Groovin’ at Small’s Paradise by Jimmy Smith (1957/1999)

Jimmy Smith is probably the best jazz organist ever. This double CD was a reissue of a Blue Note recording from a New York club in 1957, plus additional tunes that wouldn’t fit even on a double vinyl collection. Smith offers a 10-minute version of “Body and Soul” that is a marvel of expressive and soulful improvisation. Backed by Eddie McFadden on guitar and Donald Bailey on drums, Smith has lots of room to explore the tunes he works through in these performances.

Smith has a great pulsing style on the Hammond organ that keeps suggesting the downbeat while throwing in phrases and bluesy chords that tickle the melody. Then, at some point in most songs, Smith pours on a blizzard of notes, chords, and flourishes that often disappear suddenly, and one can hear an instance of stunned silence from the audience before they remember to applaud politely. The Smith albums I’ve got usually include at least one pop standard that Smith covers for in excess of 10 minutes, breaking it down practically note for note, showing you avenues into and out of the familiar tune that are not obvious to mere mortals.

Smith’s collaborations with guitarist Wes Montgomery are treasures. Eddie McFadden does great on this record, and I get the impression that Smith has an excellent feel for the interplay between the Hammond organ and the big hollow-body jazz guitars his guitarists favor. I love those big Gretsch and Gibson jazz guitars, and the transition in solos from organ to guitar highlight the sympathy in those instruments. I don’t know that I would have noticed that except for Smith.

I saw Jimmy Smith at a little Chicago club in 1992, and I can’t remember who was playing guitar with him then, but the experience was terrific. The guitarist was working miracles with harmonics that rang so true and came so fast I was stunned. That sort of sound out of those old jazz guitars complements the fire in Smith’s organ quite nicely.