Customer Reviews

House Party

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

 

 

In the past ten years of success and failure
in buying jazz CD's I have to say Jimmy Smith's House Party
was the exact thing I was looking for from the beginning but
got lost going down all the other avenues of Jazz.

Jazz for many of us is not something we are fed like
rock/indie/country/etc. Jazz enthusiasts have to take
many risks when buying albums because the genres are so
very different and only smooth jazz is played on commercial
stations.

For those fortunate enough to have a public jazz or student jazz
station near you we envy you!

If you like warm upbeat highly talented artists equally playing
in groove and rhythm this is the one. Particularly for the first 15
minute all out jam "Au Privave". The line up on this album is huge
featuring stars in their own right like Lee Morgan and Art Blakely.
Recorded in 1957 this also is before many of these star players
went on to pursue their own tastes and sounds.

Unlike later Coltrane or Davis recordings everyone on House
Party gives equal input and works off of each others improvisations.
This is pure instrumental yet controlled wildness but not always at
a breakneck pace.

For those buying up Rudy Van Geller editions you will find this a
fantastic recording better than many of the other RVG's. If you are
thinking of House Party over Cool Blues I ran out and bought that
one after being amazed by HP and was a bit disappointed that it
wasn't on par with the first.

Jimmy Smith is at his best on these recordings, and with Blakey, Lee Morgan, Kenny Burrell, and others in the studio with him, he's absolutely unstoppable. You will be hard-pressed to find an album that is so infectiously swinging. In particular, the 15-minute "Au Privave" is a wonderful example of the dynamic and playful interaction taking place on this album (although the songs were recorded at separate sessions, with different personell).

While every track is wonderful, the album is stacked to the front, so that "Au Privave" (Track 1) is vastly superior to its Bird-penned bop cousin, "Confirmation" (Track 5). However, have no fear--all the tracks in between are nothing but quality jazz.

If you're only going to pick up one Smith album to try things out, I would recommend this over "The Sermon", the more popular alternative from the same years. "House Party" is more consistently spectacular. "Back at the Chicken Shack" from a few years down the road is also a great way to start.

I am not here to debate the quality of music on Jimmy Smith's "House Party." The tunes on this disc are classic swinging grooves, with sweltering, soulful organ the way only Smith, the Bird of the Hammond, could play them. What frustrates me is the decision by Blue Note/Capitol/EMI (/whoever else is in charge these days?!) to release the two new Jimmy Smith RVG titles, this selection and "The Sermon," to correspond to the track listings on their original vinyl counterparts. Doing this for the Hank Mobley releases, "No Room For Squares" and "The Turnaround," was worthwhile. While you lost four tracks (two on each disc) from the original CD issues, you made up for it with four songs from the impossible to find CD collector's item "Straight, No Filter." But each of the original Smith CD issues of "The Sermon" and "House Party" had over 70 minutes of music, and while the old "Sermon" had seven songs, it now only has three. To add insult to injury three of the tracks that were included on the original "Sermon" but not on the RVG edition, have shown up on "House Party" -- "Lover Man," "Au Privave," and "Confirmation." So let's see, my original "Sermon" has seven selections, and features five of the eight songs that I would now have to buy two discs to obtain -- which one is the better value! I know there is a trend towards making CDs exact replicas of the original vinyl, but I think in this case most people would prefer more music to nostalgia and historical accuracy.

This is my pick for Mr. Smith's best in-studio small group album. There is an intimacy here as well as creativity. There's a reason why he was called "The Incredible Jimmy Smith." This album shows us why.

This remastered CD of tracks from Jimmy Smith's
original "Sermon" album, is well done and a
delight to hear again with improved sound.