by Scott Yanow
A fairly typical mid-1960s soul-jazz effort by Johnny Hammond Smith. This LP (not yet reissued on CD) features Smith performing several current pop tunes -- including "A Taste of Honey," "The Impossible Dream," "Sunny," and "The Shadow of Your Smile" -- while letting his quintet (which also includes trumpeter Virgil Jones, tenor saxophonist Gene Walker, guitarist Eddie Diehl and drummer John Harris) stretch out on "Blues On Sunday" and "Up Comes Monday." Since there is less than half an hour of music here and nothing unexpected occurs, this is just an average outing, although it should please jazz organ fans.