recommended album of the week

Artist: Jimmy McGriff
Album: Greatest Hits
Available on: iTunes, Amazon
Listen to when: You’re the lead character in a film and things are finally starting to look up.

I usually can’t stand greatest hits albums. Maybe I’m a music snob, but I think throwing together songs by an artist that were recorded in different settings, with different musicians and engineers with seemingly no regard to what the listening experience will be like is a crime. Here I make an exception, though – this is a damn good album. More importantly, as my father always notes, organ-jazz is a genre plagued with some downright awful repertoire (cheesy covers, sappy ballads, Christmas music, etc.), so it’s really tough to find albums that are good all the way through. Jimmy Smith, the undisputed king of the Hammond B3, put out an astounding amount of schlock, and even his best albums usually have a song or two that make you wince.

Jimmy McGriff’s sound is a little dirtier than Smith’s, and his music is enjoyably more down-home and soulful. This doesn’t feel like a greatest hits album – his sounds is distinct and consistent, and the sidemen are mostly there to complement him. Every cut on the album grooves hard. It’ll make you want to keep driving or get up and dance or go out and get you a job. Everything’s gonna be O.K. – let Uncle Jimmy take care of you.