Movin' On A Milk Stout

"I'm Movin' On" MP3

“What Kind of Fool Am I?” MP3

beeradvocate.com- B+

Keegan Ales Milk Stout- Bierkraft Park Slope, Brooklyn12oz. bottle into Belgian Tulip Glass- ABV NA- Black with some hints of brown around the edges. A little over a fingers worth of head. Caramel colored head. Little to no lacing on the glass. Smoky roasted, malts coffee aroma. A bit thin bodied for a stout maybe but has a nice silky quality and a fair amount of carbonation. Again the smokey, roasted malts come throughout in the taste of this beer which is only matched by its coffee like character. I like this beer and it goes down pretty smooth. I would love to try this on tap somewhere. A good stout.

Jimmy Smith- I’m Movin’ On- Recorded for Blue Note Records in 1963-Beyond resolving to make it through a year of beer reviews I am eager to incorporate some jazz records into the blog. Jazz records were what kind of drew me to records in the first place. In the past 3 or 4 years I haven't bought much jazz because I kind of burned out on it a bit. Lately I have found myself creeping back into the genre in my daily listening. The record I am listening to today I dug out as one of the first records I ripped from vinyl to MP3 format on my USB turntable. When people ask me about getting into jazz music, which is not very often, I suggest either Jimmy Smith or Grant Green to start with. Both were pivotal players in what has become commonly known as the soul-jazz style. Following the hard-bop jazz of the late fifties and early sixties soul-jazz came to prominence among the juke box crowds hungry for a less complex gritty fusion of soul, funk and briefer instrumental passages than traditional jazz. These passages now relied on electric guitar and organ as lead instruments. The music is more accessible, I believe, to a casual listener. Their music has the improvisatory elements of jazz with a more down home feel than their be-bop predecessors. Over playing and/or complicated arrangements often confuse the average listener and can turn them away from jazz or off altogether.

This record is the only record that Jimmy Smith recorded with Grant Green. Smith and Green were two of the first Jazz musicians I was really into. I have quite a few Smith and Green records but this is the only album where they played together. The first jazz cd I bought was Jimmy Smith’s Home Cookin’ which introduced me to one of my other favorite guitarists Kenny Burrell. I’m Movin’ On is neither my favorite J. Smith record or favorite Grant Green record but it is an above average organ trio record, with Don Bailey on Drums, and was a welcome addition to my collection. Despite the presence of both Green and Smith on this album one of my favorite tracks is a solo version of “What Kind of Fool Am I?” performed by Jimmy Smith alone at the organ.

I learned of this record after reading Grant Green's Biography which included a pretty detailed discography. I looked for this record for a long time and found it in Brooklyn one Saturday afternoon. I was on my way out of the store when I realized I hadn’t checked the J. Smith section, which at the time was a must. I went to the back of the store and started flipping through the Smith section, which was only a handful of records to begin with, and there it was! I was shocked I spent the better part of about 4 years looking for this record. Not just in shops but also at record fairs without success. I saw it on EBAY a few times but resisted the urge to bid on it. It has turned out to be one of my only original pressing Blue Note records and one of the records I appreciate most in my collection for the chase.