Cashbox : 03/07/1959

The title suggests informality, and that is just the atmosphere crated by organist Jimmy Smith and his ten guests. Smith’s dexterity with the Hammond is easily apparent in his solo flights, but more important, he provides a continuously inspiring background for extensive solos by his cohorts. Consequently, a swinging session evolves that will interest a host of jazz buffs.

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Pittsburgh Courier
Harold L. Keith – 03/07/1959

Jimmy Smith‘s Houseparty on Blue Note is a real bash, what with Messrs. Lee Morgan, Curt Fuller, Lou Donaldson, George Coleman, Tina Brooks, Ken Burrell, Ed McFadden, Art Blakey and Don Bailey on hand for the fun.

The group kicks off on Au Private, one of modern jazz’s most moving classics, and then swings through a series of numbers that serve to further emphasize the now well-known fact that Jimmy is one of jazzdom’s greats and without a doubt, king off the organ.

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Washington Post
Tony Gieske : 03/08/1959

Jimmy Smith‘s House Party has some first-rate jazz artists who play well – Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller and Lou Donaldson, among others. But Smith himself creates only the illusion that he is playing jazz. The basic idea of improvising – building logical phrases – seems not to have occurred to him.

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Down Beat : 05/14/1959
Unknown : 3.5 stars

About the only thing the separate tracks in this set have in common is the presence of organist Smith on each track. Au Private and Just Friends are whoppers that consume almost the entire A and B sides – which means, of course, that there’s ample opportunity for all concerned to mount the soapbox and wail at will.

Smith’s electrifying (no pun intended) organ is the dominant solo voice both in terms of length of playing and in musical contribution. Trumpeter Morgan, present on all except Lover Man (which belongs to altoist Donaldson, here displays a more economical, and hence more constructive, approach than on previous sessions. Brooks is a strong, potent tenor voice of the let-the-good-times-roll variety. Burrell, as usual, justifies his reputation as one of the best pickers in jazz.

Led by the seething Smith, participants in the four tracks blow with a conviction as angry as it is stimulating.

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Liner Notes by Robert Levin

Au Private:
Jimmy Smith, Lee Morgan, Lou Donaldson, Tina Brooks, Kenny Burrell, Art Blakey.

Lover Man:
Jimmy Smith, Lou Donaldson, Eddie McFadden, Donald Bailey.

Just Friends:
Jimmy Smith, Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, George Coleman, Eddie McFadden, Donald Bailey.

Blues After All:
Jimmy Smith, Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, George Coleman, Kenny Burrell, Donald Bailey.

The Hammond organ, the powerful vehicle with which Jimmy Smith so openly, passionately and dexterously tells – and often shouts – his story, is an instrument of extraordinary expressive capacities, many of which remained unutilized in the jazz context until Smith began an investigation of them in 1953. Since that time, when he abandoned the piano for it, Smith has explored the possibilities of the organ more deeply than anyone in jazz (and particularly “modern” jazz) before him and, in doing so, has developed both awareness and a command of the instrument’s potentials that are unusually strong.

The majority of jazz organists began as, or continued to be throughout their careers primarily, pianists (Fats Waller, Count Basie and Wild Bill Davis are the first and most prominent to come to mind) and consequently their approach to the organ has been largely a pianistic one. Smith, though he too started as a pianist (many who heard him recall his as a more percussive Bud Powell stye) and has, to an extent, carried his concepts and manner on it to the organ, is more concerned than most others have been with playing the organ, as such, rather than simply adjusting a piano style to it. As a result he has both illuminated and animated many previously latent facets of the organ in jazz.

Probably Smith’s most immediately apparent attribute is his technical facility. A prerequisite for the organist is, of course, an exceptional physical coordination which must, perhaps, be even more keen than that of the drummer. The jazz organist needs not only to play chordal and (when in solo) melodic lines – the ordinary role of the piano – but, with a foot petal, must simultaneously sustain the bass line as well. Though elementary, this is a function that requires a remarkable adeptness. Smith carries the bass line more firmly and clearly than any organist I have heard and his uncommon concern with the beat, of which this is a continuous demonstration, would seem to be a natural outgrowth of his rhythm and blues background – outlined on several of his earlier LPs. In addition Smith is well aware of the importance of dynamics and makes effective use of the many and diversified tonal colors – textures and shadings at his disposal. Correspondingly his attack, though most often highly propulsive and vigorous, generally contains a good sense of form and continuity of ideas.

Here both his solos and comping on Au Private, Just Friends and Blues After All (none of which are taken at particularly fast tempos) exemplify his constant percussiveness and rhythmic drive which make the presence of a drummer seem, at times, almost superfluous. On Lover Man (which is primarily Lou Donaldson‘s vehicle) Smith is more restrained, but even in his more lyrical moments such as this, the innate power and force, while less overwhelming, are strongly in evidence and Donaldson is obviously affected and extended by Smith’s accompaniment.

Donaldson, one of Smith’s many collaborators on this record, is also heard on Charlie Parker‘s Au Private where he contributes a fine solo in his Parker-informed, but highly personalized style. He has always been one of the most consistently capable altoists in the Parker school and his work here is indicative of this. George Coleman who, since his recent appearance on the scene has confined himself, primarily, to the tenor saxophone, plays alto on Just Friends and Blues After All with spirit and conviction. Tina Brooks, a tenor saxophonist with a tone that while comparatively “small” is well projected by a considerable energy of expression and effective ideas, has a heated solo on Private, his single appearance here. Trumpeter Lee Morgan, present on Private, Friends and Blues, is apparently beginning to learn the virtues of economy and plays here with a purposeful directness that does not at all detract from his usual open-emotion expressiveness. Trombonist Curtis Fuller’s forceful statements on Friends and Blues suggest that he is becoming aware of the capacities of his talent and that it is a large talent. Guitarist Eddie McFadden (Man, and Friends) and drummer Donald Bailey (Man, Friends and Blues) are the other two members of Smith’s current trio and, it would seem as a result, work quite sympathetically with him here. Kenny Burrell has an outstanding solo on Private and Art Blakey makes his presence obvious on that tune.

The title of this set, Houseparty, is an accurate description of the informal, “sitting-in” atmosphere which prevails. The ultimate value of most records of this type is more often dependent on the general quality of the solos it contains than on the property of material, or how well specific musical concepts are collectively pursued and handled. Here, I think, an extraordinarily high level of excellent solos is maintained and much of the credit for this is due Smith in his role of accompanist. His seemingly inexhaustible rhythmic energy, combined with the intrinsic power of the organ itself, provides a consistently forceful and inspiring foundation that, in turn, could not help but provoke equally inspiring solos.