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I stumbled upon this incredible 1982 bootleg recording of Johnny Smith while scrolling through the Vintage Music Experience channel (more on it later). While the name on the image says "Johnny Smith Trio," it's really a misnomer. While some songs feature a trio, others include an unnamed pianist (maybe Neil Bridge, his usual pianist at the time); on two tracks only, he's joined by Bobby Shew (trumpet) and Don Menza (tenor). Johnny's playing is really together here, very similar to the two JS Foursome recordings he did for Roost before he left NYC.
Songs include: "Send in the Clowns," "Have You Met Miss Jones," "Indian Summer," "People Will Say We're In Love," "ATTYA," and "This Can't Be Love." A few are unnamed in the description, but one is "Struttin' with Some BBQ," and another is "Rose Room". I was really interested in what he would do with Miss Jones, because that is one of my favorites from his early Roost era, and it doesn't disappoint.
I said there would be more about the Vintage Music Experience. This channel has over 2,000 "videos" (they are not videos, but recordings). Of interest to this group would be the following:
- Pat Martino 19 video playlist from the early 1970s to the 2000s (including a set I attended at the Dakota in St. Paul):
- Tal Farlow, 7 videos from the early 1980s, including one with Eddie Diehl:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj-TA93uNPoXZmjBdKiaOn_Lq9oU1aCPd&si=5WaRqy1Bf5srVw_f
- Emily Remler, 10 videos from the 1980s:
- George Van Eps and Tony Rizzi at Fat Tuesday's in New York, 1984:
There are others, too, including a Jimmy Raney/Attila Zoller set, as well as Kenny Burrell, Jim Hall, Larry Coryell, Herb Ellis and Mundell Lowe.
I'll let you have fun scrolling through the channel.
Enjoy!
John Galich
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05-23-2026 06:01 PM
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WOW! Another great discovery by the great John Galich! More Johnny Smith!
I went to the Blog, and the first thing I saw was a bootleg of a gig at Sonny's Place, a jazz club I used to play at. It features Billy Mitchell and Wes Belcamp, a pianist I used to play with a lot back then.
The other
stuff is amazing also, and they say they're going to be adding new stuff every day, so I'm subscribing.
If you add this with the other bootlegs of Terry Smith from the 70s, I know what I'm going to be doing this weekend.
Thanks, John!
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There's even some more Smith on the Don Gibson Jazz Party. You get to hear Smith play "What Are You Doing with the Breast of My Wife" again, this time with the rhythm section of John Heard, Gus Johnson and Monty Alexander.It was recorded professionally, so you don't hear too much cymbal or talking like the club recording had.It's over two hours, and you get to hear some demonic Phil Woods and Clark Terry on it. This was recorded in 1985, when these guys were still at their best. There are 25 Phil Woods recordings on the channel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Originally Posted by jmgalich
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Thank you so much for finding this. It sounds like Neil Bridge to me. They lay waste to "Struttin with some BBQ" like on the Last Night at Shaner's. Originally Posted by jmgalich
Also, the first number is only the second recording of Send in the Clowns that I know of.
Johnny was the Master.
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I finally listened to every track on the JS set, and there's enough great playing here for a bona fide album.
At 61 JS is still playing at his very best!
The only negatives here are the damn drummer pounding his ride cymbal too hard, and the crowd talking during SITC, but later on the crowd quiets down a lot, and the drummer actually uses brushes on a few songs and stops banging the schist out of the ride.
On ATTYA I learned where my first guitar teacher got the idea for using oblique motion for the chord melody he gave me on that song. I also found out where he got the idea of using two octave scales leading up to three note clusters on another solo guitar arr. he gave me.
After two choruses of JS playing sublime rubato on the melody, they play it as a jazz waltz, but it's so fast you could call it 'One'.
They finish it off in a dazzling 5/4 at the same fast tempo.
For those of you that complain JS didn't play any "modern jazz" tunes, number ten is obviously an original by the pianist, and there are enough sus modal chords in it in unrelated key centers to remind you of a swinging "Maiden Voyage". 'Nuff said.
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