An excellent piece of early soul-jazz, 1960's
Talk That Talk isn't as bop-oriented as
Shirley Scott's albums with
Stanley Turrentine from the same period, as flashy and ornate as the albums
Jimmy Smith was starting to make with
Creed Taylor and
Lalo Schifrin, or as funky and blues-based as the best of
Jimmy McGriff or
"Brother" Jack McDuff.
Smith's playing on this album is low-key almost to the point of being conservative, deeply soulful without resorting to what would soon become tired funk clichés. For the most part, the settings are the standard organ/bass/drums trio, with occasional appearances by tenor saxophonist
Oliver Nelson, vibraphonist
Lem Winchester, and guitarist
Eddie McFadden to provide textural variety.
Smith is always at the center of the arrangements, taking almost all the solos, which means that less organ-besotted listeners might find the album a bit samey, but on tracks like a loping, gentle version of "An Affair to Remember" and a gorgeously soulful "Misty,"
Johnny "Hammond" Smith shows exactly why he deserves his nickname. [The 1995 CD reissue of
Talk That Talk appends six additional tracks, originally released as
Smith's Gettin' the Message LP, also from 1960.] ~ Stewart Mason