1001 albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 34. Jimmy Smith – Back at the Chicken Shack (1963)

 


More Hammond, but this time we’re back in the jazz genre, and here the Hammond shares the limelight with the sax (played by Stanley Turrentine), playing (I guess...) a kind of cool variant with be-bop stylings for the solos. As with a lot of jazz, there are only four tracks on the album (with a bonus fifth, Sunny Side of the Street, on the re-release). And it does what jazz does – start on a recognisable riff, then wander off, come back, wander off again, play with the theme, eventually returning to the original riff.  

All very accomplished, and not a bad listen to be honest, but not one I’d return to very soon. I note that this comes somewhere in the middle of Smith’s recording career, and was actually recorded in 1960 at the same time as a bunch of tracks on the 1962 release Midnight Special. 

It’s interesting putting it right next to Booker T, as it shows two different musical styles with the Hammond organ. I think I prefer Booker’s way personally, but that’s not to say this isn’t without merit. 

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