Johnny Hammond- Higher Ground
Johnny ‘Hammond’ Smith
Listen/Download – Johnny Hammond – Higher Ground MP3
Greetings all.
I thought we’d ease ourselves into the week with some long-form, funky Hammond organ from the man who’s name matched the axe, Johnny ‘Hammond’ Smith.
Known alternately as Johnny ‘Hammond’ Smith (he attached the Hammond to set himself apart from guitarist Johnny Smith and organ maestro Jimmy Smith) and Johnny Hammond (as he is here, having detached the ‘Smith’ in 1974, JHS was one of the masters of the classic era of organ led soul jazz.
He recorded for Riverside and Prestige from the late 50s into the early 70s, moving on to Kudu in 1971.
Today’s selection, his cover of Stevie Wonder’s 1973 hit Higher Ground’ comes from his (Hammond’s) 1974 LP of the same name.
Here Johnny gets to stretch out (the shortest track on the album is over seven minutes long) with a hot band that included Steve Gadd on drums, Ron Carter on bass, George Benson on guitar and electric piano by the arranger for the date, none other than Bob James.
It is a very groovy session for one relatively late in the game. There’s a little of that Creed Taylor CTI/Kudu polish (always a good thing) but also plenty of head nodding funk (the album also includes the heavily sampled ‘Big Sur Suite’).
All of his Kudu LPs are highly recommended.
I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday.
Keep the faith
Larry
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