Blue Note Years, Vol. 3: Organ & Soul 1956-1967

Read About This Recording

The Blue Note label, founded by Alfred Lion in 1939, during its 30-year prime evolved from documenting traditional jazz and small group swing to adventurous bebop and, by the late 1950s, hard bop and soul jazz. Lion and Blue Note's co-owner Francis Wolff believed in featuring the top young jazz musicians of the era in well-rehearsed but spontaneous settings with an emphasis on original music.

Soul jazz, a style of jazz that is bluesy and influenced by the soulfulness of gospel music, found its origins in the 1950s in the funky piano playing of Horace Silver and the rise to prominence of organist Jimmy Smith. Smith, who is still a dominant force on his instrument, took the organ out of roller skating rinks to smoky neighborhood bars and had great success mixing together bebop, soulful blues and ballads in his repertoire. Many other organists have followed in his style ever since.

This 2-CD set has 17 highly enjoyable selections from the 1958-67 period. The first disc concentrates on organ-driven performances. Jimmy Smith romps on the 20-minute medium-tempo blues The Sermon with trumpeter Lee Morgan, altoist Lou Donaldson, tenor-saxophonist Tina Brooks, guitarist Kenny Burrell and drummer Art Blakey. Organists Baby Face Willette, Earl Vandyke, Big John Patton, Freddie Roach and Jack McDuff are also well featured on various cuts along with guitarist Grant Green, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson and tenor-saxophonists Fred Jackson, Don Wilkerson, Ike Quebec and Yusef Lateef. These jams remind one that soul jazz was the most popular jazz style of the 1960s.

The second disc mostly has rhythm sections that feature piano and/or guitar but in an equally funky vein. Among the classics are Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue, trumpeter Donald Byrd's hit version of Duke Pearson's Cristo Redentor, tenor-saxophonist Stanley Turrentine's River's Invitation, Lee Morgan's timeless The Sidewinder and Lou Donaldson's very popular funk number Alligator Boogaloo. Such jazz stars as pianist Herbie Hancock, tenors Hank Mobley, Joe Henderson and Wayne Shorter (Adam's Apple) and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard all make strong contributions.

While the emphasis is on the blues, there is plenty of variety on these 17 selections, both in instrumentation and groove. What all of the performances have in common is that they are danceable, accessible, brilliantly played and quite fun.

This is a 2-CD set that can reach way beyond the jazz audience, for listeners do not need to be jazz aficionados in order to tap their feet!

-Scott Yanow

Contents

The Sermon; Something Strange; Southern Exposure; Sweet Cakes; Easy-Don't Hurt; I.Q. Blues; Let 'Em Roll; Blues In Maude's Flat; Midnight Blue; Hog Maw; Christo Redentor; River's Invitation; The Sidewinder; Adam's Apple; The Turnaround; Slow Drag; Alligator Boogaloo.

Jimmy Smith, Baby Face Willette, Freddie Roach, Big John Patton, Organs; Fred Jackson, Don Wilkerson, Ike Quebec, Stanley Turrentine, Hank Mobley, Tenor Saxes; Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, Guitars; Lou Donaldson, Wayne Shorter, Saxes; Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Trumpets; others.