[Dixielandjazz] Not exactly OKOM but... RIP Jimmy Smith - Master of the Hammond B3

Wed Feb 9 21:43:48 PST 2005

He did  interpretations of some Fats Waller organ pieces...

Dave Richoux

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http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6941860/

Jazz pioneer Jimmy Smith dies
The organist infused gospel, blues and R&B riffs in his playing
John Murph
Updated: 4:57 p.m. ET Feb. 9, 2005

The world has lost one of its greatest musical innovators.  Widely 
considered “the world’s greatest jazz organist,” Jimmy Smith died Tues, 
Feb. 8 of natural causes in his Phoenix home.  He was 76.

Although Smith wasn’t the first to play jazz on the Hammond B3 organ, 
his virtuosity over the instrument combined with his brilliant infusion 
of gospel, blues and R&B riffs and melodies into bebop-inspired 
improvisations place him alongside other jazz pioneers, such as Charlie 
Parker, Art Tatum and John Coltrane – artists who revolutionized the 
way their respective instruments were played and who are continuing to 
have a profound influence of other instrumentalists.

“Jimmy was the consummate artist and innovator,” says guitarist Jimmy 
Ponder, who worked with Smith over the years.

Starting off as a pianist, Smith attended the Hamilton School of Music 
in 1948 and later Philadelphia’s Ornstein School of Music the following 
year.  In 1951, he switched to the Hammond B3 organ and made a name for 
himself in Philly as an outstanding live performer.  He eventually 
moved to New York City, where he debuted at the Café Bohemia. But it 
was a Birdland date that he caught the attention of Alfred Lions and 
Francis Wolff, founders of Blue Note Records.

Smith made giant steps
Born, James Oscar Smith, in Norristown, Pa. on Dec. 8, 1925, Smith 
helped usher in the soul-jazz movement with his galvanizing 1956 Blue 
Note debut album, A New Sound, A New Star: Jimmy Smith at the Organ, 
vol. 1.  The long-winded title couldn’t be farther from the truth in 
that it indeed introduced a new jazz sound and star. Older innovators 
such as Fats Waller and Count Basie had fiddled with the organ, Smith 
made giant steps with the approach of the instrument, stomping out 
walking bass lines with the pedals, bolstering the music with blues and 
gospel chords on his left-hand all while hammering out blistering, 
intricate improvisations with his right-hand, creating an intoxicating 
sound that was fat, funky and highly sophisticated.

During his 10-year run with Blue Note, Smith released a slew of albums 
that have become the bedrock of soul-jazz and major signifiers for 
today’s jam band and acid jazz scenes. Albums such as The Sermon 
(1958), Prayer Meetin’ (1960) and Back at the Chicken Shack (1960) all 
forged hit jukebox singles: a rarity for many jazz artists.

Smith continued to blaze after he left Blue Note for Verve in 1963, 
which marked a point of stylistic departure for him in terms of 
repertoire and instrumentation. Prior to Verve, Smith was mostly 
featured in burning small ensembles, many of his Verve Records found 
him surrounded in larger orchestral settings, arranged by Oliver Nelson 
and Lalo Schifrin.  Some critics quipped that the orchestral 
arrangements somewhat drowned out Smith’s flinty organ excursions. 
Nevertheless, big-band albums, such as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf 
(1964), The Cat (1964) and Peter and the Wolf (1966) became jazz 
classics.

Smith’s tenure with Verve concluded in 1972.  Like many other jazz 
musicians in the ’70s, his recording career suffered once record 
companies started ignoring jazz in favor of rock and R&B.  His output 
on the Decca, Milestone and Elektra labels throughout the late-’70s and 
’80s is noticeably smaller than his extensive discography in the’60s. 
Luckily, he was just as mesmerizing on stage as he was on record, 
allowing him to thrive on the live music circuit. In the mid-’70s, he 
and his wife, even opened the Jazz Super Club in Los Angeles.

Acid-Jazz scene
Once the nascent acid-jazz scene took off in London in 1987, Smith 
experienced a major renaissance.  His older albums from the ’50s and 
’60s were being heavily sampled by DJs and rappers.  And by the time, 
the acid-jazz movement made its way to the United States, a rejuvenated 
Verve was quick to nab him.

In 1995, Verve released Smith’s sizzling Damn!, which was followed by 
the softer-hued Angel Eyes: Ballads & Slow Jams later that year.  To 
illustrate jazz’s connection to ’90s hip hop and acid-jazz, Verve 
released a compilation series: Talkin’ Verve: Roots of Acid-Jazz, one 
of which devoted entirely to Smith’s older recordings for the label.  
His last CD for Verve, Dot com Blues came out in 2001.

Earlier this year, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded Smith 
with the prestigious Jazz Masters Fellowship Award.

Scheduled to be released by Concord Records, in mid-February of this 
year is Legacy, a new collaborative effort between Smith and fellow 
organist Joey DeFrancesco. "Jimmy was one of the greatest and most 
innovative musicians of our time.  I loved the man and I love the 
music.  He was my idol, my mentor and my friend,” says DeFrancesco.