Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

RADIO June 27, 2020

James Bond and other Secret Agents, Spies and Detectives - Part 2

In the first part of the show [click here to listen to it] we focuse on jazz inspired by the music composed by James Barry for the James Bond series. Here we switch our attention to other great soundtrack composers like Lalo Schifrin, or Quincy Jones, and other movie characters like Sherlock Holmes, Ms. Marple, Nero Wolfe or Dirty Harry. And we look into how Charlie Parker became Charlie Chan. We then wrap things up with the daughter of the ...

REASSESSING June 20, 2020

Back At The Chicken Shack

By Thomas Fletcher

Back At The Chicken Shack celebrates 60 years since its recording date at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs. The same session produced Midnight Special (Blue Note, 1961), though Back At The Chicken Shack would have to wait three years for its release. The label's co-founder, Alfred Lion, later revealed that the healthy sales of this album, alongside many others from Jimmy Smith, kept the record company afloat. The album features, at the time, a youthful but ...

RADIO April 7, 2020

The Soul Jazz Organ of Jimmy Smith, Baby Face Willette, Shirley Scott (1957 - 1965)

By Russell Perry

Rarely has a jazz instrument been so completely redefined as the organ was at the hands of Jimmy Smith. In his wake, the Hammond B3 organ gained wide-spread popularity and attracted a suite of talented adherents. B3 players Jimmy Smith, Baby Face Willette and Shirley Scott in this hour of Jazz at 100 as we continue to explore Soul Jazz in the 1960s. Playlist Host Intro 0:00 Jimmy Smith Trio “After Hours" from Groovin' at Smalls' Paradise (Blue ...

MY BLUE NOTE OBSESSION October 1, 2015

Jimmy Smith: Groovin’ at Smalls Paradise – 1957

By Marc Davis

I love the jazz organ. I love Jimmy Smith. But I don't love Groovin' at Smalls Paradise. When Smith burst onto the scene in 1956, he was a genuine phenomenon. Not only was he wildly popular, but also wildly prolific. In just three years, from 1956 to 1958, Smith put out a mind-boggling 23 albums. Blue Note had a bona fide star, and the label sure knew how to milk the craze. Some of those records ...

BUILDING A JAZZ LIBRARY May 1, 2015

Jimmy Smith: Master of the Hammond B-3

By Mark Sabbatini

Jimmy Smith ignited a jazz revolution on an instrument associated at the time with ballparks, despite never playing one until the age of 28. His legendary multi-part technique on the Hammond B-3 organ, playing bass with the foot pedals and Charlie Parker-like single-line passages with his right hand, shook up the traditional trio as co-players could explore new roles. Yet, while the consensus is Smith's playing is a jazz landmark, his recordings fall short of such acclaim.

MY BLUE NOTE OBSESSION February 10, 2015

Jimmy Smith: Midnight Special – Blue Note 4078

By Marc Davis

The history of jazz is filled with great pairs: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn--Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker--Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond--Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul. Add one more pair to the list: Jimmy Smith and Stanley Turrentine. Smith was the ground-breaking organist, steeped in the blues, who introduced the Hammond B-3 as a legitimate hard bop alternative to the piano. Turrentine was the legendary tenor saxman, steeped in the blues, who became synonymous with 1960s ...

MY BLUE NOTE OBSESSION August 26, 2014

Jimmy Smith: A New Sound, A New Star, Vol. 1 and 2 – Blue Note 1512 and 1514

By Marc Davis

Listening to Jimmy Smith's early recordings is like listening to Chuck Berry play “Johnny B. Goode." Today, every rock guitarist from junior high school on knows the riff and can play it by heart. But Chuck Berry did it first, and arguably best. There were no great rock guitar licks before Chuck Berry. He created the template. It's the same with Jimmy Smith. Today, there are dozens of jazz organists who can play bop, blues and beyond. They're ...