Wild Bill Moore - 90 Wild Bill's Beat & Bottom Groove

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 76:44
Size: 176,6 MB
Art: Front

(6:46)  1. Heavy Soul
(5:57)  2. A Good 'un
(5:28)  3. Tearin' Out
(6:51)  4. Wild Bill's Beat
(5:11)  5. Things Are Getting Better
(5:18)  6. Bubbles
(5:15)  7. Just You, Just Me
(6:20)  8. Sister Caroline
(5:38)  9. Bottom Groove
(5:35) 10. My Little Girl
(5:36) 11. Down With It
(7:12) 12. Sea Breezes
(5:30) 13. Caravan

Many of the tenor saxophonists who came out of the honker school of the '40s and early '50s had no problem being relevant to the soul-jazz scene of the '60s. That's because '60s soul-jazz was very much an extension of classic honker music; the recordings that big-toned tenor titans like Willis "Gator" Jackson and Arnett Cobb provided in the '60s were not a radical departure from their early sessions. Influenced by Illinois Jacquet and Chu Berry, Wild Bill Moore was the essence of an extroverted, big-toned, hard-blowing honker he epitomized what critic Scott Yanow calls "rhythm & jazz" (that is, jazz with strong R&B leanings). This 76-minute CD, which Fantasy assembled in 2002, reissues two Orrin Keepnews-produced albums that Moore recorded for Jazzland in 1961: Bottom Groove and Wild Bill's Beat. Both albums employ Joe Benjamin on upright bass, Ben Riley on drums, and Ray Barretto on congas, but while Wild Bill's Beat features pianist Junior Mance, Bottom Groove is an organ date with Johnny "Hammond" Smith (one of the countless Jimmy Smith-minded organists who was active in the '60s). Despite the fact that one album has a pianist and the other has an organist, they are quite similar. Both are state-of-the-art soul-jazz, and both are highly accessible; people who, in the '60s, felt that a lot of post-swing jazz was too cerebral and abstract for its own good had no problem getting into straightforward players like Moore. Soulful accessibility is the rule whether Moore is playing original material or turning his attention to Nat Adderley's "Sister Caroline" and Duke Ellington's "Caravan." Naturally, there are plenty of 12-bar jazz-blues grooves, and Moore shows listeners how appealing a ballad player he could be on the dreamy "Sea Breezes." This CD is well worth acquiring if you have a taste for '60s soul-jazz. ~ Alex Henderson https://www.allmusic.com/album/bottom-groove-mw0000659120

Personnel: Tenor Saxophone – Wild Bill Moore;  Bass – Joe Benjamin; Congas – Ray Barretto; Drums – Ben Riley; Organ – Johnny "Hammond" Smith (tracks: 8 to 13); Piano – Junior Mance (tracks: 1 to 7)

90 Wild Bill's Beat & Bottom Groove

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Johnny "Hammond" Smith - Legends Of Acid Jazz: Soul Flowers

Styles: Hard Bop, soul Jazz
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:21
Size: 162,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:23) 1. Theme From N.Y.P.D.
(5:00) 2. Dirty Apple
(3:20) 3. Days Of Wine And Roses (Instrumental)
(3:16) 4. Ode To Billy Joe
(3:11) 5. You'll Never Walk Alone
(3:05) 6. Alfie
(2:56) 7. Tara's Theme (My Own True Love)
(3:25) 8. Here's That Rainy Day
(5:27) 9. I Got A Woman
(3:01) 10. Dirty Grape
(8:09) 11. Animal Farm
(3:07) 12. Black Strap Molasses
(3:29) 13. She's Gone Again
(5:43) 14. Hi Heel Sneakers
(3:30) 15. To Sir With Love
(3:42) 16. Love Is A Hurtin' Thing
(5:30) 17. Please Send Me Someone To Love

Prestige's second volume of Johnny "Hammond" Smith's recordings in their Legends of Acid Jazz series contains two full original albums: 1967's Soul Flowers and its 1968 follow-up, Dirty Grape. Both sessions were recorded within four months of each other with the same sextet, featuring guitarist Wally Richardson, tenor saxophonists Houston Person and Earl Edwards, bassist Jimmy Lewis, drummer John Harris, and Richard Landrum on conga. On both records, he basically tackles modern pop songs that were hits on the pop and R&B charts and songs from movies and TV. This could have been predictable, lightly swinging jazz-pop, like so many soul-jazz records of its ilk in the late '60s, but what makes both sessions so enjoyable is that the band is lively, gritty, and clearly having fun with this material. Of the two, Soul Flowers is a little more satisfying, but both are highly enjoyable and they make for a great two-fer one that's the equal of Smith's first edition of Legends of Acid Jazz.~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine https://www.allmusic.com/album/legends-of-acid-jazz-vol-2-mw0000050217

Personnel: Organ – Johnny "Hammond" Smith; Congas – Richard Landrum; Drums – John Harris; Electric Bass [Fender] – Jimmy Lewis; Guitar – Wally Richardson; Tenor Saxophone – Earl Edwards, Houston Person

Legends Of Acid Jazz: Soul Flowers

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Oliver Nelson - Taking Care Of Business

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:37
Size: 97.6 MB
Styles: Bop, Saxophone jazz
Year: 1960/2013
Art: Front

[9:54] 1. Trane Whistle
[6:57] 2. Doxy
[5:30] 3. In Time
[6:16] 4. Lou's Good Dues
[7:32] 5. All The Way
[6:26] 6. Groove

Bass – George Tucker; Drums – Roy Haynes; Organ – Johnny "Hammond" Smith; Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone – Oliver Nelson; Vibraphone – Lem Winchester.

Oliver Nelson would gain his greatest fame later in his short life as an arranger/ composer, but this superior session puts the emphasis on his distinctive tenor and alto playing. In a slightly unusual group (with vibraphonist Lem Winchester, organist Johnny "Hammond" Smith, bassist George Tucker, and drummer Roy Haynes), Nelson improvises a variety of well-constructed but spontaneous solos; his unaccompanied spots on "All the Way" and his hard-charging playing on the medium-tempo blues "Groove" are two of the many highpoints. Nelson remains a vastly underrated saxophonist and all six performances (four of them his originals) are excellent. ~Scott Yanow

Taking Care Of Business mc
Taking Care Of Business zippy

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Johnny 'Hammond' Smith - Black Coffee

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 77:07
Size: 176.5 MB
Styles: Soul-jazz
Year: 1962/2013
Art: Front

[4:17] 1. Black Coffee
[3:04] 2. Monterey Theme
[4:15] 3. I Remember Clifford
[7:13] 4. Far Away Places
[7:19] 5. Rufus Toofus
[6:18] 6. Body and Soul
[5:30] 7. He's a Real Gone Guy
[4:59] 8. Blues for DeDe
[5:20] 9. Mr. Wonderful
[4:20] 10. Cyra
[3:41] 11. Lambert's Lodge
[5:39] 12. Love Letters
[4:45] 13. Blues on Sunday
[5:53] 14. Departure
[4:29] 15. Opus 2

Drums – Leo Stevens; Guitar – Eddie McFadden; Organ – Johnny "Hammond" Smith*; Tenor Saxophone – Selden Powell* (tracks: A1, A3, B1 to B3). Recorded live at the Monterey Club, New Haven, Connecticut, November 8, 1962.

Two of organist Johnny "Hammond" Smith's earliest gems (Black Coffee and Mr. Wonderful) are reissued in full on a single CD, Black Coffee. Although influenced by Jimmy Smith, this particular organist was also a strong grooving player, able to play both blues and more complicated chord changes. He is showcased with a quartet that includes tenor saxophonist Seldon Powell and guitarist Eddie McFadden, and in a quintet with McFadden, tenor man Houston Person and trumpeter Sonny Williams; in both cases Leo Stevens is on drums. The material (with eight colorful originals including "I Remember Clifford," "Body and Soul," and "He's a Real Gone Guy" among the 15 numbers) has a fair amount of variety, and Johnny "Hammond" Smith is heard at his best throughout this reissue. ~Scott Yanow

Black Coffee

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Johnny 'Hammond' Smith - Opus De Funk

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:05
Size: 160.5 MB
Styles: Hard bop, Soul-jazz-funk
Year: 1961/2004
Art: Front

[4:29] 1. Sticks And Stones
[5:26] 2. Because You Left Me
[7:56] 3. Ribs An' Chips
[4:39] 4. Cry Me A River
[3:50] 5. Que Pasa
[3:04] 6. Invitation
[4:16] 7. Spring Is Here
[2:53] 8. Stimulation
[5:17] 9. Opus De Funk
[4:24] 10. Almost Like Being In Love
[4:07] 11. Autumn Leaves
[4:48] 12. Sad Eyes
[5:42] 13. Gone With The Wind
[4:28] 14. If Someone Had Told Me
[4:38] 15. Shirley's Theme

While organist Johnny "Hammond" Smith never attained the status of Jimmy Smith, he nonetheless fronted first-rate bands and accumulated a fine discography. Recorded in 1961, Opus de Funk brings together two Smith albums in one package, Stimulation and Opus de Funk. Since the same band -- vibraphonist Freddie McCoy, guitarist Eddie McFadden, bassist Wendell Marshall, and drummer Leo Stevens -- played on both sets, and since both albums aren't very long by contemporary standards, the pair fit snuggly on the same CD. The really unusual element here is the presence of McCoy, because one doesn't usually associate vibes with jazz organ combos. The vibes work, however, and give the resonance of Smith's organ a lighter counterpoint that brightens up the overall sound. The band delivers fine versions of familiar pieces -- "Cry Me a River," "Autumn Leaves," and "Gone With the Wind" -- alongside newer pieces like "Ribs an' Chips" and "Que Pasa?" With a couple of exceptions, this snappy unit likes to keep things tight, and seldom extends a piece for over five minutes. The one big exception is Smith's "Ribs an' Chips," a breezy eight-minute bit of blues with fine solos by McFadden and McCoy. Opus de Funk is a welcome reissue and will be greeted warmly by jazz organ fans. ~Ronnie D. Lankford Jr.

Opus De Funk

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Johnny 'Hammond' Smith - Good 'Nuff

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 71:35

Size: 163.9 MB

Styles: Hard bop, Soul-jazz

Year: 1962/2003

Art: Front

[6:28] 1. Good 'nuff

[7:10] 2. Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen

[3:30] 3. Sonja's Dreamland

[3:55] 4. Besame Mucho

[6:10] 5. Neck Bones

[4:15] 6. Delicious

[7:42] 7. Y'all

[6:42] 8. The Stinger

[5:29] 9. There Is No Greater Love

[3:57] 10. Brother John

[5:01] 11. Cleopatra And The African Knight 2

[6:57] 12. You Don't Know What Love Is

[4:13] 13. Bennie's Diggin'

Good 'Nuff combines two Smith '60s albums onto one CD: 1962's Johnny Hammond Smith Cooks With Gator Tail (co-billed to tenor saxophonist Willis Jackson) and 1965's The Stinger. "Good 'Nuff" is one of the tracks on Johnny Hammond Smith Cooks With Gator Tail, which is typical early-'60s Prestige soul-jazz, with all the good and bad that implies. The good? It hits a lockstep earthy groove, with funky organ by Smith, smoky sax from Jackson, and some smooth guitar from Eddie McFadden. The bad? Well, it's not bad, really, just predictable. The compositions usually have easygoing, unchallenging bluesy progressions, and the whole thing has the agreeable ambience of a good-time bar where the music fades more into the background the longer it continues. Smith wrote four of the seven songs, the program balanced by Jackson's "Y'All" and covers of "Besame Mucho" and the traditional "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen." "Sonja's Dreamland" goes the furthest into ballad territory, while "Neckbones" swings the hardest. The Stinger, on which Houston Person and Earl Edwards assume the tenor sax duties, is more interesting, with a slightly more gutbucket soul feel, though the title track too strongly recalls Bill Doggett's huge mid-'50s hit "Honky Tonk." "Brother John" sounds like a Ray Charles track without a vocal, and "Cleopatra and the African Knight," as the title indicates, incorporates a convincing tinge of Arabia. ~Richie Unterberger

Good 'Nuff

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Johnny 'Hammond' Smith - Open House

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 69:11

Size: 158.4 MB

Styles: Hard bop, Soul jazz, Hammond B3 jazz

Year: 1963/2001

Art: Front

[4:35] 1. Open House

[5:23] 2. Cyra

[4:58] 3. I Remember You

[2:33] 4. Theme From Cleopatra

[6:56] 5. Blue For De-De

[4:37] 6. Why Was I Born

[5:47] 7. I Love You

[5:26] 8. Nica's Dream

[6:20] 9. Cleopatra And The African Knight

[5:44] 10. Bennie's Diggin'

[4:34] 11. Brake Through

[3:52] 12. Eloise

[4:30] 13. A Little Taste

[3:51] 14. Twixt The Sheets

Not every album that Johnny "Hammond" Smith recorded in the 1960s was a masterpiece, but the best ones were textbook examples of funky, blues-drenched organ jazz. Two of his more solid and memorable LPs from that decade were Open House and A Little Taste, both of which the ubiquitous Orrin Keepnews produced for Riverside in 1963. The albums were out of print for many years, but, in 2001, Fantasy reissued them back to back on this 69-minute CD (which Fantasy put out on Milestone, but could have just as easily put out on Riverside since it owns the Riverside catalog). Smith covers his bases on these 1963 sessions, which find him joined by such noteworthy soloists as Thad Jones or Virgil Jones on trumpet and Houston Person or Seldon Powell on tenor sax. The organist's enthusiastic performances of "I Remember You" and Horace Silver's "Nica's Dream" are the essence of hard bop exuberance, while his lyrical, romantic side asserts itself on "Why Was I Born," the dreamy "Cyra," and the lovely, Johnny Hodges-influenced "Eloise." And on "Twixt the Sheets," Smith savors the pleasure of a slow, down-home blues groove. This CD offers abundant proof of the fact that 1960s soul-jazz and organ combos picked up where Count Basie and Lionel Hampton left off -- in other words, Smith and his colleagues provided accessible, gritty, emotionally direct jazz that you didn't have to be an intellectual to comprehend. Again, not everything that Smith recorded in the 1960s was mind-blowing, but you certainly can't go wrong with this rewarding CD. ~Alex Henderson

Open House

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Johnny 'Hammond' Smith - Talk That Talk

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:55
Size: 162.4 MB
Styles: Hard bop, Soul jazz, Hammond organ jazz
Year: 1960/1995
Art: Front

[5:11] 1. Talk That Talk
[2:32] 2. An Affair To Remember
[5:19] 3. The End Of A Love Affair
[5:43] 4. Minors Allowed
[4:46] 5. Rip Tide
[3:59] 6. Misty
[4:57] 7. Bennie's Diggin'
[2:20] 8. A Portrait Of Jennie
[8:53] 9. Swanee River
[3:59] 10. Just Say So Long
[5:14] 11. Lid Flippin'
[7:11] 12. Gettin' The Message
[5:27] 13. Princess
[5:17] 14. Dementia

An excellent piece of early soul-jazz, 1960's Talk That Talk isn't as bop-oriented as Shirley Scott's albums with Stanley Turrentine from the same period, as flashy and ornate as the albums Jimmy Smith was starting to make with Creed Taylor and Lalo Schifrin, or as funky and blues-based as the best of Jimmy McGriff or "Brother" Jack McDuff. Smith's playing on this album is low-key almost to the point of being conservative, deeply soulful without resorting to what would soon become tired funk clichés. For the most part, the settings are the standard organ/bass/drums trio, with occasional appearances by tenor saxophonist Oliver Nelson, vibraphonist Lem Winchester, and guitarist Eddie McFadden to provide textural variety. Smith is always at the center of the arrangements, taking almost all the solos, which means that less organ-besotted listeners might find the album a bit samey, but on tracks like a loping, gentle version of "An Affair to Remember" and a gorgeously soulful "Misty," Johnny "Hammond" Smith shows exactly why he deserves his nickname. [The 1995 CD reissue of Talk That Talk appends six additional tracks, originally released as Smith's Gettin' the Message LP, also from 1960.] ~Stewart Mason

Talk That Talk

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