Jimmy Smith brought the Hammond organ into hard bop and jazz in the 1950s, and his piano-fast solo runs on the instrument have never been equaled. This warm set from Blue Note Records, the label where Smith built most of his impressive legacy, selects eight of his performances for the label, including a 20-minute (and ten second) version of "The Sermon," the bouncing "Back at the Chicken Shack," and a fun romp through "See See Rider," among other delights, making this a quick introduction to the peak creative era of this one-of-a-kind jazz artist's long career.

Jimmy Smith recorded for Blue Note so frequently during the late '50s that many of his sessions remained unreleased for years. The music that comprises Lonesome Road sat in the vaults for years, until the Japanese division of Blue Note released the album in the '80s. Since Smith had so many albums on the market, it's understandable that Blue Note wanted to limit the number of records they released from him, but the music on Lonesome Road is almost as fine as that on The Sermon or Groovin' at Small's Paradise.

Damn! marked Jimmy Smith's return to the Verve label after an absence of 20-plus years (he originally recorded for the label from 1963 to 1972), and paired with a group of young and sympathetic jazz players that includes Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton on trumpet and Ron Blake and Mark Tuner on sax, he sounds invigorated here, striding across the Hammond B-3 keys with definite energy. The whole album, start to finish, works a wonderful groove, but versions here of James Brown's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man," and Charlie Parker's "Scrapple from the Apple" are particularly strong. Smith was arguably at his best in stripped-down trios, and his work for Blue Note between 1956 and 1960 will always be the quality reference point for his extensive canon, but Damn! is right up there with his best work, full of a joyous energy, and it sparked a resurgence of sorts for Smith.

Granted, a single-disc overview of Blue Note's finest recordings can't help but offer listeners more than a myopic view of the label's true scope, but for jazz neophytes, this nine-track collection will undoubtedly serve as a tantalizing taste of the company's riches. The song selection, though lacking few surprises, is consistently wonderful – how could a disc featuring John Coltrane's "Blue Train," Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage," Horace Silver's "Song for My Father" and Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder" be anything but? – and purists' complaints aside, for new fans it's a solid introduction to the Blue Note magic.

Blue Note's So Blue, So Funky, Vol. 1 is a 12-track compilation that highlights the funkiest soul-jazz organists that recorded for the label, whether it was a leader or as a sideman. Although there's a handful of cuts from the early '60s, such as "Face to Face" by the terrific, underrated Baby Face Willette, the compilation leans toward the funky fusions of the late '60s, such as Big John Patton's "Fat Judy," Lou Donaldson's "Everything I Do Is Gon' Be Funky (From Now On)," Jack McDuff's "Butter for Yo' Popcorn" and Grant Green's "Ain't It Funky Now." The best thing about this comp is that even though it has familiar names, not all of the material is readily available on CD, which makes it of interest to casual groove fans and serious collectors alike.

"Home Cookin'", "Crazy! Baby", "Midnight Special", "Back At The Chicken Shack", "Softly As A Summer Breeze".
A pioneer of soul-jazz who revolutionized the Hammond organ, turning it into one of the most incisive, dynamic jazz instruments of its time. Jimmy Smith wasn't the first organ player in jazz, but no one had a greater influence with the instrument than he did; Smith coaxed a rich, grooving tone from the Hammond B-3, and his sound and style made him a top instrumentalist in the 1950s and '60s, while a number of rock and R&B keyboardists would learn valuable lessons from Smith's example.

These sessions live at Art D'Lugoff's Village Gate night club in Greenwich Village on May 31, 1963 were at one point previously unreleased, eventually issued by the short-lived Metro subsidiary of MGM on vinyl sometime after being recorded. The session is barely over 30 minutes, the sound is a bit thin (but not to its detriment), but Smith's playing is peerless as always, and his band with guitarist Quentin Warren and young drummer Billy Hart may be a curiosity for some. Warren is not the best or most adept plectrist Smith had employed, but gets the job done in a quiet, unassuming manner. Well before hitting his stride as a premier progressive jazz performer, Hart's style is set apart from soul-jazz drummers like Donald Bailey, Billy James, or Bernard Purdie, using looser rhythmic associations instead of hard-edged funky beats…

The combination of organist Jimmy Smith teamed with Oliver Nelson's big band featuring Nelson and Claus Ogerman's arrangements has arguably yielded mixed results. "Walk on the Wild Side" is probably the most acclaimed and potent of the pairings, while "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" produces more questions than answers. The music tends to be corny and overly dramatic, based in soul-jazz and boogaloo; it's dated even for this time period (1964) and a bit bland. Disparate elements clash rather than meld, the title track and "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" being perfect examples. If you can get beyond the hokey 007 theatrics, patriotic splashes, and sleigh bells, you do hear Smith jamming…

What you see is what you get, an excellent little compilation of the various faces of soul-jazz as presented by the Verve label with their amazing array of artists from Hugh Masekela to Willie Bobo and Herbie Mann on the one hand, and Dizzy Gillespie, Jon Hendricks (in an outstanding reading of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man") the Heath Brothers, and Teddy Edwards on the other. The track list is wonderfully varied, too: there's a smoking version of Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" by Masekela, a pair by Jimmy Smith, and a big band – a new entry by the acid jazz group the James Taylor Quartet, but they get it deep; and Wynton Kelly goes deep into soul and blues with "Escapade." Anyway you cut it, it comes out great.

Toward the end of his stint with Blue Note, Jimmy Smith's albums became predictable. Moving to Verve in the mid-'60s helped matters considerably, since he started playing with new musicians (most notably nice duets with Wes Montgomery) and new settings, but he never really got loose, as he did on select early Blue Note sessions. Part of the problem was that Smith's soul-jazz was organic and laid-back, relaxed and funky instead of down and dirty. For latter-day listeners, aware of his reputation as the godfather of modern soul-jazz organ (and certainly aware of the Beastie Boys' name drop), that may mean that Smith's actual albums all seem a bit tame and restrained, classy, not funky. That's true of the bulk of Smith's catalog, with the notable exception of Root Down…

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 he was still the next big thing on the block when he recorded two LP volumes live over the course of two afternoon sets and three evening sets on August 4, 1956, at Club Baby Grand in Wilmington, DE. Smith had already tracked three successful studio LPs for Blue Note Records at sessions held earlier in the year in February, March, and June, and the time seemed right to present him in a concert setting where the full whirlwind force of his speedy playing could be best appreciated…

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 he was still the next big thing on the block when he recorded two LP volumes live over the course of two afternoon sets and three evening sets on August 4, 1956, at Club Baby Grand in Wilmington, DE. Smith had already tracked three successful studio LPs for Blue Note Records at sessions held earlier in the year in February, March, and June, and the time seemed right to present him in a concert setting where the full whirlwind force of his speedy playing could be best appreciated…