The B-3 masterThere are two ways to appreciate an album such as this one. The first is to invite a pretty woman for a late drink by your place, install the CD or vinyl, turn your hi-fi to a low volume and let Jimmy Smith weave a cool relaxing ambiance in the background helping your romantic attempt to seduce the lady. The music is secondary. This is what I call the passive way. The second way is to put your earphones on, put up the volume to a reasonable high, tune the equalizer to the appropriate settings, close your eyes and immerse yourself in the musicians work, trying to isolate and follow each instrument's part and see how they mingle together into the global result. (Note : this way doesn't forbid your feet to gently stomp the swinging beat.) This is the active way and it's rather my way. 
The Incredible Jimmy Smith, as he was called, took the B-3 out of its traditional churchy gospel environment to the open as a full jazz instrument. Born in 1925 in Pennsylvania, he was already a skilled pianist since his early teens, playing in his father's entertainment show, when one day of 1955 he decided to buy a B-3 model. For a whole year, he studied the complex secrets of the instrument, practiced intensively and created his own style, before starting to perform in Philadelphia clubs in 1955 and in New York from 1956, where he was quickly remarked by famous Blue Note label bosses Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff who immediately put a contract on the table.
Considered to be the creator of a new genre, the "funk or "soul jazz", in the late 1950s-early 1960s, Smith did some forty recording sessions (!) for Blue Note between 1956 and 1963. "Back At The Chicken Shack" is from one of the 1960 sessions, actually the same one during which his album "Midnight Special" was taped.
Cool is THE word about this elegant album halfway between funky blues and jazz . Smith bubbling B-3 Hammond organ is cool, Stanley Turrentine's flamboyant tenor sax is cool, Kenny Burrell's laid-back jazz guitar is cool, and Donald "Duck" Bailey's background but essential drumming is cool.
This being clearly stated, let's add that the B-3 is a very intricate instrument, difficult to master. The whole apparatus weighs close to 200 kg ! Equipped with two
manual keyboards, a pedal board, two sets of manual draw bars and one of
pedal ones, numerous preset keys, built-in vibrato and chorus effects,
a unique harmonic percussion system, and a tone cabinet, it has to be
coupled to an external Leslie speaker which produces the typical
inimitable B-3 sound. Not surprising that it took an entire year to Smith to control such complexity.
The result, as it appears on this album, is as groovy as it is original. The five tracks on this record leave enough space for each of Smith accomplices to express himself through solo moments, starting by Turrentine.
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| Stanley Turrentine |
The bluesy swampy swing of "Back At The Chicken Shack", though mostly dominated by Smith, sees Burrell going through a short but mellow solo. Turrentine affirms the presence of his warm hoarse sounding tenor sax on "When I Grow Too Old To Dream" and "Minor Chant", his own composition, where Bailey surges suddenly with his drums rolls. On the long Smith original "Messy Bessie", Burrell comes in front with a solo full of virtuosity. The final number, "On The Sunny Side Of The Street", a Jimmy McHugh-Dorothy Fields tune, sees Smith, Turrentine and Burrell alternate solo parts.
As for the discreet Bailey, the importance of his presence can be measured by imagining how the album would sound without him : it would undoubtedly lack something essential. ■
Infos & docs
Live concerts videos
● At the Antibes Jazz Festival, Juan-les-Pins (France) with Roy Montrell on guitar & Donald Bailey on drums, 1962 : https://youtu.be/ZXsieoGSrC4 ● Jam Session "Newport In New York", with Kenny Burrell, Roy Haynes, Clark Terry, Art Farmer, Illinois Jacquet & James Moody, 1972 : https://youtu.be/eB0_L5NKgVE
The last concerts
● In Bratislava (Slovakia), 2004 (same band as on preceding video) :
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The Incredible Jimmy Smith, as he was called, took the B-3 out of its traditional churchy gospel environment to the open as a full jazz instrument. Born in 1925 in Pennsylvania, he was already a skilled pianist since his early teens, playing in his father's entertainment show, when one day of 1955 he decided to buy a B-3 model. For a whole year, he studied the complex secrets of the instrument, practiced intensively and created his own style, before starting to perform in Philadelphia clubs in 1955 and in New York from 1956, where he was quickly remarked by famous Blue Note label bosses Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff who immediately put a contract on the table.
● At the Vitoria Jazz Festival (Spain), 1983 : https://youtu.be/pXR_INxQvw0
