Sterling technique, pure tone and understated elegance are hallmarks of Johnny Smith's guitar style. His abbreviated career was due to unfortunate family circumstances.His 2013 obituary in the New York Times explains: "The quitting began in 1957, when his wife, Ann Marguerite, died giving birth to their second child, who was stillborn. Living in Manhattan, Mr. Smith sent his daughter, Kim, to live with his mother in Colorado Springs, and for a time returned to his work. ..."On a visit to see his daughter in Colorado Springs in 1958, he decided he had had enough. “In the end, everything came down to the fact that I loved my daughter too much to let my career put her at risk,” he told The Colorado Springs Independent in 2001."In Colorado he acquired a Music Store and instructed guitar students privately and in a university setting. He did perform infrequently, but refused to tour. He was also an avid sportsman.The obituary closed with this quote from his daughter Kim: "“He accomplished everything he ever wanted, he played with the best musicians in the world, he went deep sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, he was a great father.”Apparently his guitar style was a reflection of his grounded and humble life.

Johnny Smith seems destined to be one of the greatest best kept secrets in the world of jazz guitar, a sensational innovative musician that most people have never heard of. While this 8 disc, 178 song boxed set, and available on vinyl, with extraordinary liner notes and lineage should bring Johnny and his pivoting guitar into the light of day, being a limited edition, and checking out at the cash register in the neighborhood of $130 to $200US, these recordings are going to find their way into the hands of the choir, and into the libraries of the converted, those who’ve connected with the man’s sound from the very first note they heard him play. Johnny Smith was to the world of jazz, what Phil Spector was to the world of recording, inspired by the way organists were able to sustain a note while moving between chords, creating a progression of sound that musicians are still struggling to produce today, leaving virtually no gaps between his chords, and moving with a tonal fluidity that is sheer magic to the ear. This is a man who recorded with Paul Quinichette, Sam Getz, and even Zoot Sims ... proving that there’s a reason studio musicians are held in such high regard, and inspiring artists such as The Venture [who covered “Walk Don’t Run”] and Chet Atkins [who covered “Softly, As In The Morning Sunrise”]. But with a guitar voice like Johnny’s, the coat of anonymity didn’t hang around his shoulders for long, headlining shows at Embers and the famous Birdland [where Charlie Parker never missed a gig], and rubbing shoulders as easily with the cool, the hip, the wide-eyed thin-tied crowd, as he did with those in the Philharmonic set, and so appreciated by those in the know, that he’s taught guitar theory and innovation.And the strangest part of it all, the man’s retired to Colorado Springs, where he lives with a sense of satisfaction, not interested in playing a single score ever again, saying, “I’ve done it all, I’ve played all the notes, what’s left to do [?].” What’s left for you to do, is to hear this collection, and understand with a joyous smile of recognition the genesis and essence of so much that you enjoy today.Review by Jenell Kesler