Shirley Scott, the queen of jazz organ (fellow Philadelphian Jimmy Smith, a major influence, is, of course, the once and future king), began her reign during the late 1950s, the peak of the "soul-jazz" era. Almost all of the performances herein are taken from the May 1958 session for Prestige Records that was her first as a leader and yielded the LPs Great Scott! and Shirley's Sounds. With these two albums Scott (1934-2002) kicked off a lengthy relationship with Prestige. Though she let her feet do the bass-line walking when playing live, "Scottie" preferred to use a bassist when in the studio, and in George Duvivier she had one of the finest and most flexible. On these 16 vintage trio selections (Arthur Edgehill was her regular drummer), Scott's sophisticated swinging (and hard swing, as well--check out "Bye Bye Blackbird"), sustained bluesy grooves, and ability to elicit a variety of sounds from her instrument are but three reasons why she became one of Prestige's most popular artists.

with George Duvivier, George Tucker, Arthur Edgehill