Personnel: Jimmy Smith (organ); Lou Donaldson, George Coleman (alto saxophone); Tina Brooks (tenor saxophone); Lee Morgan (trumpet); Curtis Fuller (trombone); Eddie McFadden, Kenny Burrell (guitar); Donald Bailey, Art Blakey (drums).

Producer: Alfred Lion.

Reissue producer: Michael Cuscuna.

Recorded at Manhattan Towers, New York, New York on August 25, 1957 and February 25, 1958. Originally released on Blue Note (4011). Includes liner notes by Ira Gitler and Bob Blumenthal.

Digitally remastered using 24-bit technology by Rudy Van Gelder (2000, Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey).

This is part of the Blue Note Rudy Van Gelder Editions series.

When Jimmy Smith exploded onto the jazz scene in 1956, he changed everything about the way the organ was used and perceived in jazz. His first two years of recording were mind-bogglingly prolific, producing 13 albums. Three marathon jam sessions during this period produced some of Smith's finest early work, including THE SERMON. Smith displays both a youthful fire and a musical wisdom beyond his years throughout the album. Whether blazing through hard-bop tunes like "Confirmation" and "Au Privave" (both Charlie Parker compositions) or gently caressing the ballad "Lover Man," Smith constantly proves himself the most inventive organist of the bop generation. In moving beyond the classic organ trio format, Smith takes the organ into new areas on THE SERMON, and trading solos with the likes of Lee Morgan and Lou Donaldson, he makes it plain that his is an individual voice worthy of its eventual place in the jazz canon. A special treat here is the tenor work of the great, underrated Tina Brooks.

Q (3/01, p.129) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...One of the best Blue Note albums he recorded...Smith's fruity riffing is matched on both sets by a shifting guest list....A most felicitous arrangement it proves too..."