Listening to Prestige 301: Arnett Cobb

If you’ve got that soulful, bluesy sound on the tenor sax, and you want to make a record in 1959, you’re going to need an organ.

You’re not going to be able to get Jimmy Smith. He’s way too big, way too much in demand. And he's signed to Blue Note. Shirley Scott’s made a bunch of recordings for your label, but she’s not available either. And your old pal Wild Bill Davis, who just sat in on your debut album for your new label, was just passing through and is out for this one.

So who you gonna call?

Or...this being 1959, and a jazz organist being what you require, here’s a better question: Where you gonna call?

Philadelphia!!!

It's amazing how one city can be so much the hot center of the newest craze to be sweeping jazz. Jimmy Smith took up the Hammond B-3 because its tones were generated electronically, so unlike the piano, it never went out of tune. This can be a big deal for a keyboard player who's on the road a lot, playing Lord knows what instrument in Lord knows what state of repair.

What keyboard instruments have in common is that if you press down one key you get a note, and if you press down a few keys at the same time, you get a chord. Beyond that, not much. So Smith, with his Hammond B-3 organ, really had to create a whole new sound, and the sound that he created inspired a generation of keyboard players.

Shirley Scott was one of the first. and we've listened to her exploration of the whole range of the two 61-key keyboards on the Hammond, and the excitement of finding new voicings and new sounds. But she would not be the only one. Jimmy McGriff, a Philadelphia cop, gave up walking his beat for a different beat, studied with Smith, and went on to make his own mark. Richard "Groove" Holmes was another. Charles Earland followed him, as did a second generation Philadelphia organist, "Papa John" deFrancesco's son Joey.

Philadelphia and the organ go even farther back. Bill Doggett was from Philadelphia, as was Doc Bagby, jazz veteran who hit the rhythm and blues charts with "Dumplin's." And many more who may not have left town, but continued to play the Philly jazz clubs and give the city its rich organ heritage.

One such was the gentleman who for decades needed only to be known in his home town, and up and down Catherine Street,  as "Mitchell at the Hammond Organ," but when he made the two hour drive to Hackensack, New Jersey, to be the organ guy on Arnett Cobb's second Prestige recording, he used his full name, Austin Mitchell.

There's no typical sax-organ sound, any more than there's a typical sax-trumpet sound. Austin Mitchell is very much influenced by Jimmy Smith, but he's his own man, too. And here's something that particularly interested me, in listening to this session. Mitchell for most of his professional career was an organ trio guy, leading his own groups around Philadelphia. But with Arnett Cobb, though his solos are consistently interesting and inventive, I found myself particularly interested in the work he did behind Cobb when Cobb was soloing. Never intrusive, but always important. In every Cobb solo, from the sensitive ballad work in "Ghost of a Chance" to the rhythm and bluesy honking on "Smooth Sailing," to the melodic ("Charmaine"), to the uptempo beboppery of "Let's Split," to the blues ("Blues at Dusk"), Mitchell is enriching, deepening, going from comp to counterpoint at just the right moment.

Buster Cooper has been on one previous Prestige session, the first Prestige Blues-Swingers, which was essentially a big band session, so this is his first small group recording. Not every trombonist, especially those who have thrived in a big band setting, is going to be a bebop virtuoso. Cooper is more the old school, playing with gusto, with humor, with that down home dirty blues sound.

After listening to a few sessions of what George Duvivier can do with this sort of music, you really wouldn't want anyone else playing bass for you. Cobb and producer Esmond Edwards agree, and Edwards has let Rudy Van Gelder know that he wants the listener to hear what Duvivier is doing, Duvivier also contributes one original composition ("Cobb's Mob").

Osie Johnson takes Arthur Edgehill's accustomed seat behind the drums, and he does just fine. Johnson was one of the drummers that Prestige would call on for its bluesy sessions, and with good reason.

Smooth Sailing was the name of the album, and the title tune plus "Ghost of a Chance" were the 45 RPM release.

Order Listening to Prestige Vol 2

Listening to Prestige Vol. 2, 1954-1956 is here! You can order your signed copy or copies through the link above.

Tad Richards will strike a nerve with all of us who were privileged to have lived thru the beginnings of bebop, and with those who have since fallen under the spell of this American phenomenon…a one-of-a-kind reference book, that will surely take its place in the history of this music.

                                                                                                                                                --Dave Grusin

An important reference book of all the Prestige recordings during the time period. Furthermore, Each song chosen is a brilliant representation of the artist which leaves the listener free to explore further. The stories behind the making of each track are incredibly informative and give a glimpse deeper into the artists at work.

                                                                                                                --Murali Coryell