Requisites

Crazy! Baby ~ Jimmy Smith | By Eddie Carter

The Incredible Jimmy Smith steps into the spotlight for this morning’s discussion with his first release of the sixties and fifteenth of his career.  Crazy! Baby (Blue Note BLP 4030) is a 1960 trio album featuring the organist’s bandmates, Quentin Warren on guitar, and Donald Bailey on drums.  My copy used in this report is the 1966 Liberty Records Stereo reissue (BST 84030).

When Johnny Comes Marching Home, the album opener has been around since 1863 and the Civil War. I first heard the 45-rpm single of this song in 1962 and was blown away by the group’s musicianship. Quentin is up first after the ensemble’s introduction and marching theme for an opening statement that goes down smoothly and easily like chilled Chardonnay. Jimmy follows with one of his meatiest solos, nearly five-minutes of electrifying jazz preceding the out-chorus march and trio vanishing. Makin’ Whoopee by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson premiered in the 1928 Broadway musical, Whoopee! The trio eases into the wonderfully nostalgic theme and Smith executes a marvelous mellow interpretation with a stunning bass line using his left foot.

A Night In Tunisia by Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Paparelli was first sung as a vocal by Sarah Vaughan under the title Interlude on the 1950 album, Hot Jazz. This 1942 Bebop classic is one of Gillespie’s most recorded tunes and the trio establishes the opening chorus made famous by Dizzy.  Jimmy kicks off the lead solo with a riveting performance. Quentin closes with a funky statement matched by Donald’s rocking timekeeping propelling the trio into a thrilling coda.

Sonnymoon For Two is by tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins and the composer introduced it on the 1957 album, A Night at The Village Vanguard. The group opens with a bluesy melody, then Warren dances and grooves on two short, but strong verses.  Jimmy comes in next for some extensive wailing on the finale before the reprise and fadeout.  Mack The Knife by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht made its debut in the 1928 German play, The Threepenny Opera.  This jazz and pop evergreen is a showcase for Smith who does a superlative job illustrating the title character in a thoroughly satisfying performance.

Up next is the thoughtfully pensive ballad by Bob Haggart and Johnny Burke, What’s New?  Smith starts with a delicately wistful melody, segueing into a melancholic one-sided interpretation reflecting on the love that’s now just a memory before ending his conversation in grand fashion.  The album closes with Smith’s dedication to Blue Note co-founder Alfred Lion, Alfredo.  The trio flows vibrantly on the melody into Quentin soloing first with a leisurely, carefree swing that’ll get fingers snapping and toes tapping.  Jimmy raises the temperature on a vivaciously brisk closing presentation taking no prisoners into the ending.

Rudy Van Gelder’s recording has a pleasant soundstage across the treble, midrange and bass spectrum resulting in sweet sounds emerging from your speakers that make this LP an easy choice to recommend for your library.  If you’re a fan of jazz organ or are just discovering the music of Jimmy Smith, I submit for your consideration, Crazy! Baby.  It’s a tasty combination of Hard-Bop and Soul-Jazz that once heard, you’ll want to replay repeatedly!

~ A Night at The Village Vanguard (Blue Note BLP 1581/BST 81581); Hot Jazz (Remington RLP-1024) – Source: Discogs.com ~ A Night In Tunisia, Mack The Knife, Makin’ Whoopee, What’s New? – Source: JazzStandards.com ~ When Johnny Comes Marching Home – Source: Wikipedia.org ~ When Johnny Comes Marching Home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YpKGKF7_XY ~ A Night In Tunisia – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3c-564EE0o © 2020 by Edward Thomas Carter Synopsis

Crazy! Baby is an album by jazz organist Jimmy Smith with performances that were recorded on January 4, 1960 and released by Blue Note. This was the first album Smith recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Tracks | 37:08

1. When Johnny Comes Marching Home (Traditional) – 7:58
2. Makin’ Whoopee (Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn) – 4:57
3. A Night in Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie) – 5:40
4. Sonnymoon for Two (Sonny Rollins) – 7:15
5. Mack the Knife (Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill) – 4:58
6. What’s New? (Bob Haggart, Johnny Burke) – 3:50
7. Alfredo (Jimmy Smith) – 4:30

• Jimmy Smith – organ
• Quentin Warren – guitar
• Donald Bailey – drums

• Alfred Lion – producer
• Rudy Van Gelder – engineer
• Reid Miles – design
• Bob Ganley – photography
• Leonard Feather – liner notes

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Three Wishes

During girl talk with Shirley Scott, Nica asked her if she was given three wishes what would they be, and she replied:

1. 1. “I wish my children could have everything. Anything that would be good for them.”

   2. “Good health for my husband’s family and for mine.”

   3. “Happiness.”

*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Marlowe Morris, born May 16, 1915 in New York City, New York and learned drums, harmonica, and ukulele as a child. He accompanied June Clark from 1935 to 1937, then played solo for a few years before playing with Coleman Hawkins in 1940–41.

After serving in the Army during World War II, he worked with Toby Browne, Al Sears, Sid Catlett, and Tiny Grimes in addition to leading his own trio in the early and middle 1940s. Marlowe also appeared in the film Jammin’ the Blues in 1944. He quit playing full-time and worked in a post office in the late Forties, then returned in 1949 to play primarily solo organ.

He led a trio in the 1960s with Julian Dash as one of his sidemen, recording for Columbia Records. Morris also recorded with Lester Young, Ben Webster, Big Joe Turner, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Joe Williams and Jimmy Rushing.

A distant relative of jazz pianist Fats Waller, pianist and Hammond organist Marlowe Morris passed away on May 28, 1978 at the age of 63 in New York City.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Joe Mooney was born in Paterson, New Jersey on March 14, 1911 and went blind when he was around 10 years of age. His first job, at age 12, was playing the piano for requests called in to a local radio station. He and his brother, Dan, played together on radio broadcasts in the late 1920s, and recorded between 1929 and 1931 as the Sunshine Boys and the Melotone Boys, both sang while Joe accompanied on piano. They continued performing together on WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio until 1936, after which time Dan Mooney left the music industry.

In 1937, he began working as a pianist and arranger for Frank Dailey, a role he reprised with Buddy Rogers in 1938. Through the early 1940s, Joe arranged for Paul Whiteman, Vincent Lopez, Larry Clinton, Les Brown, and The Modernaires. Putting together his own quartet in 1943, he sang and played the accordion with accompaniment on guitar, bass, and clarinet.

In the last half of the 1940s his group experienced considerable success in the United States. By 1946, a newspaper columnist wrote that Mooney’s music “has the most cynical hot jazz critics describing it in joyous terms, such as exciting, new, the best thing since Ellington, and as new to jazz as the first Dixieland jazz band was when it first arrived”. As for Mooney himself, the columnist wrote that he “played in virtuoso fashion … a fellow who knows not only his instrument, but jazz music, both to just about the ultimate degree.”

In the 1950s, Mooney sang with the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra and played with Johnny Smith in 1953. After moving to Florida in 1954 he concentrated more on the organ and recorded in 1956. 1963 saw a group of friends form a company to produce a record, Joe Mooney and His Friends. He recorded again in the middle Sixties. Accordionist, organist, and vocalist Joe Mooney passed away after a stroke at age 64, on May 12, 1975, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

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Requisites

House Party is the fourteenth album by jazz organist Jimmy Smith featuring performances recorded in 1957 and 1958 and released on the Blue Note label. Rudy Van Gelder chose the Manhattan Towers Hotel Ballroom in New York City for the recording sessions in 1957-1958, while he was still using his parents’ Hackensack, New Jersey home studio to record artists for Blue Note.

1. Au Privave (Charlie Parker) – 15:09
2. Lover Man (Jimmy Davis, Ram Ramirez, James Sherman) – 7:00
3. Just Friends (John Klenner, Sam M. Lewis) – 15:15
4. Blues After All (Kenny Burrell) – 6:06

• Jimmy Smith – organ
• Lee Morgan – trumpet (tracks 1, 3, 4 & 5)
• Curtis Fuller – trombone (tracks 3 & 4)
• George Coleman – alto saxophone, (tracks 3 & 4)
• Lou Donaldson – alto saxophone, (tracks 1, 2 & 5)
• Tina Brooks – tenor saxophone (tracks 1 & 5)
• Kenny Burrell – guitar, (tracks 1, 4 & 5)
• Eddie McFadden – guitar, (track 2 & 3)
• Donald Bailey – drums, (tracks 2, 3 & 4)
• Art Blakey – drums, (tracks 1 & 5)

• Alfred Lion – producer
• Rudy Van Gelder – engineer
• Reid Miles – design
• Francis Wolff – photography
• Robert Levin – liner notes

Psychologists call it déjà vu, the distinct impression of having had the same experience before, that’s what it was alright, believe me. I was eight years old when I first discovered Jimmy Smith after hearing him on The Sermon (BLP 4011/BST 84011). His contributions to the development of modern jazz on the Hammond organ as a solo instrument helped to popularize it for others who would follow. Smith would ultimately lead me to discover the music of Charles Earland, Richard “Groove” Holmes, Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Don Patterson, John Patton, Freddie Roach, Shirley Scott and Dr. Lonnie Smith who made the organ their primary instrument. Houseparty

(Blue Note BLP 4002) hit the stores in 1958 and was the second album I would hear by the man who jazz critics, fans and fellow musicians called “incredible”.

It was recorded at the same session which produced The Sermon and is Smith’s fourteenth album for Blue Note since his debut, A New Sound, A New Star, Volumes 1 & 2 (BLP 1512/BST 81512 – BLP 1514/BST 81514) in 1956. The supporting cast joining the organist are Lee Morgan on trumpet; Curtis Fuller on trombone; Lou Donaldson and George Coleman on alto sax; Tina Brooks on tenor sax; Kenny Burrell and Eddie McFadden on guitar; Art Blakey and Donald Bailey on drums. I became a huge fan of his playing and purchased as many of his albums as my meager allowance would allow. My copy used for this report is the 1959 US Mono reissue (Blue Note Records, Inc. – 47 West 63rd NYC on the Side 1 label and the Deep Groove only on Side 2 with the label showing Blue Note Records, Inc. – NewYork USA), the 2nd US pressing.

The album opens with a vigorous uptempo workout of the 1951 jazz standard, Au Privave by alto saxophonist Charlie Parker who recorded it for Mercury Records on a 78-rpm single (11087), released the same year. It would reappear on Charlie Parker’s 1958 posthumous Verve Records LP, Swedish Schnapps (MG V-8010). Jimmy opens with a brief introduction, afterward, Lee provides a solo chorus of the melody first, followed by the ensemble who add their own excitement to the uptempo theme. Smith is first in the solo spotlight on the attack with a wailing performance, possessing amazing fluency on each chorus. Morgan adds some bite to the second statement with an intense groove that maintains the cooking intensity from beginning to end.

Donaldson steps in next for a torrid performance which gives off intensive heat. Tina Brooks comes in next, riding hard on the next robust reading, providing scorching verses of infinite effervescence delivered with an aggressive impact. At its conclusion, I wished he could have been featured elsewhere on the LP. Burrell takes over, adding a vigorous reading of his own with skillful authority preceding Jimmy’s returns for a short solo spot ahead of the ensemble’s strong finale.

Of all the songs in The Great American Songbook, Lover Man, in my opinion, is the pinnacle standard of jazz, pop, and soul. It was written by Jimmy Davis, Roger Ramirez, and Jimmy Sherman for Billie Holiday who made it a hit on the pop and R&B charts in 1945. This rendition of the timeless classic highlights Lou Donaldson as the featured soloist with Jimmy’s trio of guitarist Eddie McFadden and drummer Donald Bailey. A hauntingly beautiful bass line by Smith makes the introduction, prior to the saxophonist’s warm, affectionate theme statement. Lou’s alto sax moves up to a sprightly tempo for two lively verses of stimulating solo work before returning to a softer mood for his final chorus.

Eddie and Jimmy each deliver one chorus of intensely persuasive passion, then Lou returns to lead the quartet into a thoughtfully, modest climax. Just Friends, the 1931 popular song by John Klenner and Sam M. Lewis kicks off Side Two at medium-tempo with McFadden leading Smith and Bailey through the bluesy melody. Eddie takes the lead solo, offering the first two of four choruses that are infectiously propulsive with a flowing beat. Jimmy takes the next turn, toning down his searing attack to presenting four choruses of low-keyed swing with a down-home flavor as scrumptious as a good meal. Lee is up next, delivering the next reading with a bright tone,

exemplary poise, and accuracy which is executed beautifully. George Coleman enters the spotlight next, establishing long flowing, graceful lines from his alto sax for a lightly swinging performance of carefree verses. Curtis Fuller conjures up some mellow phrases on the final interpretation preceding the final two choruses by McFadden with Smith and Bailey providing the foundation into the close.

Blues After All is from the pen of Kenny Burrell and our final stop on Houseparty. This slow-tempo blues is of the soul food variety and serves up a solo order of Coleman, Morgan, Fuller, Smith, Burrell. Jimmy brings the song to life with one of the smoothest introductions you’ll ever hear. He also provides the bass line with his left foot while playing chords with his left hand, harmonic and rhythmic lines with his right hand. Kenny’s sensitive approach to the melody is shown to fine advantage as he provides the initial theme. The three horns join the trio when the theme is repeated during the opening and closing chorus. The lead solo by George is a tasteful delight to tempt you for what’s to come, followed by Lee who produces a savory broth of the blues that is slowly simmered to perfection. Curtis comes to the table with a plate of appetizing notes that gives the song a wonderful flavor. Jimmy adds the red beans and rice to our dish on the next performance and Burrell delivers the final ingredient to make the meal complete and end the album on a scrumptious note.

Houseparty was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder who used the Manhattan Towers Hotel Ballroom in New York City for recording sessions with larger groups of musicians that would not fit in his parent’s living room. Both, Houseparty and The Sermon were recorded there and are among the outstanding releases in Smith’s discography. The sound is well done and each of the instruments a delight to hear with a wonderful soundstage. Jimmy exhibits a style of playing that is completely comfortable in the Hard-Bop or Soul-Jazz genres. He recorded a total of six studio albums for Blue Note featuring his trio, plus special guests. The other five LP’s are A Date With Jimmy Smith, Volume 1 & 2 (BLP1547/BST 81547 – BLP 1548/BST 81548) in 1957, The Sermon in 1959, Open House (BST 84269) and Plain Talk (84296) in 1968. If you’re a fan of the jazz organ, I offer for your evaluation, Houseparty. It’s an amazing album by Jimmy Smith that though out of print on LP in the US since the 1985 Stereo Cadre Rouge DMM Audiophile Edition (BST 84002), won’t break the bank when seeking a Mono or Stereo copy for your library. It’s also an LP you can enjoy alone, in the company of friends or guests at your next Houseparty! The Blue Note RVG Edition CD-album (7243 524542 8) released in 2000 adds an additional song, Confirmation by Charlie Parker.

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