''Crazy! Baby'' is an album by American jazz organist
Jimmy Smith, recorded on January 4, 1960 and released on
Blue Note
Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue no ...
later that year.
[Blue Note discography](_blank)
accessed November 26, 2010
Production and recording
It was the first album Smith recorded at
Rudy Van Gelder
Rudolph Van Gelder (November 2, 1924 – August 25, 2016) was an American recording engineer who specialized in jazz. Over more than half a century, he recorded several thousand sessions, with musicians including Booker Ervin, John Coltrane, Mil ...
's studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Reception
The
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
review by
Scott Yanow
Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.
Life and career
Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles.
Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...
states, "Smith is heard in peak form... Despite claims and some strong challenges by others, there has never been a jazz organist on the level of Jimmy Smith."
[Yanow, S. ]AllMusic Review
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the data ...
accessed November 26, 2010
Track listing
Side 1
# "
When Johnny Comes Marching Home
"When Johnny Comes Marching Home" ( Roud 6673), sometimes "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again", is a song from the American Civil War that expressed people's longing for the return of their friends and relatives who were fighting in the war.
...
" (Traditional) – 7:58
# "
Makin' Whoopee
"Makin' Whoopee" is a song first popularized by Eddie Cantor in the 1928 musical ''Whoopee!''. Gus Kahn wrote the lyrics and Walter Donaldson composed the music for the song as well as for the entire musical.
The title refers to celebrating a m ...
" (
Walter Donaldson Walter Donaldson may refer to:
* Walter Donaldson (snooker player), (1907–1973) Scottish snooker player
* Walter Donaldson (songwriter), (1893–1947) American songwriter
{{human name disambiguation, Donaldson, Walter ...
,
Gus Kahn
Gustav Gerson Kahn (November 6, 1886October 8, 1941) was an American lyricist who contributed a number of songs to the Great American Songbook, including " Pretty Baby", " Ain't We Got Fun?", " Carolina in the Morning", " Toot, Toot, Tootsie (G ...
) – 4:57
# "
A Night in Tunisia
"A Night in Tunisia" is a musical composition written by American trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie in 1942. He wrote it while he was playing with the Benny Carter band. It has become a jazz standard. It is also known as "Interlude", and with lyrics by R ...
" (
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...
) – 5:40
Side 2
# "Sonnymoon for Two" (
Sonny Rollins
Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians.
In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...
) – 7:15
# "
Mack the Knife
"Mack the Knife" or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" () is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 music drama ''The Threepenny Opera'' (). The song tells of a knife-wielding criminal of the London underworld n ...
" (
Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...
,
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...
) – 4:58
# "
What's New?
"What's New?" is a 1939 popular song composed by Bob Haggart, with lyrics by Johnny Burke.
It was originally an instrumental tune titled "I'm Free" by Haggart in 1938, when Haggart was a member of Bob Crosby and His Orchestra. The tune was writ ...
" (
Bob Haggart
Robert Sherwood Haggart (March 13, 1914 – December 2, 1998) was an American dixieland jazz double bass player, composer, and arranger. Although he is associated with dixieland, he was one of the finest rhythm bassists of the Swing Era.
Music ...
,
Johnny Burke) – 3:50
# "Alfredo" (Jimmy Smith) – 4:30
CD reissue bonus tracks
#
"If I Should Lose You
"If I Should Lose You" is a song composed by Ralph Rainger, with lyrics by Leo Robin. It was introduced in the 1936 film '' Rose of the Rancho''.
Notable recordings
*Geri Allen – '' Twenty One'' (1994)
*Chet Atkins – '' Stay Tuned'' (1985) ...
" (Ralph Rainger
Ralph Rainger ( Reichenthal; October 7, 1901 – October 23, 1942) was an American composer of popular music principally for films.
Biography
Born Ralph Reichenthal in New York City, United States, Rainger initially embarked on a legal career, ...
, Leo Robin
Leo Robin (April 6, 1895 – December 29, 1984) was an American composer, lyricist and songwriter. He is probably best known for collaborating with Ralph Rainger on the 1938 Oscar-winning song " Thanks for the Memory," sung by Bob Hope and Shi ...
) – 6:26
# "When Lights Are Low" (Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...
, Spencer Williams
Spencer Williams (October 14, 1889 – July 14, 1965) was an American jazz and popular music composer, pianist, and singer. He is best known for his hit songs " Basin Street Blues", " I Ain't Got Nobody", " Royal Garden Blues", " I've Found a N ...
) – 5:38
Personnel
Musicians
* Jimmy Smith – organ
* Quentin Warren – guitar
* Donald Bailey – drums
Technical
* Alfred Lion
Alfred Lion (born Alfred Löw; April 21, 1908 – February 2, 1987) was a German-born American record executive who co-founded the jazz record label Blue Note in 1939. Lion retired in 1967, having sold the company, after producing recordings by le ...
– producer
* Rudy Van Gelder
Rudolph Van Gelder (November 2, 1924 – August 25, 2016) was an American recording engineer who specialized in jazz. Over more than half a century, he recorded several thousand sessions, with musicians including Booker Ervin, John Coltrane, Mil ...
– recording engineer, mastering
* Reid Miles
Reid Miles (July 4, 1927 – February 2, 1993) was an American graphic designer and photographer best known for his work for Blue Note Records in the 1950s and 1960s.
Biography
Miles was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 4, 1927, but, follow ...
– design
* Bob Ganley – photography
* Leonard Feather
Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing.
Biography
Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...
– liner notes
References
{{Authority control
Blue Note Records albums
Jimmy Smith (musician) albums
1960 albums
Albums produced by Alfred Lion
Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio