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TERRY SMITH TRIO Tenderly Actone ARCD 1002

1. Pretty Memory
2. Nuages
3. Killer Joe
4. Limehouse Blues
5. My Funny Valentine
6. In Your Own Sweet Way
7. Tenderly
8. Green Room Blues
9. Star Eyes

Terry Smith - Guitar
Pete Whittaker - Organ
Don Burrell - Drums

 

Organ trios are most often lead by the organist, with the guitarist and drummer in subsidiary roles. However, the guitarist Terry Smith is very much the leader here, with organist Pete Whittaker generally taking a back seat. Terry Smith is probably best known to jazz fans as part of If, the group he formed in 1969 with Dick Morrissey, but he had earlier played with such people as Roy Budd, Mike Carr and the Ronnie Scott Big Band - and even with singer Scott Walker.

Terry Smith's guitar style is judicious and unshowy, even on the faster numbers, so the overall mood is relaxed. The repertoire consists mainly of jazz standards, although Bobby Timmons' Pretty Memory may not be familiar to everyone. There is also one original by Terry - Green Room Blues - which is a conventional 12-bar blues.

The organ and drums are generally in the background - which may be a good thing at times, as the drummer's clicks on Limehouse Blues are irritating rather than effective. Pete Whittaker seems content to avoid the excesses that tempt some organists - for instance, his accompaniment on Nuages is so discreet as to be subdued, and his solo is primarily a series of moderate chords.

So this is a pleasant but hardly outstanding CD, doing good by stealth.

Tony Augarde

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