Back at the Chicken Shack

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Originally Performed By	Jimmy Smith
Original Album	Back at the Chicken Shack (1960)
Appears On
Music	Jimmy Smith
Vocals	Instrumental
Historian	Chris Bertolet (bertoletdown)
Last Update	2023-11-21

History

 

The late Jimmy Smith (d. 2005) was a pioneer-devil whose Hammond B-3 stylings transformed what was once a kindly church organ into a greasy, dank cauldron of blues, funk and jazz. It’s no exaggeration to say that Smith created the language that’s spoken still today by John Medeski, Page McConnell and dozens of fleet-fingered keyboard masters making waves today on the vibrant London funk scene. Right up until his death at the age of 79, Jimmy was still pulling out the stops at jazz clubs around the world, and exchanging playful, off-color banter with his audience and band.

Jimmy Smith, "Back at the Chicken Shack"

Phish sandwiched their debut of this blues number into the “Scent of a Mule” on 10/30/98 in Las Vegas, in the middle of a set that nodded to their own musical roots. This and subsequent versions (all pre-hiatus, the last on 9/24/00) provided fans with a chance to hear Page show off his chops.

Phish "Back at the Chicken Shack" – 12/18/99, Hampton, VA. Video by Bowa4141.

 

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