| 16th | Top soul-jazz musicians |
| 52nd | Top jazz musicians |
| Jimmy Smith | |
|---|---|
 Jimmy Smith on the Hammond organ
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | James Oscar Smith |
| Also known as | The Incredible Jimmy Smith |
| Born | December 8, 1928 Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | February 8, 2005 (aged 76) Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S. |
| Genres | Soul-jazz Hard bop Mainstream jazz Jazz-funk Jazz fusion |
| Occupations | musician |
| Instruments | Hammond B-3 electric organ |
| Years active | 1956-2005 |
| Labels | Blue Note, Verve |
Jimmy Smith (December 8, 1928 [birth year is disputed and is often given as 1925] [1] – February 8, 2005) was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument. In 2005, Smith was awarded the NEA Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honors that the United States bestows upon jazz musicians.[2]
Contents |
Born James Oscar Smith and originally a pianist, Smith switched to organ in 1953 after hearing Wild Bill Davis. He purchased his first Hammond organ, rented a warehouse to practice in and emerged after little more than a year with an exciting new sound which was to completely revolutionize the way in which the instrument could be played. On hearing him playing in a Philadelphia club, Blue Note's Alfred Lion immediately signed him to the label and with his second album, also known as The Champ, quickly established Smith as a new star on the jazz scene. He was a prolific recording artist and as a leader, recorded around 40 sessions for Blue Note in just 8 years beginning in 1956. His most notable albums from this period include The Sermon!, House Party, Home Cookin' , Midnight Special, Back at the Chicken Shack and Prayer Meetin' .
Smith then signed to Verve Records label in 1962. His first album Bashin', sold well and for the first time set Smith with a big band, led by Oliver Nelson. Further big band collaborations followed, most successfully with Lalo Schifrin for The Cat and guitarist Wes Montgomery, with whom he recorded two albums: The Dynamic Duo and Further Adventures Of Jimmy and Wes. Other notable albums from this period include Blue Bash and Organ Grinder's Swing with Kenny Burrell, The Boss with George Benson, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Got My Mojo Working, and the funky Root Down.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Smith recorded with some of the great jazz musicians of the day such as Kenny Burrell, George Benson, Grant Green, Stanley Turrentine, Lee Morgan, Lou Donaldson, Tina Brooks, Jackie McLean, Grady Tate and Donald Bailey. In the 1970s, Smith opened his own supperclub in Los Angeles, California and played there regularly. With Guitarist Paul Saenz, Larry Paxton, on Drums, Freddy Garcia, on Sax.
Smith had a career revival in the 1980s and 1990s, again recording for Blue Note and Verve, and for Milestone and Elektra. Smith also recorded with other artists including Quincy Jones/Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Joey DeFrancesco. His last major album Dot Com Blues (Blue Thumb, 2000), featured many special guests such as Dr. John, B. B. King and Etta James.
While the electric organ was used in jazz by Fats Waller and Count Basie, Smith's virtuoso improvisation technique on the Hammond helped to popularize the electric organ as a jazz and blues instrument. For ballads, he played walking bass lines on the bass pedals. For uptempo tunes, he would play the bass line on the lower manual and use the pedals for emphasis on the attack of certain notes, which helped to emulate the attack and sound of a string bass.
Smith influenced many other jazz organists, as well as rock keyboardists like Jon Lord, Brian Auger, Keith Emerson. More recently, Smith influenced bands such as the Beastie Boys, who sampled the bassline from "Root Down (and Get It)" from Root Down — and saluted Smith in the lyrics — for their own hit "Root Down," Medeski, Martin & Wood, and The Hayden-Eckert Ensemble. The Acid Jazz movement also reflects Smith's organ style. In 1999, Smith guested on two tracks of a live album, Incredible! with his protégé, Joey DeFrancesco, a then 28-year-old organist. Smith and DeFrancesco later played together on the collaborative album Legacy, released in 2005 shortly after Smith's death.
[Jimmy Smith recorded more than forty sessions as a leader for Blue Note between 1956-63. Many of them were not released until several years after the original recording dates, as shown] *
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1980
1981
1982
1983
1985
1986
1989
1990
1993
1995
1996
2000
2001
   | a comprehensive discography - THE INCREDIBLE JIMMY SMITH |
| | Jimmy Smith at the Hard Bop Home Page - Jimmy Smith on Blue Note: The Hard Bop Homepage |
| | Official Jimmy Smith Website - jimmysmith.net | Jimmy Smith | Download Music | iTunes | Britney Spears |
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