Jimmy Smith Organ Grinder Swing

I am in Gotham for a few hours over the next day or so, and I finally made a point to go to Academy Records on 18th between 5th and 6th Ave.

While I was unhappy with their vinyl selection-- it was classical mainly, and I saw some of those boxes that you see in the midwest house sales with multiple LPs of Glen Miller or whatnot... I did find some stuff in their jazz CD section. I got out of there with only 2 CDs which seems sort of lame, in retrospect. I should try to sneak out tomorrow for "coffee" during work.

One of the gems that I picked up was Jimmy Smith Organ Grinder Swing on Verve. I have been digging on the Hammond b-3 stylings of Jimmy Smith for a while, and it is time to dig into his discog a bit more.

The title track leads it off, and it is a swinging number that runs a brief 2.12. The guitar follows the lead provided by the organ, in the left channel, a minute or so in the guitar takes a lead. During the lead Jimmy stabs the organ to punctuate the track. Some groaning moaning "vocals"can be heard in the background. I can't wait to listen to this track on the CD Reference System as opposed to a couple of wimpy laptop speaks...

According to Wikipedia, after record a stack of records for Blue Note, Jimmy Smith moved over to the Verve label in 63. This particular LP was tracked in June 1965 at Van Gelder Recording Studio in Englewood Cliffs New Jersey.

Listening to this record, you certainly get the feel that Smith could make enough noise and run enough leads and bass lines on his B-3 and Leslie speaker cabinet that the guitar by Kenny Burrell and drums (Grady Tate) are nice extras, in the left and right channels, respectively. You have to love that early stereo.

The fourth track is an unbelievable shredding of Greensleeves.

I would recommend that you go find a copy of this one immediately.

Spooky Tooth Sunshine Help Me

I came across this track on the Mod Chicago related site, Our Way of Thinking.

I think that this incarnation of Mod Chicago will be the 4th one that I have attended, and every one has been a highlight of my year.

The Leslie cabinet shimmering at the beginning over the tomtom taps is tops, along with the freakbeat searing guitar lead going into the vocal at the beginning. Ace.

"Crazy dreams and mindblowing schemes," I am a sucker for songs that have a build like this. The harpsichord interlude with the choral vocals is not bad either.

Kind of makes my ears think of a Fleur de Lys type sound with a healthy helping of Rupert's People Hammond thrown in for good measure.

Sunshine Help Me was their debut 45 and this track appeared on their 1968 LP, It's All About (Island ILPS 9080). It was also released as Tobacco Road here in the USofA due to the fact that the LP contained this song and it was a live staple for them.

It seems that they drifted off into prog territory with their 2 ensuing LPs, so I am not sure that I am interested in learning more about that era of their career.

Doing some quick research says that ST shared a producer with Steve Winwood's Traffic, Jimmy Miller, so some listeners detect some audio similarity between the bands.

I can't say that I can recall hearing any other Spooky Tooth tracks. They have reunited here is their site.