{"id":43895,"date":"2014-10-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/midnight-special\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T11:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:20:10","slug":"midnight-special","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/midnight-special\/","title":{"rendered":"Midnight Special"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once a second taste<\/a> of the immortal pairing of Les McCann and Eddie Harris set me off in search of further examples of soul jazz<\/a>, it didn\u2019t take long to stumble across Jimmy Smith (and that\u2019s what a jazz amateur like me does with major jazz figures\u2014stumbles across them like a clown tripping over his own shoes). <\/p>\n

An organist and bandleader with incredible feel and soulfulness to his playing, Smith issued a number of highly-regarded albums during his golden era of mid \u201950s through mid-\u201960s, along with some notably funkier outings in the \u201970s. Midnight Special<\/i> attracted my attention as a starting point for exploring Smith\u2019s catalogue in part because it matches Smith with the fantastic Stanley Turrentine<\/a> on tenor sax, along with the superb Kenney Burrell on guitar and Donald Bailey on drums.<\/p>\n

The first impression for me a few minutes into the opening title track was that this is the original chill-out music\u2014soft and cool and a little bit smoky, designed to mellow you out and make you smile. In particular, the steady interplay between Smith and Turrentine\u2014at that point on the cusp of launching a successful career as a bandleader\u2014is magical. \u201cMidnight Special\u201d smolders along for nearly 10 minutes, steady, enjoyable background music with a quartet of exceptional players taking their turns soloing.<\/p>\n

Turrentine\u2019s \u201cA Subtle One\u201d follows, a spacious, at times spectacular soundscape that goes on and on as Smith and Turrentine dance with each other over delicious, silky grooves, filling every moment with moody dynamics. \u201cJumpin\u2019 The Blues\u201d is where my initial impression started to change, as a little bit of flash comes into the picture when Smith unleashes a smoking solo in the third minute as the rhythm section runs double-time underneath. Burrell takes his turn around 3:45, and then it\u2019s Stanley\u2019s time to shine again.<\/p>\n

The place where Smith\u2019s chill-out music becomes soul jazz is in the grooves and the gospel influences apparent in his playing. There\u2019s a soul \/ r&b feel to the rhythm section and Smith\u2019s consistently expressive playing digs deep, opting for a steady urgency and passion over flash or speed. Turrentine serves as the perfect foil, supplying more of the jazz side of the equation with his liquid phrasing and swerving solos.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy Was I Born\u201d arrives as a slow, bluesy number, featuring Turrentine with some alternately melancholy and playful phrases. Here Jimmy mostly provides atmosphere, and Burrell stays in the background, leaving just sax, organ and brushes to do the work. The album closes with a Count Basie number (\u201cOne O\u2019Clock Jump\u201d) that swings like anything, providing a rich backdrop for Turrentine and Burrell to solo (there\u2019s definitely a bass guitar playing under Burrell\u2019s solo, so either the man has four hands or there\u2019s an uncredited player). <\/p>\n

Midnight Special<\/i> is a terrific introduction to the talents of Jimmy Smith, as well as a tasty example of what happens when you put four talents of the caliber of Smith, Turrentine, Burrell and Bailey in a room and just let them play. Sweet, sweet stuff, and I\u2019ll be back for more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":32146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9506],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-43895","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jimmy-smith","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43895"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}