Search - Tommy Smith :: Step By Step

Stay away from this one!!

BebopBoomer | Virginia | 04/26/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Smith himself received such rapturous praise in the (on the whole,very good)Penguin Guide (sixth edition) that I thought I'd give this one a try. I should have paid more attention to two little facts:1)they didn't mention this particular recording at all;2)lotsa copies were available dirt cheap on Amazon Marketplace.



To make a short story even shorter: this is an album of absolutely unrelieved triteness and tediousness.As to musical content,it fails to reach the Kenny G/David Sanborn level; you could probably find two or three kids who could produce this sort of pap at any urban high school. As far as the quality of the recording/production goes,it sounds as though the rhthym section is placed closest to the listener at one end of an airplane hangar,with Smith noodling away at the other end. For all I know,Smith is as good as they say and this swill was somehow imposed on him by the suits at Capitol or some trusted but deeply misguided career advisor.Perhaps his other CDs justify the Guide's truly extravagant praise. This particular one,however, is a stench in the nostrils of jazz.If a rating lower than one star were available,it would deserve it."