I've been starting to index my records on Discogs recently, and it's been a good exercise to go back through a lot of albums I haven't listened to in a minute and decide whether I still want to keep them. When I first started digging in the mid-90s, Jimmy Smith albums (except for the elusive Root Down) seemed to be in dollar bins everywhere. I eagerly scooped them up since it was still Blue Note (many first presses) and you never knew what cool sounds you'd find on there. But admittedly as the years have passed, I've realized I can only handle so much b3 organ playing, especially in the more straight-ahead style of many of Smith's albums. So it's not often I've gone back to these records. But this week as I categorized them all and put a few on, I figured it was a good time to do a short tribute to the legend, and play a few non-Beastie Boy-sampled cuts I enjoy. A little crunchy at times but still some funky stuff! Dig it.