BLP 4200

Jimmy Smith - Softly As A Summer Breeze

Released - 1965

Recording and Session Information

Manhattan Towers, NYC, February 26, 1958
Jimmy Smith, organ; Kenny Burrell, guitar #1-4; Eddie McFadden, guitar #5,6; Philly Joe Jones, drums #1-4; Donald Bailey, drums #5,6.

tk.5 It Could Happen To You
tk.6 Hackensack
tk.7 These Foolish Things
tk.8 Sometimes I'm Happy
tk.10 Someone To Watch Over Me
tk.12 Home Cookin' (aka Ode To Philly Joe)

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
These Foolish Things	Harry Link, Holt Marvell, Jack Strachey	February 26 1958
Hackensack	Thelonious Monk	February 26 1958
It Could Happen to You	Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen	February 26 1958
Side Two
Sometimes I'm Happy	Irving Caesar, Vincent Youmans	February 26 1958
Someone to Watch Over Me	George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin	February 26 1958
One for Philly Joe"(aka "Home Cookin'")	Jimmy Smith	February 26 1958

Liner Notes

The great men in any art are easily distinguishable from the ordinary mortals. They are the leaders; the others are followers.

Jimmy Smith has been a leader in more than one sense since September of 1955. That was the month when he formed his own trio; a few months later, when his first Blue Note album was released (A New Star - A New Sound, 1512), "he became the leader not only of a trio, but of a whole movement. He set a new improvisational trend in electric organ styles, a new concept for small jazz combos, and a new policy for hundreds of cocktail lounges, bars, and grills all over the United States. If they couldn't afford Jimmy Smith and his guitarist and drummer, they would find some other organist and guitarist and drummer. It was the sincerest form of flattery, and of course it continues to this day.

Jimmy Smith. Two simple, straightahead names for a straight-ahead style. Somehow it seems totally appropriate; you would hardly expect the same sort of sounds from a man named, say, Horatio Seymour, or even Jymmy Smythe. And on these particular sides we are treated to a facet of Jimmy's personality that I have always found particularly attractive: the more relaxed groove, with long-established popular songs, especially ballads, prominent in the choice of material.

On four of the six tracks Jimmy is supported by Kenny Burrell and Philly Joe Jones, both old friends. Kenny has been a Smith studio mate on several previous occasions, notably for Blue Note albums House Party (4002), The Sermon (4011), and the memorable Midnight Special (4078).

Philly Joe, though never a member of the Smith Trio, has known him almost as far back as he can remember.

"I think the first time we met, I might have been about ten years old, and Jimmy was eight," says Philly. "We didn't go to the same school, but we were raised in the same wild Philadelphia neighborhood, and I remember him as a fine pianist.

"Although we didn't work together officially, he would drop by and sit in at clubs where I was working, or we would play together on after hours sessions.

"I first heard him trying out the organ a short time before he finally decided that this was his calling.

"Jimmy's never changed basically, though of course his control of the instrument is greater than ever. I guess you've heard about how every Christmas, if he can arrange to be in town, he'll play carols on the pipe organ at Wana-maker's in Philadelphia. He's a real organist, no jive artist; it doesn't have to be an electric organ for him - he can make anything holler!"

The predominant mood of the album is established on the opening track, "These Foolish Things." This is a British song first introduced as a pop hit in 1936 (imagine a ballad of this caliber being as high on the bestseller charts as a Beatles hit today!), and prominent very soon afterward in the US. Notice the smooth sustained notes established by Jimmy in the background as Kenny Burrell delineates the melody; also the gentle brush work by Philly behind Jimmy's solo in the second chorus.

"Hackensack" (also known in the 1940s as "Rifftide") is a Thelonious Monk riff built on the traditional "Lady Be Good" chord pattern. After the theme, there is a three-chorus illustration of Kenny's skill, fluency, and originality as a soloist. Jimmy takes over for a carefully built excursion. Note the minuet-like humorous quote in the release of his first chorus; the gradually mounting intensity in the second, the implacable swing of the third, and the great contribution made by Philly to the overall excitement in the fourth. A couple of choruses of four-bar exchanges by Philly, alternately with Kenny and Jimmy, precedes the reprise of the theme.

"It Could Happen to You" is one of the early and very successful ballads by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen, dating back to 1944. Again Kenny takes over the spotlight first to outline the melody, but this time Jimmy takes over from him at the halfway mark. Notice how closely he adheres to the theme for his first 16 bars and how smoothly he makes a transition into free blowing on the next chorus, with Kenny feeding soft, supple chords. A zephyr-like Burrell blowing sequence follows.

"Sometimes I'm Happy" is a Vincent Youmans song of 1925 (the same year Jimmy was born). It has been used as a vehicle by jazzmen throughout all of its 40 years as a popular standard. The tempo here is moderate, but not fast enough to preclude a little double-timing from Philly Joe when it's called for at a climactic point during Jimmy's solo.

"Someone to Watch Over Me" is a Gershwin song introduced in 1926. On this and the next track, the trio assumes a different personnel with the same instrumentation, bringing back two men who earned a substantial following as regular members of Jimmy's group some time back - guitarist Eddie McFadden and drummer Donald Bailey. Jimmy's support under Eddie's playing of the theme reminds me of the phrase "organ harmony," which use to be applied to sax section backings for a trumpet solo and other such devices in the swing bands. In this instance, of course, ersatz "organ harmony" is unnecessary as Jimmy provides the real thing.

In "One for Philly Joe," an original instrumental by Jimmy, the incredibly nimble footwork and the contagious swing of his ad lib melodic lines offer yet another reminder of the qualities that established him as boss man of all the organists. It's not a spectacularly fast piece, but it's Jimmy all the way through and he never lets the interest flag for a moment.

Reminiscing with Philly Joe the other day about the phenomenon of Jimmy Smith, I commented that few musicians of our time have had a more profound influence. Philly answered with an apt remark.

"Don't just say he was an influence," he advised me. "Remind people of something more important - he was an inspiration."

Here, in these six engaging Smith performances, you will find renewed evidence of just what Philly meant. Jimmy Smith will always be an inspiration to all of us, whether he blows like a hurricane or comes on softly as a summer breeze.

- Leonard Feather

RVG CD Reissue Liner Notes

A NEW LOOK AT SOFTLY AS A SUMMER BREEZE

This was one of Jimmy Smith's more out of the ordinary albums when it was originally issued in 1965, and became even more unusual when the four bonus tracks were added for the initial CD release 30 years later. While oddity does not always equal distinction, the views Softly As a Summer Breeze presents of jazz's greatest organist make it a valuable complement to Smith's more characteristic collections.

Anyone unfamiliar with the Smith discography might wonder, for openers, why he would record with two different rhythm sections on the same day. This highly uncommon practice was becoming S.O.P. for Smith, who on more than one previous occasion had both his working trio and guest guitarists and drummers on hand when he visited Manhattan Towers for one of his marathon sessions. Again, eyebrows would be raised if virtually anyone other than the prodigious organist had been working in the same studio only a day earlier with an almost totally different cast. (The results of his February 25th efforts comprise parts of two Smith classics, Houseparty and The Sermon.)

Smith's partners on the first four tracks are Kenny Burrell (who had contributed mightily to the previous day's efforts) and, in what proved to be his only recorded encounter with the organist, Philly Joe Jones. The mood is surprisingly mellow with an emphasis on standards. Given Burrell's role in stating themes and taking the majority of opening solos, one might suspect that these performances were originally intended for an album under the guitarist's name. But Smith did have his rhythm section in the studio, and does manage a bit of shouting on "Sometimes I'm Happy." Jones is another potential volcano more into flow than eruption here, which does not in any way lessen the joy of hearing his signature beat behind his partners, or his crisp exchanges on "Hackensack."

Whether through happenstance or by original design, the day and the original album were completed by the 1958 edition of Smith's trio, playing one ballad and one medium-tempo swinger. "Someone to Watch Over Me" again begins with guitar in the lead, making the performance consistent with the earlier ballads. The following track, identified on the label and in the liner notes as a Smith original called "One for Philly Joe, " is actually Horace Silver's "Home Cookin'," which Silver had introduced on his 1957 Blue Note album The Stylings of Silver. The original tape log called it "Home Cookin'," but at the time of release six years later (November 1965), the title was changed and attribution went to Smith. More than likely, Alfred Lion forgot that it was the Silver tune and changed the title to avoid confusion with Jimmy Smith's Home Cookin' album, released in 1961. Finding the music of both Monk and Silver on a Smith album is not unusual, as their works had been included in his initial Blue Note sessions.

The four bonus tracks document the final chapter in a busy if ultimately frustrating New York year for then-unknown Chicago vocalist Bill Henderson. Upon his arrival earlier in 1958, Henderson quickly met and established rapport with a host of major jazz artists. He cut a single for Riverside in front of an all-star quintet, sang "Senor Blues" with Horace Silver for a Blue Note 45" in June, and then produced the present tracks with Smith. Released at the time as two singles, they provide an early indication of Henderson's mastery of both standards and blues ballads, and give a rare glimpse of Smith accompanying a singer. They also find Smith paired for the first time with guitarist Ray Crawford, who would accompany the organist throughout the 1970s.

None of Henderson's recordings yielded a contract with a New York record company, and the singer scuffled through a couple of non-musical jobs until Chicago disc jockey Sid McCoy signed him to the new Vee Jay label in 1959. Henderson's initial Vee Jay album again put him in front of a working jazz group, the Ramsey Lewis Trio, and included titles such as "Joey, Joey, Joey" and "Sweet Pumpkin" that became signature songs in a career that is still going strong.

Another oddity of Softly As a Summer Breeze is the album title, which bears no discernable relationship to either the program or Jean-Pierre Leloir's wonderful cover photo. The original six tracks went unissued for seven years, by which time Smith had left Blue Note for Verve. This may have more to do with the absence of a certified soul track on the program than to any inherent musical deficiencies, and should not be taken as a critique on some typically strong Jimmy Smith music.

— Bob Blumenthal, 2005