Softly as a Summer Breeze

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Softly as a Summer Breeze
Softly as a Summer Breeze.jpg
Studio album by Jimmy Smith
Released 1965
Recorded February 26, 1958
October 14, 1958 (Bonus tracks)
Studio Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ
Genre Jazz
Length49:32
Label Blue Note
Producer Alfred Lion
Jimmy Smith chronology
The Sermon!
(1957) The Sermon!1957		Softly as a Summer Breeze
(1958)		 Cool Blues
(1958) Cool Blues1958

Softly as a Summer Breeze is an album by American jazz organist Jimmy Smith featuring performances recorded in 1958 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1965. [1] The album was rereleased on CD with four bonus tracks recorded at a later session.

Album collection of recorded music, words, sounds

An album is a collection of audio recordings issued as a collection on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium. Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78-rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a photograph album; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl LP records played at ​33 1⁄3 rpm. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used alongside vinyl from the 1970s into the first decade of the 2000s.

Jimmy Smith (musician) jazz musician

James Oscar Smith was an American jazz musician whose albums often charted on Billboard magazine. He helped popularize the Hammond B-3 organ, creating a link between jazz and 1960s soul music.

Blue Note Records American record label

Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label that is owned by Universal Music Group and operated with Decca Records. Established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derives its name from the blue notes of jazz and the blues. Originally dedicated to recording traditional jazz and small group swing, from 1947 the label began to switch its attention to modern jazz. Although the original company did not record many of the pioneers of bebop, significant exceptions are Thelonious Monk, Fats Navarro and Bud Powell.

Contents

Reception

The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 3 stars stating

Scott Yanow is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.

"Softly As a Summer Breeze is one of Jimmy Smith's more obscure Blue Notes... Overall, this CD is not too essential, but it does fill in a few gaps." [2]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Track listing

  1. "These Foolish Things" (Harry Link, Holt Marvell, Jack Strachey) – 5:27
  2. "Hackensack" (Thelonious Monk) – 5:58
  3. "It Could Happen to You" (Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen) – 6:16
  4. "Sometimes I'm Happy" (Irving Caesar, Vincent Youmans) – 8:21
  5. "Someone to Watch Over Me" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 6:30
  6. "One for Philly Joe" [aka "Home Cookin'"] (Jimmy Smith) – 4:46

Bonus tracks on 1998 CD reissue

  1. "Willow Weep for Me" (Ann Ronell) – 3:24
  2. "Ain't No Use" (Leroy Kirkland, Sidney Wyche) – 2:40
  3. "Angel Eyes" (Earl Brent, Matt Dennis) – 3:25
  4. "Ain't That Love" (Ray Charles) – 2:45
  • Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey on February 26, 1958 (tracks 1-6) and October 14, 1958 (tracks 7-10)

Personnel

Musicians

Kenny Burrell American jazz guitarist

Kenneth Earl Burrell is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on the Blue Note label. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith produced the 1965 Billboard Top Twenty hit album Organ Grinder Swing. He has cited jazz guitarists Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt as influences, along with blues guitarists T-Bone Walker and Muddy Waters.

Guitar fretted string instrument

The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that usually has six strings. It is typically played with both hands by strumming or plucking the strings with either a guitar pick or the finger(s)/fingernails of one hand, while simultaneously fretting with the fingers of the other hand. The sound of the vibrating strings is projected either acoustically, by means of the hollow chamber of the guitar, or through an electrical amplifier and a speaker.

Eddie Lee McFadden was a jazz guitarist. He played in Philadelphia clubs from the 1950s and was in organist Jimmy Smith's band for several recordings in 1957–58. He then recorded several albums with another organist – Johnny "Hammond" Smith – during the period 1960–63, and one more in 1966. McFadden made two further sideman appearances on albums in the late 1970s.

Technical

Alfred Lion, was a Jewish German-born American record executive who co-founded Blue Note Records in 1939. Blue Note recorded many of the biggest names in jazz throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.

Rudy Van Gelder American recording engineer

Rudolph Van Gelder was an American recording engineer who specialized in jazz.

Audio engineer engineer who operates recording, mixing, sound reproduction equipment

An audio engineer helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, and reinforcement of sound. Audio engineers work on the "...technical aspect of recording—the placing of microphones, pre-amp knobs, the setting of levels. The physical recording of any project is done by an engineer ... the nuts and bolts." It's a creative hobby and profession where musical instruments and technology are used to produce sound for film, radio, television, music, and video games. Audio engineers also set up, sound check and do live sound mixing using a mixing console and a sound reinforcement system for music concerts, theatre, sports games and corporate events.

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References

  1. ↑ Blue Note discography accessed November 29, 2010
  2. 1 2 Yanow, S. Allmusic Review accessed November 26, 2010
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