BST 84296

Jimmy Smith - Plain Talk

Released - April 1968

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, March 22, 1960
Blue Mitchell, trumpet #1-3; Jackie McLean, alto sax #1; Ike Quebec, tenor sax #1,3,4; Jimmy Smith, organ; Quentin Warren, guitar; Donald Bailey, drums.

tk.2 Plain Talk
tk.8 My One And Only Love
tk.10 Big Fat Mama
tk.12 Time After Time

Session Photos

Photos: © Francis Wolff/Mosaic Images 

https://www.mosaicrecordsimages.com/

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Big Fat Mama	Lucky Millinder, Stafford Simon	March 12 1960
My One and Only Love	Robert Mellin, Guy Wood	March 12 1960
Side Two
Plain Talk	Jimmy Smith	March 12 1960
Time After Time	Cahn, Styne	March 12 1960

Liner Notes

There are those who prefer Jimmy Smith as the detonating head of a trio and others who like to ride with him through and over a big band. For me, however, the most substantial and resilient jazz by Jimmy results from the kind and quality of small combo represented here. (The tracks in this set are previously unreleased extensions of Jimmy's OPEN HOUSE album on Blue Note which further demonstrates the relaxed strengths of Jimmy Smith with select horns.)

Big Fat Mama, an infectiously loping theme, is put into motion by Jimmy with exactly the right ease of touch and beat to complement the big-toned, loose-gaited, thoroughly satisfying solo by the late Ike Quebec. It is so satisfying because it's so cleanly and clearly proportioned, as is also the case with Blue Mitchell's crisp, incisively structured following comment. Both play with warmth that is all the more effectively buoying because it is disciplined and distilled. And it is this atmosphere that shapes Jimmy Smith's long, flowing solo in which he builds with characteristic intensity both with a wider sense of dynamics and stronger control of his power than is sometimes evident in other settings.

My One And Only Love, a reflective ballad, begins with one of Blue Mitchell's most affectingly lyrical performances on record. He gets a quintessential brass tone - open and ringingly free - and his conception is of a lucidity and economical eloquence which remind me somewhat of the late Freddie Webster. Jimmy Smith's capacity for soft introspection - a part of his playing occasionally overlooked - is persuasively revealed, and then Blue brings the track to a soaring close. I couldn't begin to count the number of jazz ballad interpretations I've heard through the years, but this is one I'm certain will stay in the mind as a rare model of classic jazz balladry.

Plain Talk, like the opener, has the kind of easy-moving line that makes you move, whether head or feet or both. A kinetic line. Once more, Blue Mitchell is entirely together, speaking out with a firmness and yet an elasticity of conception that has the inflections of a man telling a story with zest and spontaneity. Jackie McLean comes on with similar conversational authority and fluency. I should note that here, as throughout the set, the rhythm section of Jimmy, Donald Bailey and Quentin Warren is energetically supportive without being in the least obtrusive or overwhelming. And that's another reason I find Jimmy Smith so rewarding in this context - it enables him to show how deftly and sensitively he can accompany. The third horn in the precisely titled Plain Talk is Ike Quebec's and he too gets to the core of what jazz speech is. This track, this album, has such basic roots that it transcends changing fashions. It's the kind of set you'll find yourself going back to whenever you feel the need for full-strength, straight-ahead jazz. This is a regenerating session because it is full of the life force, without a trace of strain or pretension. Five seasoned men engaged in plain, swinging talk. The last solo on the track, Jimmy's, is again particularly effective because he doesn't expend all of his force but instead uses it judiciously in a play of intensities.

The final Time After Time is a reminder of how extraordinarily convincing Ike Quebec was as a ballad player. He was a romantic but he wasn't profligate with his feelings. He was of that school which takes great care with each note so that there is no unnecessary filigree work. In retrospect, nothing has been in excess; everything has been directly relevant; and the overall impact is Ike's total mastery of horn and emotion Jimmy keeps the mood intact but with a fragility of shading and a luminosity of texture that may surprise those who associate Jimmy primarily with unrestrained explosiveness.

In sum, this is an unusually vital album. There are two ballad performances Blue Mitchell in My One And Only and Ike Quebec in Time After Time - which surely rank among the most lyrical and simultaneously virile jazz performances in this vein. And the other two tracks swing with such assurance and collective companionability as to be celebrations of the jazz spirit. And it is this collective interchange and interplay that characterizes the jazz experience at its most reassuring peaks. This kind of session is a reminder - in a time of intensely competitive and exacerbating stress - that sharing is possible, that the whole can be a fulfillment of its parts.

Obviously the day this music was made was a special time for the men involved. No one was trying to "prove" anything but his pleasure at being there and at having something of his own to add to the conversation. There are no stars. Just five men giving and taking of the mutual act of self-revelation that PLAIN TALK among equals is all about. This is a record to keep, for it provides sustenance.

NAT HENTOFF