Damn! is a 1996 album by the American jazz organist Jimmy Smith. The album was Smith's first album for Verve Records for over twenty years.Discogs accessed March 20, 2015
Damn! peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Top Jazz Album charts.
It's the last recording session of the drummer Art Taylor, a few weeks before his death.
Reception
The AllMusic review by Steve Leggett awarded the album four stars with Leggett writing that "The whole album, start to finish, works a wonderful groove, but versions here of James Brown's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man," and Charlie Parker's "Scrapple from the Apple" are particularly strong..Damn! is right up there with his best work, full of a joyous energy, and it sparked a resurgence of sorts for Smith."
Track listing "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (James Brown) – 7:30 "Sister Sadie" (Horace Silver) – 6:57 "Woody 'n' You" (Dizzy Gillespie) – 6:50 "The One Before This" (Gene Ammons) – 6:53 "Watermelon Man" (Herbie Hancock) – 8:43 "Dat Dere" (Bobby Timmons) – 7:30 "Scrapple from the Apple" (Charlie Parker) – 5:25 "Hi-Fly" (Randy Weston) – 6:35 "A L Mode" (Curtis Fuller) – 6:25
Personnel Musicians Jimmy Smith – organ, arranger Roy Hargrove – flugelhorn, trumpet Nicholas Payton – trumpet Abraham Burton – alto saxophone Mark Whitfield – guitar Christian McBride – double bass Bernard "Pretty" Purdie – drums Art Taylor – drums Tim Warfield – tenor saxophone (tracks 2, 4–5, 9) Ron Blake – tenor saxophone (tracks 4–5, 9), Mark Turner – tenor saxophone (track 2)
Production Jim Anderson – engineer, mixing Lola Smith – executive producer Allan Tucker – mastering Chris Albert – mixing assistant Jimmy Katz – photography Camille Tominaro – production coordination David Lau – art direction, design Rudi Mallasch – assistant coordinator Scott Austin – assistant engineer Nate Herr – coordination Richard Seidel – producer Don Sickler
References