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Title: Jazz guitar gem
Review: Johnny Smith is a Kentucky-born guitarist who moved somewhat on the periphery of jazz (he did a lot of soundtrack session work), but made at least one classic jazz CD, this one. Smith had a quintet for these sessions. Besides the piano-bass-drums rhythm section, he works with either Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, or Paul Quinichette. The breezy mood of the uptempo songs reminds me of "The Swinging Guitar Of Tal Farlow". Smith's guitar style is more chordal than Farlow's. While Smith is no Wes Montgomery, you could almost draw a line from Smith to Montgomery. The saxophones all play with a lot of style and discretion - they're not there to show up the leader. The CD is a blend of ballads and fast ones. Smith shows a little more fire on his originals, it's a shame he didn't do more. The album closes on a strong version of "My Funny Valentine". So this is a very good, CD, highly recommended to jazz guitar fans.
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