JIMMY SMITH -
I’m Gon Git Myself Together
Released on MGM
(1971, USA)
Liner notes:
This is the album that
answers the question “can a down-home earthy, gutsy, swinging, blues-drenched
jazz giant like Jimmy Smith find
happiness in that spastic, hard beat, heavily amplified, eternally youthful
world on the other side of the (generation) gap – Rock and Roll?” The album is
successful for a number of reasons: basically, Jimmy Smith is the type of
consummate artist who never gives less than his best in live or recorded
situations; secondly, Jimmy has never isolated himself in any one bag because
he is too aware of other idioms, other styles, other musicians, and much too
hip to the reality of change; furthermore, Jimmy’s style is so close to the
nitty gritty of communication that no gap is unbridgeable (…). No doubt about
it, there’s a happy Jimmy Smith contained in this album – a later-day rocksmith
who has his mojo working in any style he commands it to (Harvey Siders - edited).
Review on Soul Strut blog
Released in 1973 (actually 1971), the liner notes to the record state that it was
Smith’s attempt to mold Rock with Jazz, something that was a bit in vogue in
the late 1960s/early 1970s. I Know What I Want was written,
conducted, arranged and produced by Johnny
Pate. His band also backed up Smith. The song starts off with a funky
guitar line before Smith’s singing, organ and the horns join in to turn the
song more towards a soulful big band sound, although a big guitar solo towards
the end makes sure the Rock influences are still apparent. Next up, Smith takes
on a cover of Otis Redding’s (Sittin
On) The Dock Of The Bay. Despite some wah wah guitar in the background,
Smith’s singing really fails him on this rendition of the Soul classic. To make
up for things, Uh Ruh starts off with a jammin’ little open drum break before
going into an upbeat Soul-Jazz number. Dirty
Roosta Booga is another fast-pace groover, and there’s another drum
break intro to Need Mo, which is also good. A cover of Sugar, Sugar makes a nice
end to the record as well.
I may add that I quite like the title track (I'm
Gon' Git Myself Together), a solid blues and that Smith’s singing fails
him again badly in Spill the Wine. Overall an uneven album but still interesting if
you want to understand where the process started that yielded the fabulous live
album Root Down (listen to Need
Mo’).
Jimmy Smith – I'm
Gon' Git Myself Together (1971)
Tracklist
A1 I
Know What I Want 5:21
A2 (Sittin'
On) The Dock Of The Bay 5:15
A3 Uh
Ruh 2:45
A4 I'm
Gon' Git Myself Together 5:30
B1 Dirty
Roosta Booga 5:00
B2 Spill
The Wine 5:50
B3 Need
Mo' 6:16
B4 Sugar,
Sugar 5:15
No detail on the personnel (Johnny Pate
Orchestra).
