Jimmy Smith: Four Classic Albums Second Set - Live 2-CD uusi

Jimmy Smith – (Live) Four Classic Albums Second Set (Avid Jazz 2020) 2-CD uusi

Live At Club “Baby Grand” Vol. 1 (1957)

Live At Club “Baby Grand” Vol. 2 (1957)

Groovin’ At Smalls’ Paradise Vol. 1 (1958)

Groovin’ At Smalls’ Paradise Vol. 2 (1958)

Label:Avid Jazz – AMSC1381

Series:Four Classic Albums

Format:2 x CD, Compilation

Country:UK

Released:2020

Genre:Jazz

Style:Hard Bop, Soul-Jazz

TRACKS:

Live At Club “Baby Grand” Vol. 1

1-1Introduction

1-2Sweet Georgia Brown

1-3Where Or When

1-4The Preacher

1-5Rosetta

Live At Club “Baby Grand” Vol. 2

1-6Caravan

1-7Love Is A Many Splendored Thing

1-8Get Happy

1-9It's Alright With Me

Groovin’ At Smalls’ Paradise Vol. 1

2-1After Hours

2-2Slightly Monkish

2-3Laura

Groovin’ At Smalls’ Paradise Vol. 2

2-4Imagination

2-5 Just Friends

2-6Lover Man

2-7Body & Soul

2-8Indiana

Review

This handy Avid pairing unites all four of Smith's earliest live recordings, which originally appeared over four LPs on Blue Note. A set apiece from Club Baby Grand in Wilmington, Delaware and Harlem's Smalls, they present the great organist in his preferred trio format, sans any of the additional horns Messrs Lion and Wolff were apt to add to his studio dates. In essence, they are ‘working’ records inasmuch as their contents are Smith's contemporary gig repertoire captured in perpetuity. But what an act! At opposite ends of the spectrum you'll find blistering assaults like ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ (Baby Grand) and slow groovers like ‘After Hours’ (Smalls).

In between, Smith takes apart everything from Earl Hines ‘Rosetta’ to Horace Silver's ‘The Preacher’ and sounds like he's having the time of his life, but like some of Avid's other similarly neat double-CD collections that make neat discographical sense there's also a drawback in such a concentration of music.

Magnificent as Smith was, every so often you hanker for a saxophone or trumpet solo to leaven the mix. That's a minor carp, of course, because what's on offer is definitive stuff, made all the more attractive for its budget price. Indeed, don't overlook the fact that with Universal still sorting out its Blue Note reissue plan, releases like this are now doubly important. All in all, a great introduction to Smith at his stripped-down best.