Jimmy Smith - Jimmy Smith at Club Baby Grand, Vol. 2 (RVG Edition)
ARTIST.....: Jimmy Smith
TITLE......: Jimmy Smith at Club Baby Grand, Vol. 2 (RVG Edition)
LABEL......: Bluenote Records
URL........: http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7623497
RIP DATE...: Mar-21-2008
STORE DATE.: Mar-11-2008
GENRE......: Jazz
QUALITY....: VBR / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
SIZE.......: 35,2 MB
Track Listing:
01 - Caravan 10:21
02 - Love Is A Many Splendored Thing 10:46
03 - Get Happy 07:26
04 - It's Allright With Me 11:53
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40:26 min
Release Notes:
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. Working with guitarist Thornel Schwartz and his
longtime drummer Donald Bailey (who worked with Smith throughout
his Blue Note years), Smith is 90 percent of the show here,
bursting out with amazing rapid runs on the B-3, filling the air
from one end of the room to the other as only he could. This
second volume draws three of its four tracks from the second
afternoon set ("Get Happy" is from the last set of the evening
show) and is highlighted by the opening track, a ten-plus-minute
version of Duke Ellington's "Caravan" that turns on Schwartz's
fine guitar leads. Otherwise, it's all Jimmy Smith, who careens,
bolts, stutters, glides, and flashes notes all over the place at a
frequently breathless pace, and if Smith's studio work is
generally more structured, arranged, and considered (but only a
little more so), this set shows him in what was his natural
habitat, astounding an audience in a small club.