Jimmy Smith Back at the Chicken Shack Blue Note NY USA Stereo LP

Back at the Chicken Shack is one the greatest soul jazz albums in jazz history.

What makes this album so great is the tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine's sweet sound.

"Minor Chant" is my favorite on Chicken Shack. Stanley has this warm sound on tenor that affects the attentive listener emotionally.

Outside of Dexter Gordon's husky ballad tone, and possibly Johnny Hodges sweet alto sound, no one had a sweeter tone than the sugar man.

I always appreciated the late Michael Brecker, when he would from time to time throw in some pretty good homages to Stanley in his own work.

This particular copy is a later NY USA stereo pressing and has a fantastic crisp sound. The sound stage on most "Ear" NY USA copies is extremely high quality.

I have several second pressings of this particular variety that sound pretty good. I actually

sold a 47 West 63RD of Chicken Shack that I think didn't sound any better than this copy.

Organ jazz isn't everyone's cup of tea, as many a jazz snob considers that the original fusion, and believe me, some can't stand anything that's been plugged into an electric outlet.

I am OK with the Hammond B-3 Organ, I like the sound, it's can really generate a lot of heat in the hands of a master like Jimmy Smith.

If you meld it together with a heat generating sax like Stanley Turrentine, and the guitar of Kenny Burrell, it's a winning combination.

You will have to look far and wide to find a better soul jazz album, and owning a vintage copy like this is a thrill to say the least.

Larry Young's Mother Ship: Out of this World Organ Jazz

Mother Ship is easily one of Organist Larry Young's best albums of his career. The music was recorded in 1969, but not released until 1980.

The album was one of the victims of Blue Note's Liberty Records buy out, Liberty shifted away from experimental style jazz and was more about commercialized music.

The track "Visions" seems 5 years ahead of its time, sounding more like something Return to Forever would have done.

Mother Ship is some serious Post bop/ with a light touch of  jazz rock fusion music.

I was first turned on to this music when Blue Note released it in CD form as one of their Connoisseur's series in 2003.

I then purchased a vinyl copy a few years later: Sound-wise, they both are OK, but there is this light distortion/compression in the back ground, or maybe brittleness on the CD version.

When I purchased the vinyl reissue that distorted sound was still there. That pressing plant is known for cheap sounding records though, this vinyl copy is a digital copy to vinyl perhaps?

It is apparent that this budget reissue must have used the same 2003 mastering as on the CD.

 Don't get me wrong, the distortion does not ruin the sound.... but I do wonder if the original 1980 issue has this distortion?

 If anyone has a CD and the original vinyl, please let me know what you think after a comparison?

In closing, I highly recommend the music, if you like free bop and if you haven't heard much Larry Young, you'll need all of his Blue Notes as a good start.