Six Views Of The Blues
This previously unreleased album was recorded in 1958 at one of 31 sessions that the phenomenal and prolific organist Jimmy Smith participated in during his tenure at Blue Note. Credited with transforming the Hammond B-3 from a novelty item into one of the most popular instruments in jazz, Smith helped create the organ-trio sound and establish the soul-funk style so popular on jukeboxes across the U.S. in the late 1950s. An all-blues program withCecil Paynewielding a rather cumbersome baritone saxophone,Six Viewsis hardly revolutionary--perhaps explaining why the album was originally kept in the can. Thankfully, today's criteria for what is release worthy differ from the standards in the late 1950s, allowing us to hear Smith with guitaristKenny Burrelland drummerArt Blakeyin what has become a rare recording. The grooves here are sublime--with a stellar "St. Louis Blues"--and Payne proves to be an unusually nimble soloist on the big baritone. Nota bene: "The Swingin' Shepherd Blues" was previously issued on the Blue Note single 45-1711.--Mitchell Feldman