Customer Reviews

Dot Com Blues (+1 Bonus Track)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The master of the Hammond B-3 returns with a new compact disc. One part jazz + one part blues + one part groove = an excellent disc. This is Jimmy Smith's first new disc in a while and I was eagerly anticipating it. I am a big fan and have most of his discs that are in print. The set is varied, some of the cuts are instrumental and some feature vocals. There are also numbers performed with a small combo as well as with a horn section. This session also features a number of guests including; Dr. John, Taj Mahal, Etta James, B.B. King and Keb Mo' on vocals. His small combo features underrated guitarist Russell Malone. The music is mixture of stone blues, jazzier numbers and some greasy funk. My favorites include the title track as well as "8 Counts For Rita" and "Mr. Johnson which features Dr. John on piano. My favorite vocal number is "Three O' Clock Blues" with B.B. King on guitar and vocals. This cut makes me wish they had cut an entire cd together like King's recent collaboration with Eric Clapton. B.B.'s guitar is jazzy enough to mesh well with Smith's organ playing. The other guest vocalists also are impressive and it sounds as if fun was had by all. If you prefer your blues a little more jazzy, you will certainly enjoy this disc.

I just bought this CD. I haven't purchased one of his CDs in a long time since he went to playing progressive jazz way out in left field. This CD is so great I can't turn the stereo up loud enough to get inside it. He's playing the way we knew him to play when he was on top. He gets down & dirty & funky. He's got a great horn section & some super vocalists & guests musicians. I love every track on it. If you're an R&B/Jazz organ fan, you've got to get this CD for your collection. You'll love it! I guarantee it!

Known primarily as a jazz organist, Jimmy Smith plays with blues artists Dr. John, Etta James, B. B. King and contemporary blues vocalist-guitarist Keb' Mo' on "dot com blues," Smith's newest recording. In fact, his first recording in five years. Smith's performance on the Hammond B3 is superb sixty minutes of good-time blues music.

Smith teams with Dr. John on three numbers, Dr. John's own "Only in It for the Money; " an instrumental, " Mr. Johnson" attributed to Smith and Dr. John; and my favorite cut, Willie Dixon's " I Just Wanna Make Love to You" with Etta James on vocals. Taj Mahal solos on vocals and guitar on his own composition "Strut." Keb' Mo' performs vocal and guitar chores on his own " Over & Over." The numbers with the guest artists have an expanded group including saxophone and tumpet/ flugelhorn whereas about half the numbers have Jimmy Smith on organ accompanied by Russell Malone on guitar, Reggie McBride on bass guitar and Harvey Mason on drums. Only Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo," performed here with Smith's small group and string bass master John Clayton substituting for Reggie McBride, is outside the genre. It is respectfully rendered by Jimmy Smith and group, as well.

It is said that blues music can cure the blues, but you don't have to have the blues to enjoy this album. Here's hoping Jimmy Smith doesn't wait another five years for his next CD.

What can one say about Jimmy Smith, the Hammond B-3 Lion In Winter (age 76, by my count) that hasn't been said already? Perhaps a brief rundown of accolades for the uninitiated: a major instrumental star since the early 1950s; almost unarguably THE originator of the Hammond organ soul-jazz style that was so popular in the early sixties (Groove Holmes, Jimmy McGriff, Charles Earland, and Jack MacDuff all owe their living to Smith); the man who essentially validated the Hammond organ as a viable jazz/blues instrument (very few serious keyboardists had based their sound on it before him); and not just the first, but perhaps the best organist in the jazz-blues idiom EVER. Period.

Dot Com Blues is a stellar Jimmy Smith set. The Hammond master has aged well. The esteem in which he is held is revealed by the company he keeps: B.B. King, Etta James, Dr. John, Taj Mahal, Keb Mo. Stock bandmates on this album are the likes of Russell Malone (Diana Krall's superb guitarist--an instrumental star in his own right) and Harvey Mason, session drummer par excellence--remember George Benson's "Weekend In LA" album, with it's kickbutt version of "On Broadway"? Harvey Mason was the drummer.

It's not necessary to rhapsodize about the great guest-star cuts. Fantastic, as one would expect. What I will mention are two great little Jimmy Smith original instrumental funk-blues cuts, featuring Malone (guitar), McBride (bass), and Mason )drums: "8 Counts For Rita" and the title cut, "Dot Com Blues". Check 'em out. Great playing, and compositionally interesting. Jimmy Smith, from the git-go, was always more than a blues-riffing party organist. Listen to the great version of Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo" here.

Jimmy Smith is still cookin', and still, after fifty years, looks out at the world with that wonderful, charming smile from his album covers. Thanks for all the matchless music you've given us over the years, Mr. Smith . . . and play on.

Jimmy Smith has been coaxing soulful tunes out of the Hammond B3 organ for so long that he has truly become the standard against which others are judged. It has been a long time since I have enjoyed one of his albums, or cd's as much as this.

Original compositions such as "Dot Com Blues," "8 Counts For Rita," and "Tuition Blues" are truly excellent, and his arrangement of "C C Rider" is truly something to experience. Smith's rendition of Ellington's "Mood Indigo" is also something not to be missed!

The addition of B.B. King on guitar and vocals for "Three O'Clock Blues" makes for a collaboration which is only out done by "I Just Wanna Make Love to You" featuring an all star line-up including Etta James leading the vocals and Dr. John on electric piano. A nicely conceived and executed CD, that has a traditional blues feel and you won't get tired of hearing.

This album is among the best work Jimmy Smith has ever done. It was recorded in 2000, hence the title. In much of his earlier work, producers stuck him with big bands. Somewhat understandable as Smith produced some classic hits: "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," for example. But too often the result was too loud, too brassy and just got in the way. Or Smith was paired with the great guitarist Wes Montgomery, whose sound (in this man's opinion) was way too relaxed for the likes of Jimmy Smith. Here he is in the perfect milieu, backed by a small studio group that can PLAY. They also get out of his way and allow him to soar. On some tracks guest artists are brought in. The best stuff is just Smith and his sidemen. I mean, they do cook. "8 Counts for Rita," "Strut," "Dot Com Blues," and especially "Mr. Johnson" are just pure. Jimmy Smith ranks with the greatest jazz artists of all time, a man who fashioned a sound and style as distinctive as Miles Davis on trumpet, Gerry Mulligan on barry sax, Ray Charles as a vocalist. The word "genius" is sometimes used too loosely. It fits this man like a glove.

It's a thrill when a veteran musician puts it all together and every track is a keeper. Jimmy Smith plays to his strengths (great organ riffs) and gets help from a lot of equally talented friends. GREAT vocals on this album, sax and guitar. A real pleasure, among my top jazz albums. If you you're a long time jazz fan or looking to buy your first jazz album, Jimmy Smith DotCom Blues ought to be on the top of your want list.

I have been a Jimmy Smith fan for many years now, and I enjoyed this album more than all the others. His transition into "blues" was wonderful. He is such an unselfish musician that he allowed the guest artists their chance to shine. Very good mix of instrumental and vocals.

There's nothing that sounds new here, and that's mostly the beauty of it. On the surface, this is meat and potatoes R&B, grooves that sound familiar the first time you hear them. Spicing it up are some nice guest appearances, much like John Lee Hooker's late-career albums. But under the surface is some innovative playing by a guy who could be expected to rest on his laurels at this stage of his career. Especially on the quieter numbers (Mood Indigo), Smith's playing is complex and layered.

I didn't know I was a blues fan until I heard this CD. I can't stop playing it.