Search - Stuff Smith :: Stuff Smith 1936-1939

One of Jazz's Undersung Heroes at his Peak.

Iconophoric | 02/10/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Master fiddler Stuff Smith flying solo would be enough to get you there and keep you there. --But add a dose of searing soul in the form of the young Jonah Jones on trumpet, along with a galaxy of seasoned and swinging side men (including drummer Cozy Cole) and you have one of the most volcanic acts in the annals of recorded jazz. To hear Smith and Jones trade choruses is to feel yourself being lifted, palpably lifted, right out of your day. You won't hear a lot about these records, but believe it, they are among the swingingest and at times the most uninhibited of all early jazz performances. Later collections from this series will interest the die-hard completist, but these first recordings are, in my humble opinion, the most filled with youthful exuberance and ultimately the most satisfying on repeated listening.One of Jazz's all-time feelgood summits. You owe it to yourself to hear these."

A Merry Prankster of Jazz

Robert English | Independence, OR USA | 05/20/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Various european LPs (all out of print) have issued these same tracks, but they sound better here on this CD issue which has benefitted from improvements in audio restoration technology. Though there is some variance in quality from track to track, this is a very listenable collection.What Bojangles Robinson did with his feet, and "Fats" Waller did with his piano, Stuff Smith did with his violin. He played around with the music, toying with it, and made it his own in the process. There were other jazz violinists that Stuff could be compared to, such as Joe Venuti and Stefane Grappelly, but Stuff did not roam the stratosphere of psuedo-classical styling like they did. He got down and dirty with it, and had a great time. And, listening to it seventy years later, so will you."