Jimmy Smith has been on the scene for so long it may be difficult to imagine now what the Hammond B-3 sounded like before he got his hands (and feet) on it. This two-CD set marks his 1956 debut on disc in company with guitarist Thornel Schwartz (misspelled as “Scwartz”) and drummers Bay Perry (Disc one #1-9) and Donald Bailey in a program of tunes that features him going all out on such wailers as Dizzy Gillespie’s “The Champ,” at half-throttle on items like “I Cover the Waterfront” (done a la Erroll Garner) and totally relaxed on-among others-“Deep Purple.”
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