Search - Jimmy Smith :: Talking Verve: Roots of Acid Jazz

Got to know your roots

Luke Nerone | California | 12/14/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I love lots of new jazz/funk/hiphop. there are great innovators in the new schools of fusion that combine hard beats with good lyrics all while using live artists to keep connected to where their music came from. the artists may respect their roots, but not enough listeners do. that's why albums like this are so important, to show curious listeners where the music they love sprang from. and jimmy smith definately had a strong hand in acid jazz and funk. this album is a great look at his verve years, and contains tracks from a ten year span of 1963 to 1972. in general much more upbeat than albums like "the sermon" from the late 50's this retrospective gives you the cream of jimmy. it shows his funky side on tracks like "funky broadway" and "I can't get no satisfaction" but also the larger big band and strings sound on "one mint julep" and "hobo flats." there are a few tracks that initially don't seem to match some of the others, but then jimmy tears up the organ and makes the track all the more rewarding. definately a good buy if you're looking to get into jimmy smith."

Where That Sound Came From

Mark A. Elliott | Richmond, VA United States | 06/25/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The music of Jimmy Smith sampled on this CD (as well as that of his contemporaries) has been so widely influential in the years since, that it can be easy to miss the originality these recordings exhibited in their time. The contemporary listener may find some of these tracks downright corny, since Jimmy's grooves have been exploited to the point of being turned into cliches. After a track or two, though, the smooth, percolating rhythms become irresistible. Jimmy's organ and his turn-on-a-dime bands seem to be codifying the riffs that become the abc's of funk. That's why you'll hear this sound in everything from Sinatra to Chuck Brown to Cibo Matto."