Jimmy Smith - The Sermon! (1992 Japanese Blue Note Vinyl LP)

Jimmy Smith - The Sermon! | Vinyl LP - 1992 Japanese Audiophile Reissue (BST 84011, Blue Note 4000 Series Ultra Collection no. 116, limited edition)

• Twenty minutes of blues organ that changed what the instrument could do in jazz, the title track filling Side A with solos from Smith, Kenny Burrell, Tina Brooks, Lee Morgan and Lou Donaldson over Art Blakey's restrained shuffle
• Three tracks from two sessions, the all-star February 1958 date yielding the title track and "Flamingo", the earlier August 1957 quartet session contributing "J.O.S." with George Coleman and Eddie McFadden
• Japanese audiophile Ultra Collection pressing on Toshiba EMI, limited edition with four-page insert and heavy-weight vinyl

"The Sermon" is a twelve-bar blues that opens with Jimmy Smith's feet walking a bass line while his right hand picks out sparse, bluesy phrases. Art Blakey enters with a shuffle so understated it barely announces itself, and Kenny Burrell adds soft chord voicings underneath. The groove is locked before a single soloist has entered. Smith takes the first solo across five minutes of unhurried choruses before handing over to Burrell, whose guitar solo is tasteful and bop-flavoured, cleanly articulated over Smith's playing. Tina Brooks follows on tenor, his liquid tone a blend of Parker-derived lines and down-home blues, and while Lee Morgan settles for staccato, vocalised phrases, Brooks burns through a series of kinetic choruses that mark him as the session's hidden weapon. Morgan, not yet twenty at the time of recording, plays the blues like a veteran, and Lou Donaldson closes the solo sequence with an alto voice that swings harder than anyone else on the date. The whole thing moves past twenty minutes without a single moment where the energy dips.

Side B carries two very different pieces. "J.O.S." is from an earlier session in August 1957 with a quartet: Smith, George Coleman on alto, Eddie McFadden on guitar and Donald Bailey on drums. The sound is leaner and rougher than the February session, without the horn weight of Morgan, Donaldson and Brooks. It runs nearly twelve minutes and gives Smith more room to stretch as the primary voice. "Flamingo" closes the album as a slow ballad where Morgan plays a wistful introduction before Burrell takes a delicate solo, and Blakey shifts into an uncharacteristically subdued mode. Smith pulls into the background, supporting his soloists with gentle comping rather than dominating the arrangement. Both sessions were produced by Alfred Lion and recorded by Rudy Van Gelder at Manhattan Towers in New York City.

This is the 1992 limited edition audiophile reissue from Toshiba EMI (BST 84011), number 116 in the Blue Note 4000 Series Ultra Collection, with four-page insert and heavy-weight vinyl. Reid Miles cover design, Francis Wolff photography, liner notes by Ira Gitler.