Jimmy Smith

Jimmy Smith , of his true name James Oscar Smith , born the December 8th 1925 with Norristown, (Pennsylvania), dead the February 8th 2005 with Scottsdale (Arizona), was a musician of American Jazz, whose instrument of predilection was the Hammond B-3.

Biography

Very influenced by the Gospel and the Blues, Jimmy Smith was prize winner of a contest of Piano amateur at the nine years age. After having a time studied the double bass, in 1948, it was engaged in a big band of Philadelphia, where it discovered the organ Hammond B3 which was going to bring the celebrity to him. It met its first successes in the Années 1950, when its recordings became popular at the same time as popularized the Juke-box are in the American bars before there were generally terms used to describe its single musical knowledge. During Years 1960 and 1970, it contributed to create the style of jazz called Funk or Soul jazz.

Its play was characterized by a distribution very specialized according to its members: its left hand played the low one with the keyboard; the left foot rythmait this one by a regular and short pulsation with the pedals, or doubled sometimes the lines of low; its right hand was in charge of the melody improvisations; to finish, the right foot was occupied giving relief to the whole by controlling the pedal of expression of the organ.

Smith, whose recordings are very numerous, recorded for the first time in 1956 for the label Blue Note. Its albums were very well sold, incentive the recording company to promote other artists. Among his albums of the beginning, one can quote Home Cookin' , The Sermon , Midnight Special , Prayer Meetin' and Back At the Chicken Shack .

In 1963, Smith signed an new agreement with the Verve firm, which allowed him to record various albums, among which The Boss , Root Down , Jimmy Smith' S Finest Hour , Peter & The Wolf , Ultimate Jimmy Smith , Any Number Can Win , The Cat… The Incredible… , Bashin' , The Dynamic Duet with Wes Montgomery , Got My Mojo Workin'/Hoochie Coochie Man , Angel Eyes , Talkin' Liveliness: Roots Off Acid Jazz , Walk One The Wild Side: Best- Years , Damn! , Masters Jazz 29 , Jazz 'Round Midnight , Further Adventures Off Jimmy and Wes , Christmas Cookin' and Organ Grinder Swing .

It is at that time that it started to work regularly with the guitarist Wes Montgomery.

Smith recorded with a complete orchestra and worked with arrangers and leaders such as Lalo Schifrin and Oliver Nelson. He also worked with more restricted formations gathering much better musicians of jazz of the time, among which Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery, Grady Tate, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Lou Donaldson, Tina Brooks, Jackie McLean, Ike Quebec and Stanley Turrentine. Among his very many recordings of collaboration, one can quote those with Stuff Smith, Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Peterson, Love And Peace: In Tribute To Horace Silver - Dee Dee Bridgewater , The Very Best Off Christmas Jazz - Various Artists and Blue Bash! - Kenny Burrell .

Its influence is perceptible in the play and the composition of several generations of musicians and in diversified musical styles. The Beastie Boys, Medeski, Martin & Wood and the Hayden-Eckert Ensemble are among the formations most influenced by the sensitivity and the “sound” of Jimmy Smith. The movement of Acid jazz is also very impregnated by its influences.

Its last album, Dowry COM Blues , is described by one of its amateurs like “a festival of all the styles which it controls and appreciates: rock'n'roll with the jazz while passing by the country, of the blues to the be-bop while passing by the rhythm blues”.

It is suddenly deceased of an aneurysmal rupture, while at the same time was envisaged its participation in the 44e jazz festival of Antibes.

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Discography

has New Sound, has New Star: Jimmy Smith At the… (Blue Notes 1956)
The Champ (Blue Note 1956)
has New Sound, has New Star: Jimmy Smith At the… (Blue Notes 1956)
The Incredible Jimmy Smith At the Organ,… (Blue Notes 1956)
The Incredible Jimmy Smith At Club Baby… (Blue Notes 1956)
The Incredible Jimmy Smith At Club Baby… (Blue Notes 1956)
on Date with Jimmy Smith, vol. 1 (Blue Note 1957)
The Sounds off Jimmy Smith (Blue Note 1957)
on Date with Jimmy Smith, vol. 2 (Blue Note 1957)
Jimmy Smith At the Organ, vol. 1 (Blue Note 1957)
Jimmy Smith At the Organ, vol. 2 (Blue Note 1957)
Plays Pretty Just for You (Blue Note 1957)
The Incredible Jimmy Smith (Blue Note 1957)
Jimmy Smith Trio + LD (Blue Note 1957)
Confirmation (Blue Note 1957)
Special Guests (Blue Notes 1957)
House Party (Blue Note 1957)
Groovin' At Small' S Paradise, vol. 1 (Blue Note 1957)
Groovin' At Small' S Paradise, vol. 2 (Blue Note 1957)
Groovin' At Small' S Paradise, vol. 1-2 (Blue Note 1957)
Groovin' At Small' S Paradise (Blue Note 1957)
Lonesome Road (Blue Note 1957)
The Sermon (Blue Note 1958)
Softly As has Summer Breeze (Blue Note 1958)
Cool Blues (Blue Note 1958)
One the Sunny Side (Blue Notes 1958)
Home Cookin' (Blue Note 1958)
Six Views off the Blues (Blue Note 1958)
Crazy! Baby (Blue Notes 1960)
Plain Talk (Blue Note 1960)
Open House (Blue Note 1960)
Open House/Plain Talk (Blue Note 1960)
Back At the Chicken Shack (Blue Note 1960)
Midnight Special (Blue Note 1960)
Prayer Meetin' (Blue Note 1960)
Jimmy Smith Plays Fats Waller (Blue Note 1962)
Bashin': The Unpredictable Jimmy Smith (Liveliness 1962)
Hootchie Coochie Man 1966 (Liveliness 1962)
I' m Movin' One (Blue Notes 1963)
Bucket! (Blue Notes 1963)
Rockin' the Boat (Blue Note 1963)
Hobo Flats (Liveliness 1963)
Live At the Village Spoils (Subway 1963)
Any Number Can Win (Liveliness 1963)
Blue Bash (Liveliness 1963)
Jimmy Smith Plays the Blues (Liveliness 1963)
Jazz “Midnight Round: Jimmy Smith (Liveliness 1963)
Who' S Afraid off Virginia Woolf? (Liveliness 1964)
The Cat (Liveliness 1964)
Christmas “64 (Liveliness 1964)
Christmas Cookin” (Liveliness 1964)
Monster (Liveliness 1965)
In Hamburg Live (Liveliness 1965)
Live in Concert/Paris (Subway 1965)
Jimmy Smith and His Trio (RTE 1965)
Organ Grinder Swing (Liveliness 1965)
Got My Mojo Workin” (Liveliness 1965)
I Got My Mojo Working (Liveliness 1965)
The Amazing Jimmy Smith Trio (Subway 1965)
Peter and the Wolf (Liveliness 1966)
The Dynamic Duo (Liveliness 1966)
The Further Adventures off Jimmy and Wes (Liveliness 1966)
Respect (Liveliness 1967)
Stay Loose (Liveliness 1968)
Livin' It Up (Liveliness 1968)
The Boss (Liveliness 1968)
The Best off Jimmy Smith 1968 (Liveliness 1968)
Groove Drops (Liveliness 1969)
Jimmy Smith in has Plain Brown Wrapper (Liveliness 1971)
Root Down (Liveliness 1972)
Bluesmith (Liveliness 1972)
Portuguese Soul (Liveliness 1973)
Other Side off Jimmy Smith (MGM 1973)
At the Lowry Organ (Decca 1973)
I' m Gonna To lie Myself Together (Liveliness 1973)
Blacksmith (Pride 1974)
Paid in Full (Mojo 1974)
Jimmy Smith (Blue Notes 1975)
Sit one It! (Mercury 1976)
It' S Necessary (Mercury 1977)
Tomorrow' S Sounds Today (Grosvenor 1978)
The Cat Strikes Again (Inner City 1980)
Second Coming (Mojo 1980)
All the Way Live (Milestone 1981)
Off the Signal (Elektra 1982)
Keep one Comin' (Elektra 1983)
Just for You (Sounds 1983)
Go for Whatcha' Know (Blue Notes 1986)
Prime Time (Milestone 1989)
Fourmost (Milestone 1990)
The Master (Blue Note 1993)
Master 2 (Capitol 1993)
Sum Serious Blues (Milestone 1993)
Damn! (Liveliness 1995)
Angel Eyes: Ballads & Slow fox trot Jams (Liveliness 1995)
In Concert (RTE 1996)
Platinum (Dove 1996)
Paris Jazz Concert 1965 (Malaco Jazz 1999)
Immortal Concerts: Club Large Baby,… (2000)
Jimmy Smith' S Finest Hour (Polygram 2000)
Dowry COM Blues (Blue Thumb 2001)
Fourmost Return (Milestone 2001)

External bonds

Official site of Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith on the Blue label Notes
Jimmy Smith on the label Verve

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