Straight Life (Jimmy Smith album)
Encyclopedia
Straight Life is an album by American jazz organist Jimmy Smith
featuring performances recorded in 1961 but not released on the Blue Note
label until 2007.
or Prayer Meetin'
, it's great to hear this long lost hard bop session from the master of the Hammond B-3".
Jimmy Smith (musician)
Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...
featuring performances recorded in 1961 but not released on the Blue Note
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
label until 2007.
Reception
The Allmusic review by Al Campbell awarded the album 3½ stars stating "Although not in the same league as Midnight SpecialMidnight Special (Jimmy Smith album)
Midnight Special is an album by American jazz organist Jimmy Smith featuring performances recorded in 1960 and released on the Blue Note label...
or Prayer Meetin'
Prayer Meetin'
Prayer Meetin' is an album by American jazz organist Jimmy Smith featuring performances recorded in 1963 and released on the Blue Note label...
, it's great to hear this long lost hard bop session from the master of the Hammond B-3".
Track listing
- All compositions by Jimmy Smith except as indicated
- "Straight Life" - 5:09
- "Stuffy" (Coleman HawkinsColeman HawkinsColeman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
) - 5:09 - "StardustStardust (song)"Stardust" is an American popular song composed in 1927 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics added in 1929 by Mitchell Parish. Originally titled "Star Dust", Carmichael first recorded the song at the Gennett Records studio in Richmond, Indiana...
" (Hoagy CarmichaelHoagy CarmichaelHoward Hoagland "Hoagy" Carmichael was an American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing "Stardust", "Georgia On My Mind", "The Nearness of You", and "Heart and Soul", four of the most-recorded American songs of all time.Alec Wilder, in his study of the...
, Mitchell ParishMitchell ParishMitchell Parish was an American lyricist.-Early life:Parish was born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky to a Jewish family in Lithuania. His family emigrated to the United States, arriving on February 3, 1901 on the SS Dresden when he was less than a year old...
) - 6:03 - "Sweet Sue, Just You" (Will Harris, V. Young) - 4:52
- "Minor Fare" - 5:39
- "SwaneeSwanee (song)"Swanee" is an American popular song written in 1919 by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Irving Caesar. It is most often associated with singer Al Jolson....
" (Irving CaesarIrving CaesarIrving Caesar was an American lyricist and theater composer who wrote lyrics for "Swanee," "Sometimes I'm Happy," "Crazy Rhythm," and "Tea for Two," one of the most frequently recorded tunes ever written. He was born and died in New York.Caesar, the son of Morris Keiser, a Romanian Jew, was...
, George GershwinGeorge GershwinGeorge Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
) - 2:28 - "Jimmy's Blues" - 5:43
- "Yes Sir, That's My BabyYes Sir, That's My Baby"Yes Sir, That's My Baby" is a U.S. popular song from 1925.The music was written by Walter Donaldson and the lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was a hit for Ace Brigode in 1925 and for Eddie Cantor in 1930. It was later a hit for Rick Nelson in the 1950s and Frank Sinatra in the 1960s...
" (Walter DonaldsonWalter DonaldsonWalter Donaldson was a prolific United States popular songwriter, composing many hit songs of the 1910s and 1920s.-History:...
, Gus KahnGus KahnGustav Gerson Kahn was a musician, songwriter and lyricist.-Biography:Kahn was born in Koblenz, Germany in 1886. The family emigrated from there to the United States and moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1890...
) - 4:59 - "Here's to My Lady" (Rube BloomRube BloomReuben Bloom was a Jewish American multi-faceted entertainer, and in addition to being a songwriter, pianist, arranger, band leader, recording artist, vocalist, and writer .During his career, he worked with many well-known performers, including Bix Beiderbecke, Joe Venuti, Ruth Etting,...
, Johnny MercerJohnny MercerJohn Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others...
) - 4:55 - "Minor Fare" [alternate take] - 5:15
- Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on June 22, 1961
Personnel
- Jimmy SmithJimmy Smith (musician)Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...
– organElectronic organAn electronic organ is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally, it was designed to imitate the sound of pipe organs, theatre organs, band sounds, or orchestral sounds.... - Quentin Warren – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Donald BaileyDonald Bailey (musician)Donald "Duck" Bailey is an American jazz drummer.He is probably best known as the drummer in the trio of jazz organist Jimmy Smith from 1956 to 1964 and also for his work with The Three Sounds on Blue Note Records. Bailey also worked as a sideman for some of the most famous musicians in jazz...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....