1972 · Album
Root Down
Recorded February 8, 1972, Bombay Bicycle Club, Los Angeles · Verve · Produced by Unverified — omitted
The Organ Swings, The Crowd Listens
Root Down captures Jimmy Smith doing what he loved most — playing hard and loud for a live crowd.
By 1972, Jimmy Smith had already reshaped what the Hammond B-3 organ could do in a jazz context. He had spent the late 1950s and 1960s proving that the organ was not just a church instrument or a cocktail lounge novelty but a serious vehicle for hard bop and blues-drenched jazz. Root Down (1972) finds him in front of a live audience at the Bombay Bicycle Club in Los Angeles on February 8, 1972, and the setting suits him perfectly. There is nothing formal or studied about this record. It is a club date, warm and loose, and Smith plays like a man who is completely at home.
The album's title track is the reason most people encounter this record today. 'Root Down (And Get It)' is a funky, strutting groove that sat comfortably in Smith's wheelhouse — part blues, part soul jazz, with a repeated riff that sticks in your head. It is not a complicated piece of music, and it is not trying to be. What makes it work is the commitment and the feel. Decades later, the Beastie Boys sampled it for their own song 'Root Down,' which introduced Smith's playing to an entirely new generation of listeners who may not have known where that groove was coming from. That kind of cross-generational reach says something real about the track's staying power.
As a live album, Root Down has the energy and looseness you would want from a club recording and a few of the rough edges that come with that territory. Smith is clearly engaged, playing to the room rather than to a microphone, and that distinction matters. This is not his most polished studio work — if you want that, albums like Back at the Chicken Shack (1963) are the place to go. But polish is not really the point here. The point is to hear Smith in his natural habitat, working a crowd, digging into grooves, and making the organ sound like it weighs about a thousand pounds. For listeners who already love Smith, this is a satisfying live document. For newcomers, the title track alone is worth the price of entry, and the rest of the album gives you useful context for understanding why he mattered so much in the first place.
Who's playing
Wilton Felderdouble bass
Arthur Adamsguitar
Jimmy Smithorgan
Paul Humphreydrums
Buck Clarkecongas, percussion
Steve Williamsharmonica
