On this day in 1957, Jimmy Smith began recording a series of sessions that would be compiled as The Sermon!
The first song recorded was “J.O.S.” (for “Jimmy Oscar Smith”). It’s a fast-moving 32-bar blues buoyed by Smith’s deft pedalwork and Donald “Duck” Bailey’s drumming. Though Bailey would be replaced by the unstoppable juggernaut Art Blakey in subsequent sessions, he’s a great fit for this setting. Kenny Burrell is magnificent on the guitar, but the real shock is the trumpet work of Lee Morgan, who was 19 years old at the time of the recording.
Morgan is brash and cocky, and what’s more, he’s got the talent to get away with it. At 6:24, you can hear his solo running well past the chorus. Smith stabs a dissonant chord to signal him, and Morgan’s either blowing too hard to notice or he feels like mischief. In either case, it’s a dose of humor that fits right in with the informal feeling of the record.
You won’t find Smith’s work in many jazz critics’ best-of lists. It’s an odd thing, really, considering that Smith practically invented the Hammond B3 organ as far as the genre’s concerned. That’s not to say he wasn’t respected: the sheer level of talent he attracted is proof of that. However, his effect seems mostly felt outside the world of jazz.
Smith played hard bop like a hyperkinetic version of the blues, and it’s easy to see how his music would be difficult to categorize. His virtuosity is evident but not overbearing. He simply strutted where others might strain. His work never lapsed into intellectualism, and he was an entertainer above all else.
Aptly enough, his work would see success on the Soul charts in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He performed well into the 1990’s, working with Etta James, Dr. John, Quincy Jones, and Jackie McLean, among others. The Beastie Boys sampled his work, and the Acid Jazz movement freely acknowledged his influence. His last record was released in 2005, shortly after his passing.
His entire output is worth hearing, but if I were to pick a perfect jumping-in point, this record would be it.