A Date with Jimmy Smith Volume 2

This is the second half of Jimmy Smith's first meeting with horns on record. In February 1957 Alfred Lion booked three days at Manhattan Towers in New York, February 11 to 13, and Smith came out of them with music for five albums. Ira Gitler wrote one set of notes for this record and Volume 1. He calls Smith a player of great skill and taste, who could play loud, as he had on "The Champ," but chose his moments.

Two of the three tracks come from the first day, Monday, February 11. The band was Donald Byrd on trumpet, Lou Donaldson on alto, Hank Mobley on tenor, Smith's new guitarist Eddie McFadden, and Art Blakey on drums. Gitler notes that Byrd, Donaldson and Mobley were all known from their Blue Note records, and all three had played in Blakey's bands. The third track comes from the next day, Tuesday, February 12, when Smith and Donaldson recorded two tunes as a duo.

Side one is a single tune, Duke Ellington's "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart," which runs to 17 minutes. Donaldson states the theme. Byrd and Mobley solo next, and Blakey pushes each of them into double time. McFadden, Donaldson and Smith follow. Gitler asks the listener to notice the bass line Smith plays with his feet. After the theme comes back, Smith returns alone for a variation on it.

Side two opens with the duo, "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You." No guitar, no drums: just alto and organ, and only the two of them solo. Gitler points out the tempo.

This ballad has been uptempoed by several of our modern jazzmen in recent years.

Ira Gitler, original liner notes

Here it stays near the tempo it was written for, and Donaldson gets the spotlight.

Lou plays a heartfelt, extremely moving solo before Jimmy comes in.

Ira Gitler, original liner notes

The record closes with Mobley's "Groovy Date," which Gitler calls a "Rhythm type" swinger. Everyone solos, and Blakey trades four-bar breaks with the three horns.

The sleeve was designed by Reid Miles, with a photograph by Francis Wolff.

When the record came out late in 1957, Billboard thought Donaldson stole the show, and Don Gold, in Down Beat, liked Smith's playing but not the sound of his instrument. The duo's ballad went out on a 45. Donaldson stayed on for the rest of that Tuesday, and most of what he and Smith made there went to the two At the Organ albums.