In early 2009, many of the great
Jimmy Smith-influenced soul-jazz organists who emerged in the 1950s or 1960s were no longer living.
Richard "Groove" Holmes,
Johnny "Hammond" Smith, and
Charles Earland died in the 1990s;
Jimmy McGriff,
Shirley Scott,
Jack McDuff,
Big John Patton, and the seminal
Jimmy Smith passed away in the 2000s. So the arrival of a solid,
Jimmy Smith-based soul-jazz organ date like
Blues Citizens in March 2009 was good news (this 49-minute CD was recorded in May 2006 but came out almost three years later).
Radam Schwartz remains a staunch proponent of the
Jimmy Smith school of soul-jazz organ, and his prominent influences include not only
Smith, but also
McDuff,
Earland, and
Holmes. All of those influences are evident on
Blues Citizens, which finds
Schwartz leading a cohesive quintet that also includes tenor saxophonist
Bill Saxton, alto saxophonist
Bruce Williams, guitarist Eric Johnson, and drummer
Cecil Brooks III (the album's producer). Nothing groundbreaking occurs, but
Schwartz and his allies provide enjoyable, no-nonsense soul-jazz/hard bop on
Schwartz originals as well as on
Herbie Hancock's "Driftin'" and the standard "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You." Equally engaging is a performance of
Erroll Garner's "Misty," which was influenced by the classic version that
Holmes recorded for his
Soul Message album on Prestige in 1965. That isn't to say that
Schwartz's version of "Misty" is a carbon copy of
Holmes'; the tempo is comparable, but unlike
Holmes' trio version with guitarist
Gene Edwards and drummer
Jimmie Smith (not to be confused with the organist),
Schwartz's version includes horns. Like
Joey DeFrancesco,
Schwartz doesn't pretend to be pointing the Hammond B-3 organ in any new directions, but there is no doubt that he is pleasingly good at what he does -- and the enjoyable, if derivative,
Blues Citizens makes it clear that his B-3 playing is well worth getting to know. ~ Alex Henderson