Search - Jimmy Smith :: Hobo Flats (Dig)

Another great "walk on the wild side" from Smith / Nelson

Terje Biringvad | Oslo, Norway | 11/13/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The combination of the Hammond B-3 organ and a big band, took the jazz audience on a swinging trip on the "Wild Side" in 1962 with the release of the first Jimmy Smith big band date on Verve - "Bashin' : The Unpredictable Jimmy Smith". The musical Trinity - organist Jimmy Smith, arranger Oliver Nelson and producer Creed Taylor - made a huge commercial success with this album and "Hobo Flats" was release one year later in 1963, but could they repeat the success? In 1963 the bossa nova and c&w wave hit the wide popular music market, and by riding the wave, Jimmy Smith included some contemporary popular tunes on the album and wrapped them in Oliver Nelson's imaginative jazzy charts and arrangements. Jimmy Smith and Oliver Nelson popularized the harmonica by blending it with the organ on "Bashin", a down to earth blues combination and opening blues tune "Hobo Flats" is no exception in that respect. The immortal r&b tunes "Blueberry Hill" (Fats Domino) and "I Can't Stop Lovin' You" (Ray Charles) are in the big hands of Smith being re-energized and refreshed, still today it sounds contemporary. "Meditation" brought Stan Getz/Antonio Carlos Jobim to stardom in the early 1960's bossa nova wave, popularized by latin organist Walter Wanderley and "jazzified" by Smith, not destroying the basic sound and vibe of a bossa tune. The "Hobo Flats" album never made the sales figures of the "Bashin" album, but musically the Trinity made another success album.



Through the years at the Verve label, Jimmy Smith made albums with four great big band arrangers - Oliver Nelson, Thad Jones, Lalo Schifrin and Johnny Pate. Oliver Nelson will always be one of my favorites. CD packing is in the original LP cover (a huge thanks to Verve), but have your eyeglasses ready if you want to read the long linear notes. Those days are back again....."