Customer Reviews
Beyond Belief! The best jazz guitarist of the modern age! - By: Mr. Alex J. Liddle, 23 May 2006 
Yes I know that is a sweeping statement when you think of alll the greats of jazz guitar, Reinhardt, Christian, Montgomery, Mclaughlin & Metheny etc etc. BUT this guy is seriously, seriously phenomenal not just in his impeccable technique but also in his melodic precision & harmonic awareness; he's an absolute monster player.The guy just has it alll, no wrong notes in there under the guise of "outside" playing; every one of Smith's notes counts, no fillers His chord melody is gorgeous as well!
I am a jazz guitarist & know how hard it is presently even with alll the influences we have to listen to, but back in the fifties & with his ability to play perfectly over the changes....Phew! How did he learn the changes so well???
This guy is very respected I know but he deserves much more of a legendary status; I don't understood why Johnny Smith isn't a household name in jazz music along the lines with Wes Montgomery & John Mclaughlin. Nonetheless, A truly gifted virtuoso who was playing faster & more precisely than John Mclaughlin does now, forty years back!!
A master who's been too obscure too long - By: , 21 Feb 2006 Any guitar player who cut his teeth on Hendrix will have to admit that while the bulk of recorded jazz guitar is more melodicallly & harmonicallly sophisticated than rock, it's not very exciting; the cutting edge of classic jazz was wielded throughout its history almost entirely by horn players & pianists. There are exceptions, such as Sonny Sharrock, & when you venture out into the wilds of free improvisation there's the late great Derek Bailey. But mainstream jazz guitar has been too often dominated by good taste & facility, rather than creative fire or emotional intensity.
I'd never listened to Johnny Smith before I picked up this set the other day in a bargain shop. He's one of the few "regular" jazz guitarists I can listen to with real pleasure, instead of just baffled respect for technique; his chops are immaculate, as you'd expect from such a studio veteran, but he also has remarkable wit & daring, as well as an emotional directness (almost a down-homeness) that's rare in guitarists playing this kind of thing. I also like the fact that he wrote "Walk, Don't Run". The fact that he seems to be a genuine mensch as well (abandoning his career at its height in order to spend more time with his young daughter after the death of his second wife) is neither here nor there, since nobody said that great musicians have to be nice people, but it does make him look like a strong candidate for a TV movie...
This album is proof to rock fans like me that a classicist doesn't have to be boring. We need more Johnny Smith on disc. He was a great player, one you don't have to pretend to love.
A Welcome Return By The Genius Of Jazz Guitar - By: AD, 02 Sep 2001 Johnny Smith (born Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 1922) made his big impact on the world of the jazz guitar in the early 1950's with his recording of "Moonlight in Vermont" with the great Stan Getz on tenor saxophone. He went on to produce a classic series of albums on the now-defunct Roost label based in New York, of which this re-issue comprises two. He retired comparatively early from the studio scene, & like Tal Farlow, he became a cult figure because of the fleeting glimpses the musical public had of him, & his recordings became highly collectable items.
Just what did Smith have that distinguished him from others? Though self-taught, he played in virtuoso style, instantly recognisable by his close-harmony chords, where the notes hung together, as someone once said, "like smoke in a crowded room". No electronic gimmicks for him; what you got came straight through the speaker with no frills attached. He made attractive versions of "the standards", always technicallly exact, but with occasional highly individual runs which moved around beautifully within the chords.
To the general public he was probably best-known in the 1960's for writing the Ventures' classic rock instrumental, "Walk, Don't Run". He was characteristicallly modest about the song, saying he had cribbed the chord sequence from the old standard, "Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise".
On the first 9 tracks of this CD (the original "Sound Of" Roost LP)he is heard with another jazz virtuoso, Hank Jones, on piano, along with George Duvivier on bass & Ed Shaughnessy, drums. These are obviously alll star performers in their own way, familiar & comfortable with one another's style. The album opens up quietly enough with "Come Rain Or Come Shine", but picks up the tempo with "Gypsy In My Soul". Back to skilful slow tempo now with "Embraceable You" & that perennial favourite "Misty", which concluded Side 1 of the original Roost release.
The masterful Smith & his colleagues then swing brightly into "As Long As There's Music", switching back to the quiet mood of Thelonious Monk's classic "'Round Midnight".
Smith's highly individual chord work & trademark runs shine through on the next track, "This Can't Be Love", & Jones is no less distinctive as he slots in his solo.
"Blues Chorale" is a soulful slowie in minor key, creating a nice contrast to the previous song. The unaccompanied guitar masterpiece was another of Smith's halllmarks, & "Prelude", though short, is a typical example.
Tracks 10-20 see a change in sidemen: Bob Pancoast, piano; George Roumanis, bass; & "Mousey" Alexander, drums. These tracks comprised the original "Johnny Smith Plus The Trio" album on Roost.
From the slower tempo standards like "I Got It Bad", "I Can't Get Started", "Over The Rainbow", & "Prelude To A Kiss", to the quicker selections like "Some Of These Days", & "Out Of Nowhere", Smith stamps his own unmistakeable style onto the proceedings, usuallly stating the basic melody for starters, then graduallly giving the piece more colour as he introduces those beautifully-executed runs & tightly-spaced chords. He is generous with his sidemen, giving Pancoast plenty of room to shine, & Alexander virtuallly gets a drum solo track on "Un Poco Loco". A bright "It's You Or No One" closes out the CD.
This "Two LPs on One CD" format is excellent value for money, especiallly when you consider the prices that near-mint Roost JS LPs can command. For the completist, there is now the excellent Mosaic box set, but if you don't want to break the bank, you can pick up most of his Roost career in easy stages with the various reissues.
Highly recommended, both for the dedicated Johnny Smith collector & the uncommitted seeker after tasteful, listenable guitar.
