Rating:
Genre:
Jazz
Release Date: 10/21/2008
Playing piano-style single-note lines on his Hammond B-3 organ,
Jimmy Smith revolutionized the use of the instrument in a
jazz combo setting in the mid-'50s and early '60s with his recordings for
Blue Note Records. After he moved to
Verve Records, though, he began working in more
big-band settings, experimenting a bit, although he was always the same
Jimmy Smith whose rapid runs on the B-3 careened, stuttered, glided, and flashed all over the place at a frequently breathless pace. This set, recorded in 1963 in New York City, finds him working with arranger and conductor
Oliver Nelson in a combined orchestral and
big-band setting and what strikes first, aside from the movie soundtrack feel of
Nelson's arrangements, is how varied the source material is, ranging from a huge make-over of
Gus Cannon's old
jug band tune
"Walk Right In" to the Latin lilt of
Antonio Carlos Jobim's
"Meditation," the funky
hard bop of
Horace Silver's
"The Preacher," and the relatively restrained
country prettiness of
Don Gibson's
"I Can't Stop Loving You." Smith bubbles and bounces through all of it at the B-3 while
Nelson proceeds to fill every available corner with huge, sweeping orchestral washes and crescendos. The clear highlight, though, is the lead and title track,
"Hobo Flats," which moves at a languid but wonderfully funky pace and establishes a groove as wide as the Mississippi River.
Smith arguably was at his best in small combos, and at times he gets overwhelmed here by the big cinematic arrangements, but there's plenty to like with this set, even if it's a bit on the atypical side for
Smith. It works well more than it doesn't.
~Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
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