The Incredible Jimmy Smith at Club Baby Grand, Vol. 1

Performer: Jimmy Smith (Organ)
Producer: Alfred Lion
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Jimmy Smith (organ); Thornel Schwartz (guitar); Donald Bailey (drums). The master of the Hammond B-3 struts his stuff on this intimate live date. Recorded at Club Baby Grand in Delaware, this four-track program features the great Jimmy Smith laying down cool-toned slabs of soul-jazz in definitive fashion. With a bit more of an edge that the sometimes supper-club vibe of his studio releases, LIVE AT THE BABY GRAND VOL. 1 is a treat for Smith fans. Smith is joined for the set by drummer Donald Bailey and guitarist Thornel Schwartz, and the level of musical communication runs high. Whether on stretched-out versions of Sweet Georgia Brown" or "The Preacher," groove is paramount, and Bailey and Schwartz give Smith plenty of room to wield his matchless keyboard skills.

Though he was a late bloomer (he didn't start playing organ until age 28), Jimmy Smith is the single most influential figure in the history of jazz organ. He was the pioneering force in making the organ a lead instrument. And while he had bebop chops aplenty, his blues/R&B influences and preference for space over clutter also made him an icon of the subsequent acid jazz movement. Though his heyday was in the 1960s, the larger-than-life organist blazed ahead for decades afterward, until his death in February 2005.

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