Jimmy Smith's Finest Hour

Amazon.ca Here's another fine compilation of Smith's music, this one topped off with two of his greatest hits, "A Walk on the Wild Side" and "Organ Grinder's Swing". There's no doubt that, while he was on pole position when they invented the Hammond organ, Smith remains its best and most exciting exponent. It was he who turned the instrument into a virtual orchestra, playing walking bass lines with his feet and accompanying himself with chords from the left hand. He doesn't put a foot (or hand) wrong throughout these 62 minutes. Although he's a complete band on his own, he is supercharged by the various big bands here. Soul, gospel style and blues classics roll out from him, and the accompaniments are made up of some of America's finest, including Oliver Nelson, Thad Jones and the cream of the New York studio musicians. Most of the tracks come from the earlier Verve period before the organist began covering the hits of the day. They are all the better for that. "Blues for Del" and "The Cat" have him in tandem respectively with guitarists Kenny Burrell and Wes Montgomery. --Steve Voc