Soul jazz

History and character

Soul jazz is the "groove" jazz that emerged in the 1950s from hard bop and reached its peak in the early and mid-'60s: it takes the jazz language and immerses it in blues, gospel, soul, and rhythm and blues, with a constant bass-and-drums groove over which riffs and melodies are layered. The emblematic sound is the organ trio: Hammond B-3 (with Leslie), guitar or tenor sax, and drums, with the organist playing the bass lines on the pedalboard or with the left hand.

Jimmy Smith is the pioneer who turned the Hammond into a modern jazz instrument on Blue Note ("The Sermon," 1958; "Home Cookin'," 1961; "Back at the Chicken Shack," 1963), followed by Jack McDuff ("Tobacco Road," 1967), Shirley Scott (often with Stanley Turrentine: "Never Let Me Go," 1963), Richard "Groove" Holmes, Jimmy McGriff, Big John Patton, Charles Earland, Lonnie Smith, and Reuben Wilson. In parallel came the groups with piano and horns: Cannonball Adderley ("Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," 1966, composed by Joe Zawinul, who plays it on the Wurlitzer electric piano), Horace Silver ("Song for My Father," 1964; "The Jody Grind," 1966), Lee Morgan ("The Sidewinder," 1963, with the boogaloo groove), Ramsey Lewis ("The 'In' Crowd," 1965, in the top five), Les McCann & Eddie Harris ("Compared to What," 1969), Lou Donaldson ("Alligator Bogaloo," 1967), and the guitarists Grant Green, George Benson, Melvin Sparks, and Wes Montgomery on his more popular records.

Aesthetic: groove first, blues and gospel as vocabulary, catchy themes, solos that build "church-style" climaxes, a warm, earthy sound. Soul jazz anticipates the jazz-funk of the '70s and is one of the favorite sample sources of hip hop (A Tribe Called Quest, Gang Starr, the producers of jazz rap).

Scales and keys

Blues scale

• Formula: 1 b3 4 b5 5 b7 — m3 W H H m3 W. On F: F Ab Bb B C Eb.
• Characteristic note: the b5 (B) and the "scratch" of the b3 over dominant chords.
• Use: themes, organ riffs, tenor and guitar solos; the organ's repeated "preacher" phrases (the same note re-struck with a finger glissando).
• Real-world example: Jimmy Smith — Back at the Chicken Shack; Jimmy Smith — The Sermon.
• Common mistakes: not resolving the b5 to 4 or 5; staying on the scale without ever touching the chord tones (3 and b7).

Major pentatonic with b3 (gospel)

• Formula: 1 2 b3 3 5 6. On Bb: Bb C Db D F G.
• Characteristic note: Db → D (b3 → 3). Use: piano and organ fills, "amen" responses, gospel ballads (Mercy, Mercy, Mercy has a plagal, churchy flavor).

Mixolydian + blues ("mixo-blues")

• Formula: 1 2 b3 3 4 5 6 b7. On F: F G Ab A Bb C D Eb.
• Use: dominant grooves (F7 for 8–16 bars), boogaloo, guitar riffs (Grant Green: repeated, "single-note" phrases on the mixo-blues).

Dorian

• On C: C D Eb F G A Bb. Characteristic note: major 6th (A). Use: minor vamps i7–IV7 (Cm7–F7), Latin soul jazz.

Harmonic minor / minor blues

• Harmonic minor on C: C D Eb F G Ab B. Use: minor blues (V7b9 → i).

Bebop dominant

• On F: F G A Bb C D Eb E. Use: the bebop lines of Jimmy Smith and the tenor players over the ii–V of jazz blues.

How to choose

Harmony

Harmonic function

Simple and powerful harmony: 12-bar blues (often with ii–V and jazz turnarounds), dominant vamps, gospel plagal cadences, pedals, two-chord grooves. The color comes from ninth, thirteenth, and #9 seventh chords, from "gospel" chords in inversion, and from the organ's clusters.

Typical elements

• Jazz blues (I7–IV7–I7–v7–I7…–ii–V).
• Dominant vamp (F9 or Bb13 for 8–16 bars).
• Gospel plagal IV–I over a pedal (Mercy, Mercy, Mercy).
• Slow shuffle blues in 12/8.
• Boogaloo on two chords.

Voicings

• Organ: right hand with full chords and clusters (e.g. Bb13 = Ab C D G), palm glissandi, repeated notes; left hand or pedalboard for the walking bass.
• Gospel piano: two-handed chords in inversion, octaves, tremolos.
• Guitar: ninth chords on the high strings, double stops.

Harmonic rhythm

Slow: 1 chord every 1–4 bars in the blues, long vamps; faster turnarounds at the end of the chorus.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

Feel

Constant groove: shuffle in 12/8 in the slow blues, "heavy" medium swing with strong hi-hat and an implied backbeat, boogaloo (almost straight eighth notes with a syncopated bass drum) in the pieces closer to soul, sometimes Latin. The tempo is medium and the feel is "seated" (laid back) but decisive.

Accents

Very present backbeat on 2 and 4 (hi-hat, snare, handclaps in live pieces), riffs in response, group stops on the accents.

Microtiming

Organ and guitar sit slightly behind, drums and bass (pedalboard) are precise; in boogaloo the groove is more "straight."

Drums

Principle

The soul jazz drummer is a groove player: keeping a solid, "ballroom" tempo with a strongly felt backbeat, and accompanying the organ's "church" crescendos. Drummers: Donald Bailey (with Jimmy Smith), Grady Tate, Idris Muhammad, Bernard Purdie, Billy Higgins, Leo Morris, Ben Dixon.

"Heavy" swing

Spang-a-lang ride with strong hi-hat on 2 and 4 and a snare that reinforces the backbeat during the solos.

Shuffle

Ride or hi-hat in triplets (first and third), snare on 2 and 4, bass drum on 1 and 3 or in light quarter notes.

Boogaloo

Hi-hat in eighth notes, snare (often cross-stick) on 2 and 4, syncopated bass drum (1, the "a" of 2, 3, the "&" of 4), tambourine on the backbeat (see the r-soul-jazz-boogaloo rhythm).

Dynamics and velocity

Backbeat 100–120, ghost notes 30–50, ride 80–100; crescendo with the organ in the final choruses.

Interaction

The organist plays the bass: the bass drum must lock with the pedalboard (the organ bass is often short and percussive). The drums follow the organ's "sermons" with accents.

Sections

Theme with a defined groove, solos with a crescendo, stop-time, last chorus with a full backbeat, gospel coda with a stop.

Fills

Short and funky (snare and toms), triplets in the slow blues.

Sounds

Medium snare with wires, soft 20" bass drum, dark 20" ride, 14" hi-hat; on '60s records a dry, close sound.

Typical mistakes

"Light" cool-style swing (no weight), a bass drum that fights the organ bass, intrusive bebop fills.

Bass

Sound

In the organ trio the bass belongs to the organist: pedalboard (long, deep notes) or left hand on the lower manual with a bass registration (short, percussive sound, often reinforced by the pedals). In groups with piano: double bass or electric bass.

Notes

Walking bass in quarter notes on the blues, ostinatos in the vamps, syncopated boogaloo lines, pedals in the intros.

Relationship with the bass drum

The bass drum supports the low note on the strong beat and does not play against the bass's syncopations.

Examples

Jimmy Smith (walking with the left hand), Jack McDuff, Shirley Scott; double bass by Sam Jones (Cannonball), Bob Cranshaw (The Sidewinder).

Harmonic instruments

• Hammond B-3 with Leslie 122/147: chords, clusters, glissandi, repeated notes, swells with the expression pedal, slow/fast Leslie as dynamics; percussion on the 3rd harmonic for bebop phrasing.
• Guitar (Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, George Benson, Melvin Sparks): ninth chords in the comping, single-note blues, octaves.
• Gospel piano (Bobby Timmons, Les McCann, Ramsey Lewis) and Wurlitzer (Joe Zawinul in Mercy, Mercy, Mercy).
• Horns: "honking" tenor sax (Stanley Turrentine, Eddie Harris, Houston Person), alto (Cannonball, Lou Donaldson), trumpet (Lee Morgan, Nat Adderley).

Melody and vocals

Themes

Singable blues and gospel themes, repeated riffs, call-and-response phrases between organ and horns.

Improvisation

Blues + bebop: repeated phrases that grow in intensity ("sermons"), long notes and cries from the tenor, octave phrases on the guitar, climaxes with the organ at full drawbars and fast Leslie.

Voice

A few vocal pieces (Les McCann — Compared to What), soul singers with organ trio; choruses and handclaps in live recordings.

Effects

Leslie (the main effect), nothing else; room reverb.

Instruments

• Hammond B-3 organ with Leslie (also pedalboard for the bass)
• Jazz electric guitar (archtop)
• Tenor sax, alto sax, trumpet
• Piano, Wurlitzer
• Drums, tambourine, congas (in some pieces)
• Double bass or electric bass (in groups with piano)
• Voice (vocal pieces)

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• B-3 V — Hammond B-3: Drawbars 888000000 (the "Jimmy Smith"), percussion on the 3rd harmonic, fast decay, medium key click, light overdrive; slow Leslie in the themes and fast in the climaxes (automate the switch); lower manual 838000000 for the bass with the left hand.
• Wurli V — Wurlitzer: The sound of Mercy, Mercy, Mercy: tremolo off or slow, light drive, gospel chords.
• Piano V — Gospel piano: Bright grand piano for the pieces of Ramsey Lewis and Les McCann.
• Stage-73 V — Rhodes: Late-'60s soul jazz and jazz-funk.

Song structure

Form

• Intro (4–8): organ and drum groove, or a vamp.
• Theme (12-bar blues ×2, or a 16/32-bar form).
• Long solos (organ, guitar, sax), each with a crescendo and climax; often many blues choruses.
• Final theme.
• Coda: gospel vamp, stop, or fade.
• Length 5:00–12:00 (The Sermon runs over 20 minutes).

Arrangement

Layers that grow over the choruses: simple comping at the start, then horn riffs behind the soloist, fast Leslie and full drawbars at the climaxes, stop-time for tension, return to the groove.

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

Warm, earthy, and "roomy": full, lively organ with the Leslie's movement, deep and defined bass (pedalboard or double bass), drums with a strongly felt backbeat, present soloists. References: Jimmy Smith — Back at the Chicken Shack (Van Gelder), Lee Morgan — The Sidewinder, Cannonball Adderley — Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (live in the studio with an audience). Loudness −15/−12 LUFS ('60s style), −11/−9 (modern productions in the style: Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio).

Hammond organ (with Leslie)

• Microphones: a pair on the upper rotor (L/R at the sides of the Leslie, at 20–40 cm) + one microphone on the bass rotor.
• EQ: HP 40 Hz (60 Hz if the bass is handled by the double bass); −2/−3 dB at 250–400 Hz (muddiness); key click and "bite" at 2–4 kHz (+1/+2 dB, in moderation); LP 12 kHz.
• Compression: 2–4 dB slow opto (the organ is already "compressed"); or none, with expression-pedal automation.
• Saturation: Leslie/preamp overdrive (the round, "growling" sound at the climaxes).
• Pan: upper rotor L/R at ±60–80%, bass rotor in the center.

Organ bass / pedalboard

If recorded separately: HP 30 Hz; 50–100 Hz; −2 dB at 200 Hz; compression 3–4 dB; center, mono.

Drums

Overheads: HP 50 Hz; −2 dB at 400 Hz; defined ride. Snare: 200 Hz body, 4 kHz crack, 2–3 dB compression. Bass drum: 60–80 Hz +1/+2 dB, no click. Bus 1–2 dB.

Guitar

Miked amp (close dynamic + room); HP 100 Hz; −2 dB at 300 Hz; 1.5–3 kHz presence; 2 dB compression; pan 20–40%: the organ already occupies the sides with the Leslie, so the guitar sits slightly off-center.

Horns

Tenor: HP 80 Hz; 200 Hz body; presence 2 kHz; 3 dB compression (opto). Alto and trumpet: HP 100–120 Hz; presence 2–3 kHz. Pan center or ±15%.

Piano / Wurlitzer

Piano: HP 50 Hz; −2 dB at 300 Hz; presence 3 kHz. Wurlitzer: HP 80 Hz; 1–2 kHz bark; light drive; moderate stereo.

Vocals (vocal pieces)

HP 80 Hz; 3 kHz +2 dB; compression 4–5 dB; plate 1.5 s.

FX

Shared room/plate 1–1.5 s; the Leslie already provides the organ's "spaciousness": no chorus or long reverbs.

Buses and groups

Band bus with tape and 1–2 dB of glue.

Sidechain

Never.

Master

Chain: minimal EQ (possibly Pultec +1 dB at 60 Hz) – tape – limiter. Target −14/−12 LUFS (vintage), −10/−9 (modern); true peak −1 dBTP.

Common mistakes

Organ that clogs 200–500 Hz and covers everything, a "fake" Leslie made with chorus, organ bass and bass drum clashing, drums too light (no groove), compression that kills the crescendo.

Reference tracks for the mix

Jimmy Smith — Back at the Chicken Shack; Lee Morgan — The Sidewinder; Cannonball Adderley — Mercy, Mercy, Mercy; Ramsey Lewis — The 'In' Crowd; Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio — Concentrate (modern).

Reference listening

• Jimmy Smith — The Sermon! (1958)
• Jimmy Smith — Home Cookin' (1961)
• Jimmy Smith — Back at the Chicken Shack (1963)
• Shirley Scott & Stanley Turrentine — Never Let Me Go (1963)
• Lee Morgan — The Sidewinder (registrato 1963, pubblicato 1964)
• Horace Silver — Song for My Father (1964)
• Ramsey Lewis Trio — The 'In' Crowd (1965)
• Cannonball Adderley — Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (1966)
• Lou Donaldson — Alligator Bogaloo (1967)
• Jack McDuff — Tobacco Road (1967)
• Les McCann & Eddie Harris — Compared to What (1969)