JOHNNY HAMMOND GAMBLERS LIFE
Born as John Robert Smith in December 1933, Johnny was known as Johnny 'Hammond' Smith when in the mid fifties he emerged as an organ player, the 'Hammond' being inserted to avoid confusion with the guitarist John Smith, and the more famous organist Jimmy Smith. Throughout the 60's he made a series of Increasingly funky albums for the Prestige label. Then in 1971 he signed to the CTI subsidiary Kudu, dropped the 'Smith' and made four organ led albums, the best tracks of which are included here as bonus tracks. 'Gamblers Life' was one of the few albums released on another CTI subsidiary label, Salvation. It marked a departure from Johnny's previous albums, in that he switched from the organ to Electric piano, And also that it was produced by the Mizell Brothers. In the original sleeve notes Johnny said that he always wanted to play piano, and that he had to practice 10 to 12 hours a day for three months before being able to record this album in 1974. The Mizell Brothers had already had created the multi-layered funky sound with background vocal chants evident on this album to great success with Donald Byrd (Black Byrd) and Bobbi Humphrey (Blacks and Blues) for Blue Note, and were to attain cult status with Johnny's next album 'Gears' for Milestone, and Donald Byrd's 'Places and Spaces' the following year. Whilst not as well known as 'Gears', this album is well revered by fusion fans and is a must have in any 70's jazz collection. The whole album displays a sense of urgency particularly on the title track, 'Yesterday was cool', 'Rhodesian Thoroughfare' and 'Back to the projects'. Some of the tracks have been 'sampled' in recent years bringing the album to the attention of a new younger audience. Of the bonus tracks 'Who is Sylvia' is a typical Bob James production featuring Eric Gale and Grover Washington , notable as Johnny's first recording on Electric Piano alongside his organ playing, 'Rock Steady' and 'Higher Ground' are organ cover versions of soul hits (Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder respectively) and 'Breakout' is a funky organ groove from the first album released on Kudu. Johnny was in the process of recording a new album for Acid Jazz Records when he sadly died in 1996. The reissue of this album with the extra earlier tracks bears testament to Johnny's skill as both a keyboard player and organist. Laurence Prangell Soul Brother Records February 2001 



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