The combination of organist Jimmy Smith teamed with Oliver Nelson's big band featuring Nelson and Claus Ogerman's arrangements has arguably yielded mixed results. "Walk on the Wild Side" is probably the most acclaimed and potent of the pairings, while "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" produces more questions than answers. The music tends to be corny and overly dramatic, based in soul-jazz and boogaloo; it's dated even for this time period (1964) and a bit bland. Disparate elements clash rather than meld, the title track and "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" being perfect examples. If you can get beyond the hokey 007 theatrics, patriotic splashes, and sleigh bells, you do hear Smith jamming. Typical repeated two-note accents heard from the big band behind Smith do not urge him upwards - during "Pts. 1 & 2" of the title track, this specific element identifies and bogs down the piece - but the quicker second segment is a better…

Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes picks up where Dynamic Duo left off, digging a little further into the one-time-only Wes Montgomery/Jimmy Smith sessions and coming up with more fine music – mellower in general than Dynamic Duo but first-class nonetheless. Unlike most of the studio sessions from this time, Montgomery gets plenty of room for his single-string work as well as his famous octaves, and both techniques find him in full, mature bloom, needing fewer notes in which to say more (Smith, of course, is precisely the opposite). All but one of the tracks on the original LP find Smith and Montgomery interacting only with themselves, the drums of Grady Tate, and the congas of Ray Barretto; Roger Miller's "King of the Road" (not often covered by jazzers) and Montgomery's "O.G.D." (later known as "Road Song") come off best…

Creed Taylor matched two of his most famous artists, Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith, on this session (Montgomery's last for Verve), and the results are incendiary - a near-ideal meeting of yin and yang. Smith comes at your throat with his big attacks and blues runs while Montgomery responds with rounder, smoother octaves and single notes that still convey much heat. They are an amazing pair, complementing each other, driving each other, using their bop and blues taproots to fuse together a sound. The romping, aggressive big band charts - Oliver Nelson at his best - on "Down by the Riverside" and "Night Train," and the pungently haunting chart for Gary McFarland's "13" (Death March)" still leave plenty of room for the soloists to stretch out. "James and Wes" and "Baby, It's Cold Outside" include drummer Grady Tate and conguero Ray Barretto, with Smith's own feet working the organ pedals…

Midnight Special is a perfect complement to Back at the Chicken Shack, which was recorded the same day. Organist Jimmy Smith, tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, and guitarist Kenny Burrell always make for a potent team, and with drummer Donald Bailey completing the group, the quartet digs soulfully into such numbers as the groovin' "Midnight Special," "Jumpin' the Blues," and "One O'Clock Jump."

Back at the Chicken Shack is one of organist Jimmy Smith's classic Blue Note sessions, and the first to draw attention to tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine. Recorded in 1960 with Kenny Burrell on guitar, Donald Bailey on drums, and Turrentine, the group reaches the peak of funky soul jazz that all other challengers of the genre would have to live up to. Included on this uptempo session is a reworking of "When I Grow Too Old to Dream" (a feature for Turrentine), Turrentine's "Minor Chant," two Smith compositions, "Messy Bessie" as well as the set's notable title cut. Smith's Midnight Special album was recorded at these same sessions, and is also exceptional.

Covering prime early recordings from 1956-1960 and one mid-'80s cut, Blue Note's The Best of Jimmy Smith offers up a fine introduction to the trailblazing jazz organist. Smith's Blue Note sessions not only introduced the world to the complex solo possibilities of the Hammond B3 organ, but simultaneously ushered in the soul-jazz era of the '60s, spawning a wealth of fine imitators in the process. Before delving into more commercial terrain on Verve in the late '60s, Smith cut a ton of jam-session dates for Blue Note, often with the help of hard bop luminaries like trumpeter Lee Morgan, alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson, tenor saxophonists Tina Brooks and Stanley Turrentine, and drummers Art Blakey and Donald Bailey. All are heard here on classic cuts like "The Sermon," "Back at the Chicken Shack," and "The Jumpin' Blues," with Smith regular Turrentine and a young Morgan availing themselves in especially fine form. For his part, Smith eats up the scenery on all the sides here, taking his solo to particularly impressive heights on a fleetly swinging rendition of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home".

What you see is what you get, an excellent little compilation of the various faces of soul-jazz as presented by the Verve label with their amazing array of artists from Hugh Masekela to Willie Bobo and Herbie Mann on the one hand, and Dizzy Gillespie, Jon Hendricks (in an outstanding reading of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man") the Heath Brothers, and Teddy Edwards on the other. The track list is wonderfully varied, too: there's a smoking version of Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" by Masekela, a pair by Jimmy Smith, and a big band – a new entry by the acid jazz group the James Taylor Quartet, but they get it deep; and Wynton Kelly goes deep into soul and blues with "Escapade." Anyway you cut it, it comes out great.

Granted, a single-disc overview of Blue Note's finest recordings can't help but offer listeners more than a myopic view of the label's true scope, but for jazz neophytes, this nine-track collection will undoubtedly serve as a tantalizing taste of the company's riches. The song selection, though lacking few surprises, is consistently wonderful – how could a disc featuring John Coltrane's "Blue Train," Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage," Horace Silver's "Song for My Father" and Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder" be anything but? – and purists' complaints aside, for new fans it's a solid introduction to the Blue Note magic.

Blue Note's So Blue, So Funky, Vol. 1 is a 12-track compilation that highlights the funkiest soul-jazz organists that recorded for the label, whether it was a leader or as a sideman. Although there's a handful of cuts from the early '60s, such as "Face to Face" by the terrific, underrated Baby Face Willette, the compilation leans toward the funky fusions of the late '60s, such as Big John Patton's "Fat Judy," Lou Donaldson's "Everything I Do Is Gon' Be Funky (From Now On)," Jack McDuff's "Butter for Yo' Popcorn" and Grant Green's "Ain't It Funky Now." The best thing about this comp is that even though it has familiar names, not all of the material is readily available on CD, which makes it of interest to casual groove fans and serious collectors alike.

Verve's Great Songs/Great Performances series is yet another attempt in a seemingly never-ending stream of them to repackage – and hopefully resell – their vast catalog of jazz and blues. They're super cheap in both cost and presentation, but the music is almost always stellar. Jimmy Smith's Plays the Hits volume is no exception. These eight selection are covers of tunes by the Rolling Stones ("(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"), Fats Domino ("Blueberry Hill"), Don Covay ("Chain of Fools") James Brown ("Papa's Got a Brand New Bag"), Otis Redding ("Respect"), Al Green ("Let's Stay Together"), and others. It's a groove lover's cheap dream. Dana Smart's track selection here is terrific, and whether the producer is Creed Taylor, Esmond Edwards, or Eric Miller, whether it was a small-band jam or an orchestral session arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson, the result is the same – funky soul-jazz that was a couple steps away from the Blue Note hard bop and early soul-jazz sound, toward something Smith heard in rock and soul music and big-band charts of '60s pop tunes.

Verve Records celebrated the 50th anniversary of Norman Granz's first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert with an all-star get-together at Carnegie Hall. Different groups of top players from Verve's legacy (both past and present) had opportunities to perform, and this CD has many of the highlights. Pianist Peter Delano plays "Tangerine" with a trio; Dee Dee Bridgewater sings "Shiny Stockings" with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band; Hank Jones pays tribute to Art Tatum; Abbey Lincoln sings "I Must Have That Man"; Joe Henderson meets up with Antonio Carlos Jobim (who made his final concert appearance) on "Desafinado"; "Manteca" features trumpeter Roy Hargrove and trombonist Steve Turre; pianist Yosuke Yamashita pays tribute to Bud Powell; Betty Carter scats on "How High the Moon"; Herbie Hancock and John McLaughlin play a restrained acoustic version of Bill Evans' "Turn out the Stars"; Hargrove teams up with altoist Jackie McLean and guitarist Pat Metheny for "The Eternal Triangle"; organist Jimmy Smith revisits Oliver Nelson's arrangement of "Down by the Riverside"; Art Porter and Jeff Lorber play some crossover, and J.J. Johnson contributes a few trombone solos.