Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (album)

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a 1964 studio album by organist Jimmy Smith, released on the Verve label. Smith is accompanied by a big band with arrangements by Oliver Nelson and Claus Ogerman.[1]

For the 1963 Broadway cast recording of the Edward Albee play, see Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? § Original Broadway cast album.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Studio album by
Jimmy Smith
ReleasedMarch 1964
RecordedJanuary 20–21 & 27, 1964
StudioVan Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs NJ
GenreJazz
Length35:06
LabelVerve
V6-8583
ProducerCreed Taylor
Jimmy Smith chronology
The Cat
(1964)		 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
(1964)		 Christmas '64
(1964)
Singles from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
  1. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Pt. 1"
    Released: April 1964
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Reception

AllMusic reviewer Michael G. Nastos, only gave the album 2½ stars stating that:

The music tends to be corny and overly dramatic, based in soul-jazz and boogaloo; it's dated even for this time period (1964) and a bit bland... A curiosity in his discography, for some an "experiment" that never worked, and for others an interesting aside, one wonders what Smith really thought of this project after the fact, considering his far greater works.[1]

The album was however, Smith's third highest charting album, spending 31 weeks and charting as high as number 16 on the US Billboard 200 charts.[2]

Track listing
  1. "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" (Richard Rodgers) – 7:06
  2. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Pt. 1" (Don Kirkpatrick, Keith Knox) – 4:29
  3. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Pt. 2" (Kirkpatrick, Knox) – 5:00
  4. "John Brown's Body" (Traditional) – 5:18
  5. "Wives and Lovers" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 3:17
  6. "Women of the World" (Riziero Ortolani) – 5:47
  7. "Bluesette" (Toots Thielemans) – 3:40

Recorded on January 20 (#1), 21 (#2-3) and January 27 (#4-7), 1964.

Personnel

Musicians

Technical

Chart performance

Album
Chart (1964) Peak
position		 Total
weeks
U.S. Billboard 200 16[2] 31

Single
Year Single Chart Position
1964 "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Pt. 1" Billboard Hot 100 72[3]

References
  1. Allmusic review
  2. "Billboard 200 - Jimmy Smith". Retrieved December 19, 2017.
  3. "Billboard Hot 100 - Jimmy Smith". Retrieved December 19, 2017.
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