One of them I played today and was completely floored at how good this guy was. I had never heard of Johnny Smith and decided to give a listen to this 4 CD box set of his albums. I also looked him up online because I wanted to find out more about him and I was surprised to see that he was considered by fellow musicians to be one of the best sidemen and session jazz guitarist of the 40's, 50's and early 60's. He was also known as one of the best jazz guitarists by "serious jazz fans". Well, I guess that called me out for not being a "serious jazz fan" because this was all new to me. I always thought of my self as a big jazz fan but I guess not serious enough.
So this album is fantastic and the playing is wonderful throughout. I've been listening to it for several hours now and everything I've heard is great. The whole set plays for a little over five hours. Apparently these albums were released on the Roost label between 1952 and 1960 but have been out of print for decades. This box set from Mosaic Records was released in 2002. How did I miss this?
One of the joys of seriously listening to music over the years has been discovering new music and that includes hearing old music for the first time too. I'm always digging around online for news of reissues or the release of archival materials. Over the years I have spend a lot of time in record stores browsing bins for old music and new. I do miss that feeling of discovering something in your hands for the first time and maybe asking a knowledgeable record clerk about it. Things are so much different now and easier in some ways. Today I got to listen to this wonderful reissue of this man's great albums from around 70 years ago.
Just earlier this week I came across a recently released collection of English folk music from groups and artists I had never heard of before and wrote about that wonderful experience here... Before The Day Is Done.
I'm almost 71 years old and I still greatly enjoy discovering and listening to new music.
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