Jimmy Smith’s ‘The Sermon’ Joins Blue Note Tone Poet Series

Jimmy Smith’s The Sermon, one of the most beloved releases from Blue Note, is joining the label’s Tone Poet Series. Released in 1959, The Sermon remains a high point in Smith’s career, and was his fifteenth album for Blue Note. Now, the work returns to 180g audiophile vinyl, cut from the original master tapes to produce the album in its most superior form. The Tone Poet edition of The Sermon is available for pre-order now.

The Sermon was the result of a bit of recording experimentation that happened after Smith met Blue Note founder Alfred Lion in the mid 1950s. Smith began recording his organ playing in various spaces, both in studios and at live performances. For The Sermon, engineer Rudy Van Gelder tried to combine the best of all worlds with a recording at Manhattan Tower Studio for the three-track album recorded over two dates six months apart. Joining Smith for The Sermon were several other musicians, including trumpeter Lee Morgan, alto saxophonists Lou Donaldson and George Coleman, tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks, guitarists Kenny Burrell and Eddie McFadden, and drummers Art Blakey and Donald Bailey.

Even years later, The Sermon remained a favorite in Smith’s discography. “It is a classic! That is what I tell you boy. Lee (Morgan) played with Dizzy. He was about seventeen or eighteen years old,” recalled Smith in an interview with Jazz Weekly, naming several other musicians and affectionately dubbing them “monsters.”

The Blue Note Tone Poet Series brings some of the most iconic recordings from the Blue Note archive and reissues them on premium, audiophile vinyl. The series, inspired by Blue Note President Don Was’ appreciation for the previous audiophile Blue Note LP reissues, has seen a number of classic albums return to circulation. Recent additions to the series include Freddie Hubbard’s Hub Cap, Booker Ervin’s Structurally Sound, and Sonny Clark’s The Art Of The Trio.

Shop the Blue Note Tone Poet Series here.