Soul jazz  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Soul jazz was a development of hard bop which incorporated strong influences from blues, gospel and rhythm and blues in music for small groups, often the organ trio which featured the Hammond organ. Important soul jazz organists included Bill Doggett, Charles Earland, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Les McCann, "Brother" Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Lonnie Smith, Don Patterson, Jimmy Smith and Johnny Hammond Smith.

Tenor saxophone was also important in soul jazz; important soul jazz tenors include Gene Ammons, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Eddie Harris, Houston Person, and Stanley Turrentine. Alto player Lou Donaldson was also an important figure, as was Hank Crawford. Unlike hard bop, soul jazz generally emphasized repetitive grooves and melodic hooks, and improvisations were often less complex than in other jazz styles.

A well-known soul jazz recording is Ramsey Lewis's "The In Crowd," a major hit from 1965. Soul jazz was developed in the late 1950s, and was perhaps most popular in the early 1970s, though many soul jazz performers, and elements of the music, remain popular. Although the term "soul jazz" contains the word "soul," soul jazz is only a distant cousin to Soul music, in that soul developed from gospel and blues rather than from jazz.

Distinctive albums

• The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco by Cannonball Adderley
• Afro-Harping by Dorothy Ashby
• Beyond The Blue Horizon by George Benson
• Laughing Soul by George Braith
• Good Vibes by Gary Burton
• Back at the Chicken Shack by Jimmy Smith
• Serenade to a Soul Sister by Horace Silver
• Alligator Bogaloo by Lou Donaldson
• Charles III by Charles Earland
• Boogaloo by Big John Patton
• Groove Elation by John Scofield

See also

• Organ trio, the small jazz ensemble based around the Hammond organ which was popular in the 1950s and 1960s
• Soul Jazz Records