Jimmy Smith

[mikeweil]

The many faces of Jimmy Smith (the Powell and Monk similarities are great) .... very nice gallery, thanks y'all!

[Noj]

Great pics, perfect visuals for THE SERMON which I finally purchased for the first time this weekend (and boy, is it schmokin'!!!!). B) Thanks guys!

[CJ Shearn]

glad to hear you finally purchased "The Sermon". His greatest record IMO, one reason is I grew up on it, the other thing is everything is there on that record that sums up his first period: bop, blues, ballads, and many/most of the players included on that date were from his then recent all star dates at the time. That 20 minutes is a height that is rarely reached for inspiration for that long, not even Jimmy himself bettered that take on that tune in later years.

[chris olivarez]

Thanks guys.

[Soulstation1]

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[Soulstation1]

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[Soulstation1]

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[Soulstation1]

[Late]

There are kids in 9th grade who aren't as old as this thread. (Listening to A New Star, Vol. 1 while typing.)

Serious question — first, look at all the extra material from the live At "Club Baby Grand" recording dates. Has any of it, outside of the two volumes released, ever seen the light of day? I'm a little surprised that Cuscuna didn't make it available when the U.S. discs were reissued. Perhaps the Japanese market, for Blue Note's 90th anniversary, will see fit to dig into the vaults. (Or maybe tapes don't exist anymore. That would be a shame.) Thoughts?

25 tracks were recorded in total (in one night). 8 were issued.

[Gheorghe]

3 hours ago, Late said:

There are kids in 9th grade who aren't as old as this thread. (Listening to A New Star, Vol. 1 while typing.)

Serious question — first, look at all the extra material from the live At "Club Baby Grand" recording dates. Has any of it, outside of the two volumes released, ever seen the light of day? I'm a little surprised that Cuscuna didn't make it available when the U.S. discs were reissued. Perhaps the Japanese market, for Blue Note's 90th anniversary, will see fit to dig into the vaults. (Or maybe tapes don't exist anymore. That would be a shame.) Thoughts?

25 tracks were recorded in total (in one night). 8 were issued.

Yes, this one is great, it´s even better than the live date from Small´s Paradise, just incredible.

Those early Jimmy Smith albums from the historical 1500 Series is the greatest. I only have the japanes cardboard reissue of this album, and as I noticed then, it seemed that they didn´t release alternate tracks or unissued material , they kept strictly to keep it as a CD version of the historical original LP....

[sidewinder]

4 hours ago, Late said:

There are kids in 9th grade who aren't as old as this thread. (Listening to A New Star, Vol. 1 while typing.)
 

Sobering thought !

[Late]

8 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Sobering thought !

Agreed, and I was partially un-sober (Jimmy goes well with a margarita) when I bumped this thread up! 

One of the unreleased tracks (from the second set in the afternoon) is "Joy Spring." Man, I'd like to hear Jimmy's version of that composition, and how he made his way through those changes.

I always have to remind myself that the At "Club Baby Grand" recordings were made all in ONE day — five sets total. Two afternoon sets + three evening sets. Jimmy naturally has espresso in his veins, but five sets? That seems like alot. He made "Red Sails In The Sunset" twice, but both takes were rejected. Maybe Alfred thought that a Volume 3 would be pushing it for the label, especially as not many listeners at the time even knew who Jimmy was.

These live recordings, Smith's first for Blue Note, are still some of my very favorite organ records. I like Jimmy sans horns.

Plus — was Jimmy feelin' it or what with that striped blazer on?!

[jlhoots]

On the playlist for today.

[gmonahan]

10 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

Yes, this one is great, it´s even better than the live date from Small´s Paradise, just incredible.

Those early Jimmy Smith albums from the historical 1500 Series is the greatest. I only have the japanes cardboard reissue of this album, and as I noticed then, it seemed that they didn´t release alternate tracks or unissued material , they kept strictly to keep it as a CD version of the historical original LP....

Japanese cd reissues seldom include bonus/alternate tracks.

 

 

gregmo

[CJ Shearn]

10 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

Yes, this one is great, it´s even better than the live date from Small´s Paradise, just incredible.

Those early Jimmy Smith albums from the historical 1500 Series is the greatest. I only have the japanes cardboard reissue of this album, and as I noticed then, it seemed that they didn´t release alternate tracks or unissued material , they kept strictly to keep it as a CD version of the historical original LP....At

At Club Baby Grand is every bit as good as the Smalls date, they are just different.  What I love about the Smalls date is the added intensity due to Jimmy's percussion switch not decaying, almost adding a Trane-ish quality to the sound, indeed his ideas then were more in line with the harmonic approach Trane was investigating at the same time.  The additional Baby Grand takes haven't survived, thus why they were not included.  I just pulled out my TOCJ of vol. 1, was listening to Awase by Nik Bartsch's Ronin but decided to play the JOS.  The other thing about the  Baby Grand sets is that it's the first to debut Jimmy on record with the first three drawbars out with the third harmonic percussion on and with soft decay.  This sound which marked the majority of his career wasn't heard again on a record until Home  Cookin' in 1959, so that IMHO is quite significant.  He was heard without percussion, with the "paradise switch" (percussion not decaying), and with the last drawbar pulled out in the interim.

Edited June 14, 2018 by CJ Shearn

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Regarding the Club Baby Grand recordings... according to Cuscuna: "I really don’t remember, but I think I never found the Baby Grand outtakes. Most likely, the material is not in the can. Whatever I got for discography listings probably came from Alfred’s session notes".

[Bluesnik]

12 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

they didn´t release alternate tracks or unissued material , they kept strictly to keep it as a CD version of the historical original LP....

That's Japanese reissue policy.

[CJ Shearn]

4 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

Regarding the Club Baby Grand recordings... according to Cuscuna: "I really don’t remember, but I think I never found the Baby Grand outtakes. Most likely, the material is not in the can. Whatever I got for discography listings probably came from Alfred’s session notes".

I wonder if the takes of "A Night In Tunisia" consist of that nutty Monkish head that characterizes the Crazy! Baby version.  Jimmy played that arrangement up through 1965 to my knowledge if the bonus track from the Salle Pleyel Mai 28th 1965 set on Laserlight that I have is any indication.  I always wonder if the Laserlight/RTE/Trema releases of those are legit because if not, I wonder if Zev Feldman could release that or perhaps the 1962 French show that ORTF recorded.  I've asked him about contributing a liner essay to a Jimmy Smith package because one of my goals eventually is write  a Jimmy Smith bio.  I connected with Joey D. after his Jazz Standard gig 2 weeks ago to get in touch with him to yak about Jimmy, get leads on who to talk with who knew him.     

[king ubu]

Legit in Europe but not in the US is my assumption (which actually is true for the flood of PD releases that we saw in the past dozen or so years).

[JSngry]

Pretty sure that the artists in that series signed a release with the radio network that allowed for recording for future use, although that meant rebroadcast or releasing a record, I'm not sure.