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The Wild Hammond B3 Of Jimmy Smith

The Wild Hammond B3 Of Jimmy Smith

The Hammond sound is a significant part of the fusion of soul, jazz and popular music. Its distinctive, lush textures adding an almost religious groove to any song. And among the mighty practitioners of the Hammond, Jimmy Smith is pure royalty. Switching from piano to the Hammond in the early ‘50s, Jimmy Smith signed to Bluenote in the 1950s and quickly established himself as a soulful jazz stylist through his formidable playing. In 1962 he was signed by Verve Records and began to work with big band set ups as well as forging a fine musical relationship with guitarist Wes Montgomery. Working with Lalo Schifrin, Kenny Burrell and George Benson, Smith began to achieve crossover success and in the UK a reputation on the mod scene followed, where along with Jimmy McGriff and Jack McDuff, cool jazz sounds mixed perfectly with northern soul, bluebeat and the emerging beat bands of the day. "When we speak about the Hammond B3," states Ron Goldstein, President of The Verve Music Group who worked closely with Smith on his most recent album Dot Com Blues, "there is nobody better than Jimmy. Though the organ faded into obscurity for a while, now it's on everybody's records!" Lost Tunes includes the soulful, gritty, almost-gospel sound of Stay Loose, with Stanley Turrentine and Phil Upchurch also features and Root Down, the funky masterpiece that’s been reinterpreted by The Beastie Boys. Both show different aspects of Jimmy Smith’s formidable fast hand technique and his wantonly hip rhythms, a trademark sound that’s recognizable anywhere. According to Pete Fallico’s Smith biography from 1994, Smith claimed he came about the sound when; '''I pulled out that third harmonic and there! The bulb lit up, thunder and lightning! Stars came out of the sky!" Jimmy emerged from that warehouse a new and different organist with a truly original approach and registration. His new sound would prove to be the standard for Jazz organists who followed.’ Jimmy Smith - Root Down

George Shearing - Jazz Legend [coming soon]

A legendary pianist whose Wikipedia listing has him down as a purveyor of “cool jazz”, George Shearing was born in Battersea but became a naturalised American citizen.

George Shearing - Jazz Legend [coming soon]

A legendary pianist whose Wikipedia listing has him down as a purveyor of “cool jazz”, George Shearing was born in Battersea but became a naturalised American citizen. The blind pianist who legendarily played for three American presidents at the Whitehouse, was awarded an OBE and also performed for the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance, Shearing became a cult figure whose improvisational style set him aside as one of the greats. “You can't say that improvisation is something that you can train yourself to do,” he told an interviewer in 1966. “It's a question of gift and personal creativity. You can learn what it takes to improvise - all the necessary techniques. But you cannot learn improvisation itself.” That epic style and Shearing’s very Englishness also saw him penciled into Jack Kerouac’s legendary beat novel, On The Road when Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty hear Shearing play at Birdland, the New York jazz club. It's 1949, and Shearing has been in America only two years. He's still an exotic character, "with a delicate English-summer's-night air about him," Kerouac writes. Cult icon status doesn’t get any better than that.

Elvin Jones - Elvin!

A third solo album from 1961 from the Coltrane drummer who played on the legendary A Love Supreme, Elvin! is something of an antidote to his avant garde day job, with a swinging be bop groove on a set from his six piece band that featured his brothers Hank on piano and Thad on cornet. The mood is bluesy on the likes of Shadowland, with Hank’s piano dictating the show as Elvin whoops it up elsewhere on this truly fine set.