Hobo Flats [Digipak]

Performer: Jimmy Smith (Organ)
Engineer: Ray Hall; Val Valentin; Bob Simpson
Producer: Creed Taylor; Harry Weinger (Reissue)
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Arranger: Oliver Nelson. When it comes to the classic jazz organ sound--based in a mingling of hard bop and influences of blues and gospel--Jimmy Smith was first among equals. Among many other musical virtues, his organ tone was simultaneously thick and yet highly nimble. While most of Smith's recordings find him in small-to-medium-sized groups, 1963's HOBO FLATS features big band arrangements by the great Oliver Nelson. As a counter to Smith's bluesy, funky style, Nelson's orchestrations exude sweeping, cinematic scope, giving the songs plenty of sentiment and drama.

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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