CD Review

34-year-old Hammond B-3 organ ace Joey DeFrancesco almost single handedly re-ignited interest in the use of his instrument in a jazz context back in the late 80s and early 90s, so it was never any question that he’d find his way to Jimmy Smith, one of the Hammond’s most beloved and revered pilots and most innovative wizards. What isn’t as widely known is that DeFrancesco’s relationship with Smith, who died on February 8, goes back to his youth, when DeFrancesco’s father, similar Hammond savant “Papa John” DeFrancesco, would bring young Joey to Harlem and downtown Philly to hear and meet the artist as young as age seven.

Although the two had collaborated before – a wild Smith sit-in is captured on DeFranscesco’s previous live effort, Incredible (1999) – this is the first time where the two minds meet, sage and upstart, and have themselves a good ol’ fashioned B-3 summit. That Smith passed away not long after its completion leaves it something of an unofficial passing of the torch, and a final statement from a legendary artist who sought some oomph back in his music after years of waning popularity and complacent studio output.

The disc’s selections are everything you could expect from a meeting of the two, free of indulgence and hot on inventive, soulful ideas. The disc was recorded over three days, with no overdubs and almost all first takes: fleshed-out readings of Smith classics like “Back at the Chicken Shack” and “Midnight Special,” a frothy take on the DeFrancesco-penned “Jones’n for Elvin,” which also features scorching sax lines from tenor great James Moody, and rich arrangements of “Got My Mojo Workin’” and the Sonny Rollins classic “St. Thomas.” The joy is palpable throughout: toward the end of “Midnight Special,” Smith uncorks a free form scat that ends, as the tune winds down, with a sighed, audible “Amen,” and the listener can’t help but agree.

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