Jimmy Smith

James Oscar Smith December 8 1928 February 8 2005 was an American jazz musician whose albums often appeared on Billboard magazine charts He helped popularize the Hammond B3 organ creating a link between jazz and 1960s soul music In 2005 Smith was awarded the NEA Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts the highest honor that America bestows upon jazz musicians There is confusion about Smiths birth year with sources citing either 1925 or 1928 Born James Oscar Smith in Norristown Pennsylvania he joined his father doing a songanddance routine in clubs at the age of six He began teaching himself to play the piano When he was nine Smith won a Philadelphia radio talent contest as a boogiewoogie pianist After a period in the US Navy he began furthering his musical education in 1948 with a year at Royal Hamilton College of Music then the Leo Ornstein School of Music in Philadelphia in 1949 He began exploring the Hammond organ in 1951 From 1951 to 1954 he played piano then organ in Philly RB bands like Don Gardner and the Sonotones He switched to organ permanently in 1954 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 Upon hearing him playing in a Philadelphia club Blue Notes Alfred Lion immediately signed him to the label and his second album The Champ quickly established Smith as a new star on the jazz scene He was a prolific recording artist and as a leader dubbed The Incredible Jimmy Smith he recorded around forty sessions for Blue Note in just eight years beginning in 1956 Albums from this period include The Sermon House Party Home Cooking Midnight Special Back at the Chicken Shack and Prayer Meetin Smith signed to the Verve label in 1962 His first album Bashin sold well and for the first time Smith worked with a big band led by Oliver Nelson Further big band collaborations followed with composerarranger 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 albums from this period include Blue Bash and Organ Grinder Swing with Kenny Burrell The Boss with George Benson Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf Got My Mojo Working and Hoochie Coochie Man During the 1950s and 1960s Smith almost always performed live in a trio consisting of organ guitar and drums The Jimmy Smith Trio performed When Johnny Comes Marching Home and The Sermon in the film Get Yourself a College Girl 1964 In the 1970s Smith opened his own supper club in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles California at 12910 Victory Boulevard and played there regularly with Kenny Dixon on drums Herman Riley and John F Phillips on saxophone also included in the band was harmonicaflute player Stanley Behrens The 1972 album Root Down considered a seminal influence on later generations of funk and hiphop musicians was recorded live at the club albeit with a different group of backing musicians Source Article Jimmy Smith musician from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30