined by new guitarist Quentin Warren, 19 at the time, and long time associate Donald Bailey on drums. The record is filled with tight swing, and the flawless Smith groove is kicked off with "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." The tune features one of the most exciting solos Jimmy ever recorded and he is constantly inspired and spurred on by Donald's fierce polyrhythmic drumming. The trio burns on "A Night in Tunisia", "Sonnymoon For Two", and "Mack The Knife" before slowing down with a nice take on "What's New" highlighting expressive stop use. Jimmy recorded only 4 trio albums for Blue Note between 1960-1963, and this may be the best of the lot. The album is swings mightily, and the tight group interplay is trademark Smith. Although not a player on the level of frequent JOS collaborator Kenny Burrell, Warren is the gel that holds the trio together, perfectly complimenting Bailey's active drumming with solid comping. The CD contains two bonus tracks as well.

to me, "Crazy! Baby" is probably the last JOS bop influenced album before, the turn towards soul-jazz, and his redefined funkier style, less of the sheets of sound type soloing and more earthy, though if you look towards albums like "The Boss" some of that more wild playing is still there.

lol actually I was thinking the character Christmas Eve and the song "The More You Ruv Someone" from Avenue Q, cute song but morbid. Anyway, back to "Crazy! Baby", I like "What's New" on there, altho in the things that ruin a jazz number for you thread at AAJ, someone didn't like Jimmy's stop/Leslie usage on this track, but I think it works.

it'd be nice if Blue Note or Mosaic put all the jam session material in one set b/c let's see, theres like 7 albums Jimmy recorded that were blowing dates, even though I and pretty much everyone here with an interest in JOS or the other players on the dates have them all. I wonder if BN has some extra unreleased live Jimmy somewhere because IIRC someone posted here discographical info on several rejected takes from April 7, 1958(Cool Blues) and theres gotta be extra stuff from the Club Baby Grand recordings.

something about Jimmy's comping, on "Plain Talk" behind Jackie and Blue makes me crack up for some reason. Think its some Monkish stuff, then the "Two Bass Hit" riff Quentin and Donald do behind the end of Jimmy's solo is too much

I bought another copy yesterday after I gave one to somebody a long time ago. Relistening to it, this is a fun session. Especially with a front line you'd never expect with Jimmy Smith like Jackie, Blue Mitchell and Ike Quebec. Jackie turns in his finest work of the set on "Embraceable You" and "Plain Talk", and Donald Bailey on the uptempo numbers is the most aggressive I've ever heard him with JOS. So, anybody else like this one?

I ruv this album. I had it on the other night actually, I love the weird way Jimmy plays the head on "A Night in Tunisia" its really strange, combined with Donald Bailey's galloping horsie groove. And if this were to get an RVG treatment I'd bypass it b/c the domestic sounds fine to me.

Jim, you like that show I sent you with Lonnie and George at Smoke?

R.I.P. he was one smooth lookin cat too