Johnny “Hammond” Smith ”Dirty Grape”

Johnny “Hammond” Smith

”Dirty Grape”
( LP Prestige Records, 1968 )
Catalog # PR 7564

Tracklisting:
Dirty Grape
Animal Farm
Black Strap Molasses
She’s Gone Again
High Heel Sneakers
To Sir With Love
Love Is A Hurtin’ Thing
Please Send Me Someone To Love

Personnel & Notes:
Earl Edwards, Houston Person (ts)
Johnny “Hammond” Smith (org)
Wally Richardson (g)
Jimmy Lewis (el-b)
John Harris (d)
Richie “Pablo” Landrum (cga)
Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studio,
Englewood Cliffs, NJ, January 31, 1968
Part of Prestige PRCD 24235-2

Review:
On this pleasant but moderately by-numbers set of late 1960s soul-jazz, Smith leads a combo whose most notable member is tenor saxophonist Houston Person. On the original numbers (Smith and guitarist Wally Richardson contribute two apiece), they sound rather like a jazzy Booker T. & the MG’s. Also included are covers of R&B and pop tunes: “Hi Heel Sneakers” is a predictable treatment with no surprises, but Smith pulls out more stops on the funky arrangement of “To Sir With Love” and offers a spirited take on Lou Rawls’ “Love Is a Hurtin’ Thing.” These interpretations have the sly ingenuity characteristic of Smith’s cover-stuffed Soul Flowers album, which he cut just four months before this session with the same supporting cast. Dirty Grape is now available in its entirety on Prestige’s set of Soul Flowers, which puts both LPs onto one disc.
By Richie Unterberger (AMG)

By Pier