1959 · Album
The Sermon
Recorded August 25, 1957 and February 25, 1958 · Blue Note · Produced by Alfred Lion
Holding Court at the Hammond
The Sermon proves that a jazz organ can hold a room for over half an hour on sheer groove alone.
By 1957, Jimmy Smith had already made it clear that the Hammond B-3 organ was not a novelty instrument or a church fixture — it was a full-blown jazz voice capable of carrying a session with the same authority as any piano. The Sermon! (1959) arrived at a pace that tells you something about how hard he was working and the label's confidence in him. These were not throwaway dates. Blue Note was paying attention, and for good reason.
The album's centerpiece is the title track, which runs just past twenty minutes — an extended blues workout that earns every minute of its length without ever feeling like it's padding. This is not a piece that's trying to make a statement about form; it's a piece that's enjoying itself. Smith builds the groove methodically, and the supporting cast — which on these sessions included Lee Morgan on trumpet and Lou Donaldson on alto saxophone, among others — takes turns stretching out without losing the thread. The feeling is loose but never sloppy. It sounds like a room full of musicians who have found something and decided not to let go of it yet.
What makes this recording distinct from some of Smith's other Blue Note output is the sheer duration of that commitment to a single idea. A lot of his albums from this period are showcases of range — different tempos, different moods, different feels across a set of shorter tracks. The Sermon! bets heavily on depth over breadth, at least on side one. Side two brings shorter pieces that function more like palette cleansers, and they hold up fine, but the record lives or dies on that title track. Fortunately, it lives comfortably.
If you're coming to this album fresh, it helps to know what you're signing up for. This is not cerebral jazz — it doesn't ask you to decode anything. It asks you to settle in and let the groove do its work. Smith at the Hammond is physically present in a way that few instrumentalists manage on record; you can feel the bass pedals and the rhythm of the keys working together. That physical quality is part of why the organ blues format he helped define translated so well to listeners outside the usual jazz audience. The Sermon! is a very good example of Smith doing exactly what he was best at, recorded at a moment when he was still working out just how far he could take it.
Who's playing
Kenny Burrellguitar
Eric McFaddenguitar
Eddie McFaddenguitar
Tina Brookstenor saxophone
Lou Donaldsonalto saxophone
George Colemanalto saxophone
Lee Morgantrumpet
Curtis Fullertrombone
Jimmy Smithorgan
Art Blakeydrums
Donald “Duck” Baileydrums
Where next?
More by Jimmy Smith
All 13 albums →
The musicians on this record
A Night in Tunisia 1960
Art Blakey
plays drums (drum set) here
plays drums (drum set) here
The Cooker 1958
Lee Morgan
plays trumpet here
plays trumpet here
Introducing Kenny Burrell 1956
Kenny Burrell
plays guitar here
plays guitar here
Blues Walk 1958
Lou Donaldson
plays alto saxophone here
plays alto saxophone here
