At the Organ Volume 1

Jimmy Smith came out of Norristown, Pennsylvania, and Robert Levin, in the original notes, says most of his early work was in rhythm and blues bands. Levin hears the blues all through his playing because of it. Before Smith, Levin writes, only Fats Waller and Wild Bill Davis had made much of a name as jazz organists. Then Smith arrived in New York.

Jimmy made his spectacular debut last year (1956) at the Café Bohemia in New York's Greenwich Village.

Robert Levin, original liner notes

A year on, Blue Note was recording him in bulk. This record and Volume 2 were, by Levin's count, his eighth and ninth albums for the label.

All four tracks here come from one day, Tuesday, February 12, 1957, at Manhattan Towers in New York. It was the middle of three days there, February 11 to 13, that filled five records, the two A Date with Jimmy Smith volumes among them. Lou Donaldson stayed from the day before. Smith used two different trios that day: his own, with Eddie McFadden on guitar and Donald Bailey on drums, and a second with Kenny Burrell on guitar and Art Blakey. This record uses only the second, plus one duo.

Side one, as Wikipedia lists it, opens with that duo. "Summertime" is just Donaldson and Smith, no guitar, no drums. Donaldson plays at the start and the end and stays close to the melody, and Levin hears a pensive, melancholy mood. JazzTimes, as Wikipedia quotes it, called the duet a "marvel of melodic improvisation." "There's a Small Hotel" is the trio alone at a medium pace. Burrell, whom Levin calls a young and upcoming guitarist, goes first, then Smith at length. The two trade fours, and Blakey takes a solo before the melody comes back.

Side two starts with "All Day Long," Burrell's own minor blues, with Donaldson back. Donaldson, Burrell and Smith all stretch out before it fades. The same four close the record with Charlie Parker's "Yardbird Suite," and Levin hears the band brighten for it.

Levin ends with a forecast.

Jimmy has come far within the past year and will go farther.

Robert Levin, original liner notes

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

Wikipedia and the Jazz Discography Project give the record as a 1957 release, though The Jazz Tome dates it 1958, and Billboard reviewed it in February 1958. "All Day Long" went out as a two-part single. Volume 2 followed in 1958, with more from that Tuesday and from the day after.