Jimmy Smith on Hip-O

[jostber]

Two Jimmy Smith Verve originals on one CD soon to be released on the great Hip-O Select label:

http://www.hip-oselect.com/scr.public.product.asp?product_id=BAD2425C-B612-4779-A4C1-DFF3DB1199E8&cat_id=D1A76E84-C7EF-42B5-A176-D09C914BB38D

[Man with the Golden Arm]

"Mickey Mouse" bonus

wazzat!?

[Dan Gould]

The first looks like a good 'un to have available but I'm not so sure about anything "sweetened by a string section".

[CJ Shearn]

I may pick this up b/c I have a crappy sounding burn of "Respect" from Rhapsody

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

The first looks like a good 'un to have available but I'm not so sure about anything "sweetened by a string section".

"Livin' it up" is not bad, but the usual recipe from Smith/Nelson. It was reissued a couple of years ago (coupled with "Blussmith") by a Russian firm. A GOOD coupling would have been "Bluessmith" and "Respect".

MG

[Man with the Golden Arm]

... and then 'Livin' It Up!' and 'MONSTER' (dammit!)

[Dan Gould]

Bluesmith is the one that I've wanted to find - now I see some kinda expensive CDs and a variety of LPs available but I haven't pulled the trigger yet.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i have never even heard a jimmy smith verve record, what is up with those? so there jimmy + oliver nelson big band for like every album? ehhhhhhhh........what did MGM do to him? gimme Club Baby Grand vol. 1 any day!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

There's some excellent live stuff on Verve; sessions in Hamburg, Paris, Atlanta and LA spring to mind immediately. Of the studio material, two of the best are "Respect" - two small bands with Eric Gale or Thornell Schwartz, Bushnell or Carter, Bernard Purdie or Grady Tate - and "Organ grinder's swing" - a trio with Burrell & Tate. Don't automatically think it's crap because it ain't Blue Note. And on Mercury, there's "It's necessary", recorded live at Jimmy's own club in LA, with Teddy Edwards, Harold Land, Blue Mitchell and Ray Crawford. I can't help thinking you'd want that, Chewy.

MG

[CJ Shearn]

"It's Necessary" is Jimmy's only Mercury session worth investigating IMHO.

Edited June 5, 2010 by CJ Shearn

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Come, come, young sir - surely THIS is worth investigating?

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Oh, did you mean for MUSICAL reasons?

MG

[CJ Shearn]

Oh, did you mean for MUSICAL reasons?

MG

yep.

[CJ Shearn]

All the Paris material is available on 2 Laserlight sets, Salle Pleyel, May 28, 1965 and I think November 20th 1968, and a date in 1969 for the other. I think the latter show is on the Jazz Icons DVD.

Edited June 5, 2010 by CJ Shearn

[Man with the Golden Arm]

i have never even heard a jimmy smith verve record, what is up with those? so there jimmy + oliver nelson big band for like every album?

is this serious!? alas poor aric we knew him well.

simply, have you not cranked the hell out of "Walk on the Wild Side" ?, yes, true it was just a jukebox single that was completely off the mark from the BNs before blah de blah - but Ed Freekin Shaughnessy slowly setting up Jimmy and skittering alongside the tension for one of the greatest organ solos everrr! Make that greatest covers everrr! hitch up the horses!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igXzNaCQwUE

Edited June 5, 2010 by Man with the Golden Arm

[Jim Alfredson]

Bluesmith is a great side. Got it on vinyl.

Not having any Verve Jimmy Smith is a crime.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

All the Paris material is available on 2 Laserlight sets, Salle Pleyel, May 28, 1965 and I think November 20th 1968, and a date in 1969 for the other. I think the latter show is on the Jazz Icons DVD.

I have 2 Laserlight CDs from this gig. Both discs list 28 May 1965, but for "Night in Tunisia" on disc 2 which was listed as 24 Nov 1965. Don't know anything about a 1968/69 recording.

And the trio was Quentin Warren and Billy BMF Hart.

MG

[CJ Shearn]

I have the Paris stuff as well, the 68/69 stuff is with Nathan Page on guitar, Donald Bailey on drums and the '69 gig is with Eddie McFadden on guitar and Anthony Crosby on drums. It's funny that Smith didn't get with McFadden and Bailey again. The only post BN dates I know with Bailey on drums with Jimmy are "Bashin", "The Boss" and the Salle Pleyel '68 gig. http://www.amazon.com/Pleyel-Nov-1968-Dec-1969/dp/B00006IJ0H/ref=sr_1_120?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1275766662&sr=1-120

[JETman]

Do we really need more subpar Jimmy Smith to be reissued?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I have the Paris stuff as well, the 68/69 stuff is with Nathan Page on guitar, Donald Bailey on drums and the '69 gig is with Eddie McFadden on guitar and Anthony Crosby on drums. It's funny that Smith didn't get with McFadden and Bailey again. The only post BN dates I know with Bailey on drums with Jimmy are "Bashin", "The Boss" and the Salle Pleyel '68 gig. http://www.amazon.com/Pleyel-Nov-1968-Dec-1969/dp/B00006IJ0H/ref=sr_1_120?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1275766662&sr=1-120

I like this note on that link you posted (for which many thanks, must get it)

Original Release Date: May 28, 1965

This is the alternative universe, of which we've heard so much, no doubt.

MG

Do we really need more subpar Jimmy Smith to be reissued?

Yes. With popular entertainers like Jimmy Smith, it's important to get a grip on the rubbish, as well as the mediochre and the good, and not just stick to the great. Because it's all part of what his thing was.

MG

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

oh i have the 'its necessary"...

[CJ Shearn]

I have the Paris stuff as well, the 68/69 stuff is with Nathan Page on guitar, Donald Bailey on drums and the '69 gig is with Eddie McFadden on guitar and Anthony Crosby on drums. It's funny that Smith didn't get with McFadden and Bailey again. The only post BN dates I know with Bailey on drums with Jimmy are "Bashin", "The Boss" and the Salle Pleyel '68 gig. http://www.amazon.com/Pleyel-Nov-1968-Dec-1969/dp/B00006IJ0H/ref=sr_1_120?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1275766662&sr=1-120

I like this note on that link you posted (for which many thanks, must get it)

Original Release Date: May 28, 1965

This is the alternative universe, of which we've heard so much, no doubt.

MG

Do we really need more subpar Jimmy Smith to be reissued?

Yes. With popular entertainers like Jimmy Smith, it's important to get a grip on the rubbish, as well as the mediochre and the good, and not just stick to the great. Because it's all part of what his thing was.

It's better they reissue "Respect" and "Livin it Up" rather than "Sit on It" and "Unfinished Business". Verve already reissued "The Boss" but I wish they had restored/expanded it like "Root Down". Maybe Hip-o can tackle his Mojo era albums. You're welcome MG. I think the '69 set is the stronger of the two, again I know he did two shows that one day in '69, I don't know if it's the same as the Jazz Icons DVD, or the other show

Edited June 6, 2010 by CJ Shearn

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

hey so what WAS the deal anyway? jimmys BN contract ran out, and he hopped over to verve, or jimmy just split and let BN issue all the unissued jimmy ie. open house plantalk et al, to fill out the contract, or what was the beef? they touched upon it in that old blue note docu. from the 90s...but they made it seem like it was a big deal-- whats the real story?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

According to a Leonard Woolf interview on BBC radio in '69 (about the time he recorded "The flip") Blue Note didn't pay royalties - they paid cash. They paid more cash than their immediate compe titors and also paid for rehearsal time. This was fine for the musicians until they got a hit record. When that happened, the aggrieved musician would turn up at the office and look for royalties. And be told to fuck off.

JOS was the first one this happened to. "Midnight special" and "Chicken Shack" were both big hits; no royalties. So Jimmy went to Verve and recorded "Bashin'", from which "Walk on the wild side" was a big pop hit. But he still had a contract with Blue Note, under which he owed them 4 more LPs.

So, early in 1963, he did four more sessions.

31 Jan 1963 - I'm movin' on (with Grant Green)

1 Feb 1963 - Bucket (Quentin & Donald)

7 Feb 1963 - Rockin the boat (with Lou Donaldson)

8 Feb 1963 - Prayer meetin' (with Stanley Turrentine)

This WAS a big deal for Blue Note, because the last 3 were all hits. I love those four sessions - Jimmy was so relaxed and informal about them.

"Open house" and "Plain talk" were recorded before the "Chicken Shack" session but, like lots of other Blue Note stuff, not released at the time.

Lou Donaldson and Donald Byrd got the same treatment, when they had hit albums. Lou went to Chess, Byrd to MGM. So did Grant Green, whose records were selling well, though not hits. Woolf implied that, when Lee and Horace had hits, they had to change the BN business plan - and this was a contributory factor in the decision to sell to Liberty.

MG

[CJ Shearn]

Interesting regarding the royalties. So Jimmy had a bitter fall out with Blue Note? Obviously he'd return to the label for three more albums: "Go For Whatcha Know" for the "new" Blue Note in '86, and the Japan live sessions licensed to BN from Somethin Else.