God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Jimmy Smith's Christmas '64 (re-released as Christmas Cookin' and thanks, dad, for finding it) is my favorite album of all time. Not favorite Christmas album. Favorite album. There is so much in this record.

When I was a young adult I had the privilege of seeing Mr. Smith play. It just so happened that Stephane Grappelli and Jimmy Smith were giving two different concerts in the same hotel at different times one night in Boston. Somehow it happened (thanks, mom) that I got to see both concerts. I was a violinist and so I will always be glad that I saw Grappelli.

But Jimmy Smith - what would be the phrase that half means "blew his ass out of the water" and half means "practically made me evaporate into sainthood just from watching him"? That.