Keeper of the Drums

Marvin "Smitty" Smith | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Concord Records
• ASIN: B000026E8T
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #489,330 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Just Have Fun

2. Miss Ann

3. Love Will Find a Way

4. A Song of Joy

5. The Creeper

6. Now I Know

7. Thinking of You

8. A Simple Samba Song

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent, July 10, 2010

By 

Bill Your 'Free Form FM Handi Cyber Print DJ ... (Mahwah, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Keeper of the Drums (Audio CD)

The cover of this may make you think Keeper Of The Drums is one of those also ran jazz albums--some second tier jazz guy playing "Take The A Train," for the six millionth time on a 1980s dry toast jazz album for a small label.

And, like me, you'd be dead wrong. Keeper Of The Drums is no 1960s orange spine IMPULSE!, but the music within is amazing.

First let's look at some of the foot soldiers Smith has lined up for Keeper Of The Drums: Kevin Eubanks, Lonnie Plaxico, and Steve Coleman: major players at the cutting edge of 1980s jazz.

The music here is titled towards hard bop, but within the frameworks of each track is incredibly fresh soloing, highly unique horn arrangements, and players locking together for patterns far more twisting than on your typical neo-traditionalist bop album. Branford and Wynton would blush--always for me a selling point

I was fortunate enough to get this for a dollar probably for the same reason I waited so long to play it: the record shop got this as a cut out and probably had no idea what it was. But even if you have to pay a good deal, you will realize quickly these are bucks well spent.