Jimmy Smith reinvented the Hammond organ in the 1950s and 1960s and his Blue Note sessions from 1956 to 1963 drove the increasing popularity of the instrument in jazz ensembles thereafter.
Smith drew all the possibilities from the instrument, exploring its unusual sonic diversity, spinning out walking bass lines and chording with his left hand, while soloing with the right hand. He took the core elements of R&B, blues, and gospel, added bebop flourishes and manufactured a dynamic, even sparkling panorama of sound. For a typical display, listen to his spectacular take on Duke Ellington's Caravan, track one on Live at the Club Baby Grand Vol 2, included on this wondrously variegated five-CD package. That's an uptempo one, and the pace slows down on what follows, a bluesy, adventurous reading of Love Is A Many Splendored Thing. The Fats Waller treatments, the matter of another CD here, are also fascinating to hear, he took the core inspiration of the tunes and did something new with them.
Smith learned piano both from his parents, and later was a keen student at music academies in Philadelphia. He started playing the Hammond in 1951 and made his debut New York performance at the Café Bohemia, followed in time by a Birdland gig and then the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival appearance.
The affable Hammond genius regularly performed at small jazz clubs and big jazz festivals until his death in February of 2005. His collaborators on these five albums include guitarist Kenny Burrell, trumpeter Lee Morgan and drummers Art Blakey and Donald Bailey.
