Shifting Gears

Recorded in July 1975 at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California, with Smith on organ and synthesizer backed by Harvey Mason on drums, Chuck Rainey on electric bass, Craig McMullen and John Rowin on guitar, Jerry Peters on electric piano, Roger Glenn on flute and vibraphone, Hadley Caliman on tenor saxophone, Julian Priester on trombone, and Michael White on violin. The session was produced and arranged by Larry and Fonce Mizell, with Orrin Keepnews serving as executive producer. The second Mizell Brothers collaboration with Smith, 'Shifting Gears' was a high-energy centrepiece of *Gears*, the album that marked Hammond's debut on Milestone Records and earned critical acclaim as a landmark of 1970s jazz-funk. The album reached the Top 40 on Billboard's Jazz Albums chart, and its kinetic drum-and-organ interplay made 'Shifting Gears' an immediate dancefloor favourite. The track has been sampled in more than two dozen recordings by artists including DMX and Stetsasonic, cementing its status as one of the most-mined break tracks of the *Gears* album. Jazz Dispensary's 2022 reissue of the album on the Top Shelf series introduced the track to a new generation of collectors and DJs, underscoring its undiminished dancefloor power.