Jimmy Smith – The Sermon! (Blue Note Tone Poet)

Jimmy Smith's The Sermon! captures a crucial early moment in modern organ jazz. Recorded in 1957 and 1958 after Blue Note founder Alfred Lion had begun documenting Smith intensively, it brought the charge of a live blowing session into Rudy Van Gelder's Manhattan Tower studio. The result is a set of just three long performances that shows how quickly Smith was expanding what the Hammond B-3 could do in jazz, moving beyond the small-group organ format with a larger cast and a looser, jam-driven feel.

What makes the album so satisfying is the combination of structure and sheer momentum. The title track takes up the whole of side one as a deep, blues-rooted workout, while J.O.S. pushes into brisker, minor-key territory and Flamingo closes on a more lyrical note, with Lee Morgan especially prominent. Around Smith, the line-up is unusually rich: Lou Donaldson, George Coleman and Tina Brooks on saxophones, Morgan on trumpet, Kenny Burrell and Eddie McFadden on guitar, plus Art Blakey and Donald Bailey on drums. That personnel helps explain why the record feels less like a routine studio date than a hard-swinging session with room for everyone to stretch.

AllMusic places The Sermon! among Smith's finest early work, and that rings true: you can hear both the youthful drive and the musical confidence that made him such a decisive figure in late-1950s jazz. For anyone interested in Blue Note's transition from club energy to studio clarity, this is one of the label's most enjoyable examples.

Features

• 180g, Stereo, Blue Note Tone Poet Series, Black Vinyl
• Mastered from the original analog master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
• Produced by Joe Harley
• Pressed at RTI
• Deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket

Reviews

• Smith displays both a youthful fire and a musical wisdom beyond his years throughout the album. - AllMusic.com