Crazy! Baby – JIMMY SMITH***

When Johnny Comes Marching Home/Makin’ Whoopee/A Night In Tunisia/Sonnymoon For Two/Mack The Knife/ What’s New/Alfredo

Crazy! Baby was an early release on the Blue Note label from jazz electric organ wizard Jimmy Smith, before he achieved greater commercial success a few years later after moving to Verve.

“Starts strong but by the end of the first side there's what sounds like too much of the bad kind of improvisation. Smith throws some stuff at the wall ... it slides down to the floor ... doesn't stick.”

“Another great Smith album for Blue Note. Jimmy Smith here set up the organ trio standards. Cool cover and soul jazz at their peak.”

“Crazy Baby was Jimmy Smith's first album of the sixties, a decade which would make him a household name. The record is filled with tight swing, and the flawless Smith groove is kicked off with When Johnny Comes Marching Home. The tune features one of the most exciting solos Jimmy ever recorded and he is constantly inspired and spurred on by some fierce drumming. The trio burns on A Night In Tunisia, Sonnymoon For Two, and Mack The Knife before slowing down with a nice take on What's New highlighting Jimmy's expressive stop use.”

“Jimmy recorded only four trio albums for Blue Note between 1960-1963, and this in my opinion is the best of the lot. The album is consistently swinging, and is a peek at things to come in terms of the trio's interplay in the next couple of years.”

“Jimmy is heard in peak form on swinging and soulful versions of such tunes as When Johnny Comes Marching Home and Makin' Whoopee.”

“Why Jimmy was still using the warbly, rinky-dink setting on his organ when he recorded this set is a mystery. He uses it here on three tracks and it's just not nice. Happily, there are treats in store. For one there is his first recording of the perennial Dizzy Gillepsie tune A Night In Tunisia, which has that patented swing-and-bounce Smith magic. Best of all is the opening track which, once you get over the surprising material, has a great Jimmy solo, replete with a good early example of his two-note repetitive hold.”