Eighteen Classic Albums

If you are a fan of Jimmy Smith, this is an insane value. The music needs no comment from me other than B3 greatness throughout and wonderful Jimmy Smith jazz fun from first to last.My biggest fear was that the sound was going to be lousy. It is not lousy; it is not perfect either. It seems like "Enhanced for Superior Quality" means tweaking the EQ settings, or at least that's what it sounds like to me. A few times to the point of distortion, but mostly within the realm of tolerable. I didn't have many of these recordings (else, why would I buy this set), so I can't make comparisons (though I did have House Party and The Sermon!, and they sound close to the RVG remasters that were issued a few years ago). You'll never mistake these recordings as taken from the original master tapes, but whatever sources they used (and you can tell there is a variety, very much bearing on the quality of the final sound), these recordings sound better than you have a right to expect, paying such a ridiculously low price for 18 Jimmy Smith albums. As I remember someone else commenting, the sound ranges from good to very good; that is a fair appraisal. And truly, some of the later recordings sound too good to be true FOR THE PRICE PAID. For me, being a big fan of the Hammond Man, the sound never gets in the way of the art Jimmy is making (though I wish it were better some places); I have thoroughly enjoyed everything I have heard thus far. I don't want the tone of this review coming off as tepid; the sound is more than good enough, at the least, and at best, beyond any reasonable expectation for such jazz greatness at such a low price.Fans of Jimmy Smith, for 18 early Smith albums, many out of print, you can't satisfy your craving for more B3 from Jimmy any better than this fabulous set. Dig in!

What a deal! Eighteen albums on ten CD's. From Smith's late 50's recordings into his early 60's sets. Like all Real Gone Jazz box sets, there's no liner notes-just recording dates and personnel for each album-good enough. The box is sturdy and each discs slips into a cardboard envelope. On the front of each are the original album covers for that disc. The sound quality is very good-despite what others have said. I own a number of these sets, and the sound is never less than good. Is it "audiophile" good? Probably not. But let's not quibble-the sound is crisp without being harsh, and each instrument can be heard clearly.Needless to say the music is awesome. Even some of Smith's lesser works contain some real goodies on them. His sound and style-anchored in both be-bop and the blues-was delivered with a lot of excitement and intensity. Even his ballads had a kind of directness to them. But by now everyone knows Jimmy Smith and how he laid down the organ sound for every player who came after him.If you don't own his work from this era, this is a no-brainer. Even if you do own some of these albums, it's still a no-brainer. Pick this set up before it disappears. What a deal.

SMITH, Jimmy. Eighteen Classic Albums. 10 CDs. Real Gone Jazz. 2012 (orig. 1956-61). $23.52. JS, Hammond B-3 organ; others incl. Donald Bailey, Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, dr; var guit players incl. Kenny Burrell; Lou Donaldson, alto sx; other horns.FRANCESCO, Joey. Incredible. Concord. 2000. $7.93. JF, Jimmy Smith, Hammond B-3organ; Paul Bollenback, guit; Byron Landham, dr.FRANCESCO, Joey. Joey Francesco's Goodfellas. Concord. 2000. $11.14. JF, Hammond B-3 organ; Frank Vignola, guit; Joe Ascione, dr.In the late fifties and early sixties, Jimmy Smith albums poured out in a veritable torrent, and I didn't like them at all. It seemed to me too formulaic, Funk By Formula, and that wasn't my thing. Plus, I didn't much like organ jazz. The instrument seemed too slow moving to me, not flexible enough for bop, which was my flavor du jour of jazz. I'm older now -actually, a lot older--and I like more kinds and flavored of jazz than I did when I was a Young Turk in my twenties. So when the opportunity came to pick up this humungous compendium of eighteen albums by Jimmy Smith for a ridiculously low price, I did it.And I'm glad. It's not an even collection. All too often, the music descends into cliché. It's boring. But there are plenty of un-boring moments in this collection and some of it is really quite fine. The best albums are those with just the trio -organ (doubling on bass lines), guitar and drums. The more horns that are added to the mix, the less I enjoy the resulting music as a general rule. But the trio albums are a delight. They're especially good to listen to while driving, one of my favorite ways to listen to new music because there are no distractions. In general, I find Smith's music least enjoyable -or rather, more predictable--when he attacks a slow ballad, and more exciting on up and funk tunes. Another interesting point to me: Donald Bailey was a good drummer but no match for either Elvin Jones or Art Blakey, who also play on some of the albums. But Bailey is a much better fit with Smith: they obviously grooved with each other. Anyway, I'm a (qualified) convert to Jimmy Smith's deservedly popular form of jazz. I'll listen to this music again.Joey Francesco is the best known and most highly acclaimed of Smith's successor's on the Hammond B-3 so I thought, if I'm going to listen to Jimmy Smith, why not Francesco as well. I purchased two albums by Francesco, the first because it paired Francesco with Smith, whom he acknowledges as his original inspiration (along with his grandfather), the second because I liked the way the samples sounded on Amazon.Both albums are first rate. Francesco and his colleagues on these two albums aren't innovators. There's no new ground broken in jazz. But who cares. They are talented craftsmen -artists- who play interesting and tasteful and exciting (especially exciting on the Incredible album) music. Francesco's associates on the Goodfellas album grab me more than the guitarist and drummer on the Incredible, which was recorded during the San Francisco Jazz Festival in 1999. But the two medleys with Jimmy Smith are phenomenal! Apparently, they'd not played together before, but you wouldn't know it from these cuts. This is good music, a joy to listen to, and when the two organists want to, they sure know how to generate the heat.Goodfellas is even better. It's a pleasant conceit: three Philadelphia-based musicians, all Italian, play a program of Italian ("Volare") or Italian-American pop ("Fly Me to the Moon") tunes. (One exception: a Monk tune -I don't have the album in front of me now but I think it's "Evidence.") Francesco is a bear on this album and a plus to it is the drummer, who can play both subtle and kick-a** as needed. He does a great backbeat.

18 classic albums (most from 'Blue Note' from his 1956-1961 period) at the low prices available; How could you miss? You can't! There is only one 'album' whose fidelity is in question. All the others are very good. My only problem was that I already had 4 of the albums in this collection on CD. So What! I got the other 14 for what is still a bargain price. Recommended.

First, note that Amazon has this mis-labeled; the cover photo is correct. It's 18 Classic Albums, not 8 Classic Albums. It's a box with 10 CDs, each in separate sleeves, containing the music from 18 Jimmy Smith LPs.Second, 4 of the 10 CDs (8 of the original albums) are exactly the same as the "8 Classic Albums, Vol. 2" by Jimmy Smith. So, don't buy the "Vol. 2" if you're going to buy this set.Music & quality is fine, just like all the other "8 Classic Albums" sets.

Way back I had a Jimmy Smith album, and thought it was probably pretty representative of "what he could do". Saw him live once too, and liked him a lot. BUT . . . . . and I'm not through the 18 albums yet, and I'm amazed how much better this guy is than I originally thought!! Wish I had these 18 albums way back. One more thing - it amazes me that I can get this, albums recorded mostly back in the 50's, and the quality is AMAZING given the recording equipment they had back then and the time elapsed. I'm guessing it sounds even BETTER than the original records.

A great sounding collection

ottimi! un cofanetto ultra economico contenente le migliori registrazione del grande organista, in collaborazione con i più grandi musicisti del suo tempo.

Abends (bei Kerzenschein), wenn es draußen kalt und trist ist, lädt Jimmy's Welt zum "chillen" und "grooven" ein. Als ich Jimmy das erste Mal gehört (und in Videos gesehen) hatte, dachte ich: "Mensch, cooler geht's nicht!" Der Sound ist so eindringlich, zu seiner Zeit eine echte Offenbarung an die Jazzwelt! Das Unikat Jimmy Smith begeistert und reißt mit! Mir war klar: der Jimmy-Sound birgt Suchtpotenzial. Die 18 Alben beinhaltende Box (10 Cds) ist eine sehr gute Möglichkeit viele Alben zu einem sehr günstigen Preis zu bekommen. Da der Sound der "8 classic albums"-Serie aber schon von anderen Kunden teilweise bemängelt wurde, war ich bei dieser Box schon etwas skeptisch. Den Hörproben zufolge war der Sound aber durchaus hinnehmbar. Auch nach dem Kauf würde ich sagen, dass die Soundqualität im Großen und Ganzen für DEN Preis (ca. 20 Euro!) absolut ok ist. Das Preis-Leistungsverhältnis ist wirklich kaum zu schlagen. Leider fehlt das Album "Back At The Chicken Shack" in der Box. Insgesamt sind 16 der 18 Alben identisch mit denen in den beiden einzeln erhältlichen Sammlungen "8 classic albums Vol.1" und "8 classic albums Vol.2". Die zwei weiteren Alben in der Box sind "Jimmy Smith + LD" und "House Party". Wen Jimmy's Sound in seinen Bann gezogen hat, dem bietet sich hiermit die Gelegenheit viel Jimmy Smith für wenig Geld zu bekommen.