Song:On the Sunny Side of the Street
Album:Back at the Chicken Shack
Jimmy Smith was a jazz pioneer. He established the Hammond B3 organ as a jazz instrument. He's a guy I recommend to newcomers to jazz because his music is very accessible. Back at the Chicken Shack is recommended because it's great music and it's available as a budget CD. Smith recorded for Blue Note Records from 1956-62 and for Verve Records from 1963-72. I would say his Blue Note recordings are more acceptable to jazz purists because there are no strings or anything like that. Like many jazz musicians, Smith recorded so much that Blue Note couldn't release it all. In this case, he recorded two albums at the same time with the same musicians. They were Stanley Turrentine on tenor sax, Kenny Burrell on guitar and Donald Bailey on drums recorded at Van Gelder Studios Apr. 25, 1960. The album Midnight Special was released in Nov. 1961. Back at the Chicken Shack was released in 1963. Smith had some recently released albums at the time and I don't think Blue Note wanted too much out there. Supposedly Fats Waller wrote On the Sunny Side of the Street but he sold the song and it first appeared on the 1930 show Lew Leslie's International Revue. The song has been recorded by many jazz musicians. On the Sunny Side of the Street was not on the original release of Back at the Chicken Shack. It was added as a bonus track on the 1987 CD release. The only other time Smith recorded that song was in 1957. And that sat in the Blue Note vault until it was on the 1996 CD Cherokee. I know it's a different recording because the musicians are different. All the jazz labels stockpiled recordings. In fact, Blue Note announced a new release of an Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers album that was recorded in 1959. It's been in the vault all these years. So stockpiling was and is normal for jazz labels. Here's a video for On the Sunny Side of the Street by Jimmy Smith.
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