Jimmy Smith - Rockin' the Boat (1993 Japanese Blue Note Vinyl LP)

Jimmy Smith - Rockin' the Boat | Vinyl LP - 1993 Japanese Audiophile Reissue (BST 84141, Blue Note 4000 Series Ultra Collection no. 187, heavy-weight vinyl, double-thick sleeve)

• Jimmy Smith's organ-driven soul-jazz quartet with Lou Donaldson on alto saxophone, Quentin Warren on guitar and Donald Bailey on drums, seven tracks mixing blues, gospel, calypso and R&B
• One of the last sessions from Smith's seven-year Blue Note tenure, recorded the day before Prayer Meetin' with Stanley Turrentine, produced by Alfred Lion and recorded by Rudy Van Gelder
• Japanese audiophile Ultra Collection pressing with heavy-weight vinyl and double-thick sleeve, Blue Note 4000 Series no. 187

Jimmy Smith had been on Blue Note since 1956 and recorded more albums for the label than almost any other artist. By February 1963, he was nearing the end of that run, and this session, one of his last for the label, catches the quartet in relaxed, confident form. "When My Dream Boat Comes Home" opens Side A with a seven-and-a-half-minute workout on the Cliff Friend and Dave Franklin standard, Smith's organ pumping through the changes while Donaldson's alto rides on top with the biting, blues-drenched tone he had been refining across his own Blue Note catalogue. The two had recorded together before, and the chemistry is immediate: Donaldson pushes, Smith responds, and Warren and Bailey hold the groove steady underneath. "Pork Chop", Donaldson's own composition, follows with a deeper blues feel, the organ and alto trading phrases over Bailey's shuffle. "Matilda, Matilda!", the calypso, is the album's shortest track at under three minutes, a brief, sunny interlude between the heavier material.

Side B opens with "Can Heat", Smith's original, which was released as a Blue Note single in early 1964 and is the most infectious groove on the record, the kind of organ-driven funk that kept Smith on jukeboxes across the country. "Please Send Me Someone to Love", Percy Mayfield's R&B standard, slows the pace with Smith playing the melody on the organ with a warmth that borders on devotion, Donaldson entering later with a solo that stays close to the blues. "Just a Closer Walk With Thee", the traditional gospel hymn, is played as a slow, churchlike meditation, and "Trust in Me" closes the album as a midtempo ballad. The whole session was recorded on February 7, 1963 at Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs studio. The very next day, Smith returned to the same studio and recorded Prayer Meetin' with Stanley Turrentine replacing Donaldson.

This is the 1993 Japanese audiophile reissue from the Blue Note 4000 Series Ultra Collection (no. 187), pressed on heavy-weight vinyl in a double-thick sleeve.