Back at the Chicken Shack

I like this kind of Jazz. "Soul-Jazz". Some of the avant-grade stuff can be unapproachable and hard to enjoy in you aren't a Jazz player/musician. 3/5.

Do you know where I wanna be? ...that's right, back at the Chicken Shack!

It was enjoyable background music. Not anything I would go out of my way to put on again.

Better than Coldplay

I'm happy to hear this as a historical piece - Jimmy Smith apparently popularized the Hammond B3 organ, which eventually becomes a big part of later funk, hard rock, and even progressive rock. But musically, it's kind of basic and dated. Can't really distinguish it from music you'd hear in the background during a reception. Probably not fair given it was supposedly groundbreaking, but that's how I hear it today. Textbook 3 for me - had no problem hearing it, don't need to hear it again.

Not a huge of that organ sound. Small doses it's alright, but annoying over a whole album. Didn't help I misread the artist as Jimmy Cliff so was expecting something much different

Pleasant as fuck.

Never really grabbed me, similar pace. Saxophone seemed like the main instrument rather than the organ. Organ not as striking as, say, Billy Preston. Might be nice to have in the background

Smooth, buttery jazz. It's good background lounge music, that's for sure.

The Good: An album that clearly explains where we are!
The Bad: Our destination being a shack instead of a palace…
The Ugly: Trying to get all the chicken poo out of the shack…

When I was a younger lad, I would choose my books based on the cover art… and I believe that, for a little while, when I started buying albums, at times, I would apply that same principle: you can imagine what my thought was about this album based on the cover…
Chalk one up for the ol’ saying about judging based on cover.

I don’t believe I have ever heard anything from Jimmy, till this album, which makes sense, as it is jazz music, and I tend not to own jazz music—which isn’t to say that I don’t like jazz music, just not enough to invest in…
Anyway, I enjoyed the album, as it is of the easy-listening kind, though the electric organ gets on my nerves after a while… I have the same thing with Booker T and his MGs…

Will I play this album again? If i remember… I need to start creating a list of the 4* and 5* albums and make sure I listen to them again… maybe I need to go to 3* at times, and listen to those too?

The Chicken Shack… I just realized… there are a boatload of CK’s in that title, is this where Louis CK got his name from?

4*

It's good for Jazz. Not my thing, though

Groovy, funky jazz! This one has a similar feel to Green Onions, which I really enjoyed, but the longer track lengths gives them more time to breathe and explore each track, which overall makes it feel like a much tighter and better record.

Default Jazz 3

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

Not much to say to this one: just an organ, a saxophone, some drums, and an occasional guitar going back and forth taking little solos for 38 minutes. Is it sort of repetitive? Yeah, I’d say so. Did it affect my enjoyment? Not even a little bit – this album sets its tone early as an easy-listening dinner club style jazz album, and never raises expectations to a higher big-band level, so I never felt annoyed that each track was the same.

It’s definitely just a “pop on and do whatever while listening” album. Why is it on the list? Well, the book explicitly says the following:

“Redolent of church pews and skating rinks, the organ was once relegated to hip-free zones, a square cousin to the autoharp and accordion. And then along came Jimmy Smith, who turned his attention to the instrument in 1954 just as the Hammond company was unveiling its relatively compact new B3 model. Smith transformed the organ's lamentable image with his soulful synthesis of bebop, blues, and gospel, creating a powerfully grooving new sound. He spawned a new style of music—soul jazz—and a host of disciples who took up the Hammond B3 and formed combos.”

So… yeah, I guess it’s just a revolutionary use of the organ as a soul instrument that defines this album’s presence on the list. It gets a lot of shine here, and while my brain went to the Monty Python intermission theme many times while listening, I can only say that’s kind of a positive. I enjoyed this, and I feel fine bumping it up to a 5, though I can understand the case for going as low as a 3. That’s the floor, though; these are really good arrangements, & it’s just too smooth to not vibe out to.

Love the organ on this cool jazz 4/5

Soulful and excellent group of tracks played some of 60’s jazz pantheon, highly valued in any jazz collection. But nothing more than that.

I quite enjoyed this. Pretty chill and easy listening. 4/5

No conocía a este autor. Suena bien, pero no creo que sea algo imperdible aunque no deja de ser un disco agradable a la escucha.

Jazz. Pretty good.

Surprising I kind of like the album.....interesting early stuff...