As a rule, people who appreciate the late
Jimmy Witherspoon have a very favorable reaction to
Al Smith -- that is, if they get a chance to hear him. Neither of the two albums that
Smith provided for Bluesville (
Hear My Blues in 1959 and
Midnight Special in 1960) are well-known. While
Witherspoon was a big name in the blues world,
Smith was a gospel singer who dabbled in secular music. But when
Smith did venture outside the gospel realm, his approach was quite comparable to
Witherspoon's -- like
Witherspoon, he favored a jazz-influenced approach to blues and R&B.
Smith, in fact, is backed by hard-swinging jazz musicians on
Midnight Special, including tenor titan
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, organist
Shirley Scott, bassist
Wendell Marshall, and drummer
Arthur Edgehill.
Davis and
Scott were both well aware of the power of the blues, and they were perfect for a jazz-minded bluesman like
Smith -- who soars on original material as well as inspired, passionate performances of the
Ray Charles hit "Night Time Is the Right Time" and the sentimental
Johnny Ace ballad "Pledging My Love." Was
Smith a blues purist? Absolutely not. Although some of the tracks have a 12-bar blues format (including the gutsy "I've Got the Right Kind of Lovin'"), others are really R&B. "Pledging My Love," for example, is a classic '50s R&B ballad -- and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. Besides,
Witherspoon was never a blues purist either; although he was primarily a blues singer, the versatile
Witherspoon also recorded his share of R&B and got into some jazz-oriented torch singing as well. Both of
Smith's Bluesville albums are well worth owning, but if you had to pick one of the two,
Hear My Blues would the best starting point.