JIMMY SIMTH
At the Organ, Volume 3
Blue
Note
When Jimmy Smith at the Organ, V. 3
was released, it was this newcomer’s third release
in four months. This outpouring of music occurred during
a series of marathon sessions resulting in the CDs Jimmy
Smith at the Organ, volumes 1,2, and 3. This third was recorded
during consecutive days, June 17 and 18, 1956. Needless
to say, Smith provided a high level of output in his initial
years behind the organ, and he continued to be prodigious
throughout his lengthy career.
How amazing, then, to consider that Smith
converted from piano to organ in 1955 after hearing Wild
Bill Davis. He spent several months in ’55 teaching
himself the instrument and exploring its unrealized potential.
"When finally I got enough money for a down payment
on my own organ I put it in a warehouse and I took a big
sheet of paper and drew a floor plan of the pedals,”
he told Leonard Feather. “Anytime I wanted to gauge
the spaces and where to drop my foot down on which pedal,
I'd look at the chart. I'd eat breakfast and then take my
lunch to the warehouse with me and stay there until I was
satisfied that I'd done what I needed to for that day."
In the summer of ’55 he began playing
live in Atlantic City, and by fall of that year he had a
regular trio and was being managed by Babs Gonzales, who
commented, upon hearing Smith for the first time: “What
I heard was a cat playing forty choruses of Georgia Brown
in pure 'Nashua' tempo and never repeating. I heard futuristic,
stratospheric sounds that were never before explored on
the organ." Following gigs in New York at Small’s
Paradise in Harlem and uptown at Café Bohemia, Smith
was signed by Blue Note’s Alfred Lion, who wasted
no time in recording the organ sensation.
At the Organ V. 3 shows all of the revolutionary
qualities that Smith was applying to the organ, but it also
allows the listener to hear some of Smith’s influences
more readily than a lot of his later recordings. One can
hear traces of the pioneering approach to jazz organ of
Fats Waller in Smith’s rendition of “I Can’t
Give You Anything But Love” or of Errol Garner, a
favorite pianist of Smith’s, on “I Cover the
Waterfront.” He demonstrates the pioneering use of
single-note right hand lines to imitate the horn players
of the day on “Willow Weep for Me” and “Well,
You Needn’t.” He even offers some futuristic-sounding
organ effects that surely must have blown listeners’
minds back in ’56 on “Judo Mambo” and
“Slightly Monkish.” More important, for those
who consider Smith to be primarily a blues-influenced player
whose output is comprised largely of greasy blues/proto-funk
and R&B influences, Smith can be heard here as the premiere
jazz player and improviser that he is. He could play Monk
well, and he could compose his own numbers that were as
innovative as what almost any jazz musician you could name—witness
“Judo Mambo” and “Slightly Monkish.”
Accompanying Smith on At the Organ is a rock-solid
trio comprised of guitarist Thornel Schwartz and drummer
Donald Bailey. Schwartz, who came from Philadelphia, had
played with singer Freddy Cole and counted among his influences
Tal Farlow and Kenny Burrell. Bailey, who comes from a musical
family, is another Philadelphia native and self-taught.
His drumming style was influenced by Philly Joe Jones, Max
Roach, and Art Blakey. Bailey continued to work with Smith
on many subsequent Blue Note recordings, while Schwartz
later recorded with organist Larry Young.
It’s hard to recommend a starting place
for listeners new to Smith and/or jazz organ, but if one
is a serious student of the instrument, one could hardly
do better than to start with the At the Organ V. 1-3 series.
These performances show what Smith was doing when he emerged
as a major jazz artist and presage all of his later work.
Those expecting a soul/blues workout in the style of The
Sermon may be a little disappointed, but others will most
certainly be well satisfied.
