Root Down

Artist: Jimmy Smith
Label: Polygram Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Live
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 731455980523
EAN: 0731455980523
ASIN: B00004UAQS

Release Date: 2000-07-18

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Listmania:

Music For Everyone That You May Not Have Heard
Groovetastic Chillfest
my favorite jazz albums
Some of my Favorite CD's
High quality music of multiple genres
bad, bad instrumental funk
Jazz favorites
Essential Live Jazz/Funk CD's
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The Goods- JazzFunk

Tracks:

Sagg Shootin' His Arrow
For Everyone Under The Sun
After Hours
Root Down (And Get It)
Let's Stay Together
Slow Down Sagg
Root Down (And Get It)

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Customer Reviews:

Good for its Genre.......2006-05-18

Jimmy Smith, who was a pioneer in the soul jazz genre, here graduates into jazz-funk. Though I love the Hammond B-3 organ he used throughout his career, he never was quite as much an originator as Grant Green or Stanley Turrentine. Still, his earlier soul jazz outings, especially his collaborations with Wes Montgomery have something to be said for them. Root Down is certainly an enjoyable listen, it does owe its debt to the funk music outside of the jazz world that was now making an impact on it. Though it is less predictable and more catchier than previous recordings, it never breaks the mold of jazz funk. Play it back to back with Miles Davis' "On the Corner" and see which comes out a winner.

Funkus extremus.......2006-05-04

This is some good stuff right here. No foolin'.

I have had this album for awhile and was saddened to hear that Mr. Smith died in Feb 2005. RIP. The soul has left the earthly container, but I suspect this music will stand the test of time. Thirty four years later, it sounds incredibly fresh.

It is one of those albums that you can have for 10 years, not listen to it for 3 months, put it in and be like "nice." Though I don't think I have gone more than a month.

Highly recommended.

The art of acid funk organ.......2006-04-14

First - "Root Down" is the hottest and rawest down-to-earth funkadelic live album recorded by Jimmy Smith and with his most unusual live group in the '70's. Secondly - he never did a follow up album with the concept. Too bad! Recorded live in Los Angeles in February 1972, the group of young musicians rooted in modern progressive rock/jazzrock and funk seems to have no respect for the organ master is and pushes him beyond normal limits. With Wilton Felder (yes, the man from Crusaders) plays his funky elbass, some guitar distortion/wah-wah from Artur Adams and funky drumming from Paul Humphrey, the band sounds astonishing modern in the acid jazz vein, even for today's standards. Smith kicks off laying down blues drenched organ grooves that truly cook on his originals like "Sagg Shootin' His Arrow", "Root Down" and Slow Down Sagg". The too often played "After Hours" sounds fresh and new adding Steve Williams on harmonica. The reissue is even greater than the original album since Verve have restored original tracks to their full and unedited length...great work from Verve!

Pure Fun.......2005-02-11

There's one reason why Jimmy Smith is one of the greatest Organplayers of all time. A very simple reason. Pure Fun. This album demonstrates just that quality of Jimmy Smith. Seldom has a live album managed to get the atmosphere of the show accross as well as this album does. Sweat will be oozing out of your speakers.

Interesting enough this record is something of an oddity for Smith. It is the only album I know of where he's being backed by a bass player. Smith usually plays bass himself on the organ and thinks of bassplayers as being too much of a good thing. Maybe the presence of the bassplayer is what makes this album so much more alive as your average Jimmy Smith album. Although Jimmy Smith is an excellent organplayer his albums had just one weakness, uniformity. Root Down is a rare Smith item in the fact that it doesn't really repeats a formula. As a result of that it was one of his more dynamic albums in years, maybe his whole carreer.

Two tracks on the album require special attention. The title track Rootdown is a bonafide funk classic. The Beastie Boys later lifted the entire intro for their version of the song. And then there is After Hours. A fine and sexy blues that manages to move time after time.

Enjoy.

Holy Funk.......2004-08-11

I picked this CD up after covering a Tower of Power song with a band. We did 'What Is Hip?' and I took a big organ solo in the middle. After the concert someone suggested that I explore Jimmy Smith and listen to his organ work. I bought this CD and I've been through it about 2-3 times now, and I'm diggin' it big time. It's got the intense grooves of Tower of Power, mixed with the soloing of a Herbie Hancock. The title track, 'Root Down' and 'Slow Down Sagg' are definitely the highlights of this set. The bass and drums lock into a seriously tight groove that Smith and guitarist Arthur Adams both fit themselves right into. It's definitely a CD that any funk-jazz fan/player should have.

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