Jimmy Smith (left) Stanley Turrentine
After a long slow crowded delayed flight to the northern
hemisphere I arrived shattered. 24 hours
on I’m still feeling sluggardly.
Appropriate to that languid feeling is the slow swing of
tonight’s post, Prayer Meetin’ by Jimmy Smith and Stanley Turrentine.
There are not many sounds more groovy in the Milky Way than
that of the Hammond B3 organ. Its electric and electrifying and about as close
to bottled magic as you can get. It gurgles and bubbles. It squeals and
groans. You want to simply let the
music envelope you. And you’re looking to fill the dance floor there is no
better way to get people off their bums then to let loose a rush of funky organ
riffs.
Jimmy Smith was
an R&B piano player from Pennsylvania who so fell under the spell of the organ
he locked himself in a warehouse with a Hammond B3 for a year and taught
himself to play. When he emerged he had
revolutionized the sound and style in which it was played. He brought his piano
playing to the instrument and pecked out (often at lightning speed) a note at a
time thereby introducing the ‘clicking’ sound of the key hitting the board that
is now synonymous with jazz organ playing.
From the moment he walked out of the warehouse until he died in 2005 he
was referred to simply as ‘The Incredible’.
Stanley Turrentine was a R&B sax
player from Pennsylvania. He toured a
while with Lowell Fulsom the great
blues guitarist before slipping like Jimmy
Smith into the world of
jazz. He married Shirley Scott another organist and hooked up with Jimmy to record some of the best jazz jugalbandis (duets) of the 1950’s and 60’s.
If
you’re feeling like moving slow today/tonight or even if you’re not, you will
enjoy this truly groovy set of tunes.
Hallelujah!
Track Listing:
01
Prayer Meetin'
02 I Almost Lost My Mind
03 Stone Cold Dead In
The Market
04 When The Saints Go
Marching In
05 Red Top
06 Picknickin'
07 Lonesome Road
08 Smith Walk
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