John Hammond

The story goes like this: John Hammond, music critic and record producer, heard Count Basie one day on short wave radio and drove directly to Kansas City to hear the band live.

As a result, Hammond recorded with a quintett out of Count Basie‘s big band and with singer Jimmy Rushing four record sides in Chicago.

Because Count Basie already signed a contract with Decca but had not started to record with them, the four sides were recorded under the name Jones-Smith Incorporated.

“Jones” was the name of the drummer (Jo Jones) and Smith the name of the trumpeter (Carl Smith).

One of these songs was “Evenin'“. A bluesy swinging number paired with Jimmy Rushing's soulfoul voice. I love this song and play it quite often.

Personel: Jimmy Rushing voc, Carl Smith t, Lester Young ts, Count Basie p, Walter Page b, Jo Jones d.

You can find the songs of the series also on my Spotify playlist. Official hashtag of the series: #djcsotw

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