Prayer Meetin'

by Jimmy Smith

Overview

Playing piano-style single-note lines on his Hammond B-3 organ, Jimmy Smith revolutionized the use of the instrument in a jazz combo setting in the mid-'50s and early '60s, and arguably his best albums for Blue Note during this period were the ones he did with tenor sax player Stanley Turrentine. Recorded on February 8, 1963, at Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey, and featuring Quentin Warren on guitar and Donald Bailey on drums in addition to Smith and Turrentine, Prayer Meetin' is a delight from start to finish. Forming a perfect closure to Smith's trio of albums with Turrentine (Midnight Special and Back at the Chicken Shack were both released in 1960), Prayer Meetin' was the last of four albums Smith recorded in a week to finish off his Blue Note contract before leaving for Verve. The blues roots are obvious here, and the Smith-penned title track might even be called jazz-gospel, but the single most striking cut is a version of Ivory Joe Hunter's "I Almost Lost My Mind," with both Smith and Turrentine building wonderful solos, suggesting new pathways for organ and sax as complementary instruments. ~ Steve Leggett

Product Details

Release Date:	09/25/2020
Label:	Blue Note
UPC:	0602508811326
Rank:	39693

Tracks

1. Prayer Meetin'
2. I Almost Lost My Mind
3. Stone Cold Dead in the Market
4. When the Saints Go Marching In
5. Red Top,
6. Picnickin'

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Jimmy Smith   Primary Artist,Organ (Hammond)
Stanley Turrentine   Guest Artist,Sax (Tenor)
Quentin Warren   Guitar
Donald Bailey   Drums
Sam Jones   Bass

Technical Credits

Paul Campbell   Composer
Traditional   Composer
Jimmy McGriff   Composer
Gene Ammons   Composer
Ben Kynard   Composer
Fred Hopkins   Composer
Francis Wolff   Cover Photo
Frederick Hendricks   Composer
Gene Austin   Composer
Ron McMaster   Digital Transfers
Rudy Van Gelder   Engineer
Nathaniel Shilkret   Composer
Michael Cuscuna   Liner Notes,Reissue Producer
Wilmoth Houdini   Composer
Alfred Lion   Producer
Ivory Joe Hunter   Composer
Joe Goldberg   Liner Notes
Jimmy Smith   Composer
James Black   Composer
Lionel Hampton   Composer
Mississippi Fred McDowell   Composer
Reid Miles   Cover Design