I first heard of this album through a jazz sampler CD and later wrote that the "Jimmy Smith/Wes Montgomery album is on my radar..." It was easy to find a copy so the CD was at my doorstep within a couple of weeks. As a fan of both musicians, I've been enjoying it ever since. Not only are we treated to the characteristic stylings of Smith on organ and Montgomery on guitar, there are arrangements by Oliver Nelson, the whole thing is produced by inestimable Creed Taylor, and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder at his legendary studio. It's a little thin on material, but this thing swings and grooves. There was a follow-up album, Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes, recorded during the same sessions and later released in 1968.
Personnel listing plus original liner notes by Holmes "Daddy-O" Daylie.
Reviews/ratings:
- Stereo Review: "All too predictable"
- CashBox: "a tasty brew of jazz sessions."
- The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★½
- The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★
- The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★
Album chart peaks:
- US Billboard 200: #129
- Billboard Jazz: #1
- Billboard R&B: #10
- Record World Jazz: #1
Tracks: As I alluded to earlier, playing ★★★★, selections ★★.
- Down By The Riverside - traditional African-American spiritual.
- Night Train - a twelve-bar blues instrumental standard first recorded in 1951 by its writer, saxophonist Jimmy Forrest. Also the track that got me to buy the album.
- James And Wes - a Jimmy Smith blues trio original.
- 13 (Death March) - originally written by Gary McFarland for the 1966 motion picture Eye Of The Devil. When I first heard this album, I could've sworn I already knew this tune, but I can't find it anywhere in my collection so my old mind might be playing tricks on me. Again.
- Baby It's Cold Outside - Frank Loesser tune from the romantic comedy Neptune's Daughter. The song was awarded an Oscar for Best Original Song in 1950. It has somehow been associated with the Christmas holiday as if we don't have cold weather in months other than December, but there are no lyrics on this album so that misconception is moot.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.
Previously revisited for the blog:
Jimmy Smith
| The Best of Jimmy Smith (1988) | Midnight Special (1961) |
| Keep On Comin' (1983) | Crazy! Baby (1960) |
| Back At The Chicken Shack (1963) | Houseparty (1958) |
| Home Cookin' (1961) | The Sermon! (1958) |
Wes Montgomery
| Classics, Volume 22 (1987) | A Day In The Life (1967) |
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