Jimmy Smith - Four Classic Albums At Club Baby Grand Vol 1 / Live At Club Baby Grand Vol 2 / Groovin' At Smalls' Paradise Vol 1 / Groovin' At Smalls' Paradise Vol 2) (2020)

AVID Jazz continues with its Four Classic Albums series with a second finely re-mastered 2CD release from Jimmy Smith complete with original artwork, liner notes and personnel details. For this set, our second featuring Jimmy Smith we have selected four more albums that feature arguably one of the greatest exponents of the Hammond organ and certainly one of the most famous and influential to future generations of musicians. And this time it's a Live set! 'Live At The Baby Grand Volumes 1 & 2' and 'Groovin' At Small's Paradise Volumes 1& 2'. We don't think we would find many detractors if we were to say that our latest guest artist is probably the most famous jazz Hammond organist in the world. Mr Jimmy Smith, or to give him his rightful name The Incredible Jimmy Smith (depending on what album you're listening to) spent his formative years in the early 1950s in R&B bands playing piano and dabbling with the Hammond organ. After hearing Wild Bill Davis he made the permanent switch to the Hammond and was soon discovered by Blue Note supremo Alfred Lion. Smith was incredibly prolific, (hmm, perhaps that's where the name came from?), recording over forty sessions for Blue Note in a period of just eight years. He made many classic albums and we at AVID think we hit the spot with our first set AMSC1321. For our second set we have gone Live with two volumes apiece recorded at The Baby Grand in 1956 and at Small's Paradise in 1957. Both feature Jimmy Smith in a Trio setting with the Baby Grand set featuring Thornel Schwartz on guitar and Donald Bailey on drums. The second set at Small's features Bailey again on drums but this time Eddie McFadden takes the guitar chair.