Obit Jimmy Smith (Feb 2005)

Subject: RE: Obit Jimmy Smith (Feb 2005)
From: Compton
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 08:30 PM

The Grim Reaper comes to us all in the end!..Haven't heard of the man in years but have listened to his stuff since vinyl days.. A Bloody Good Jazz man and organist!

Subject: RE: Obit Jimmy Smith (Feb 2005)
From: shepherdlass
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 02:19 PM

open mike - are you from the UK? If so, his magical tones were heard on a car advert (possibly Renault???) only a couple of years ago. Can't help with a "clicky" but the albums are available on cheap reissues.

Very sad to hear he's gone.

Subject: RE: Obit Jimmy Smith (Feb 2005)
From: open mike
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 01:28 PM

Is any one able to locate a sound byte?
I would like to hear what he sounded like.

Subject: RE: Obit Jimmy Smith (Feb 2005)
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 01:16 PM

Thanks for posting that, pdq: I have two or three of the albums referred to, and they are great.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Obit Jimmy Smith (Feb 2005)
From: pdq
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 01:12 PM

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -

Jazz Organ Pioneer Jimmy Smith Dies:

Organist Jimmy Smith, who helped change the sound of jazz by almost single-handedly introducing the soulful electric riffs of the Hammond B-3 organ, has died at age 79 at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, his record label said on Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for the Concord record label said Smith died of natural causes on Tuesday.

Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 8, 1925, Smith ruled the Hammond B-3 in the 1950s and 1960s and blended jazz, blues, R&B, bebop and even gospel into an exciting stew that became known as "soul jazz" -- an idiom that produced many imitators, followers and fans.

"Anyone who plays the organ is a direct descendant of Jimmy Smith. It's like Adam and Eve -- you always remind someone of Jimmy Smith," jazz organist Joey DeFrancesco said in an interview with Reuters last year.

"He was the big pioneer, not only of the organ but musically. He was doing things that (John) Coltrane did in the '60s, but he did them back in '56 and '57," he added.

Paired with jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery in the 1960s, Smith first made his mark as a soloist on Blue Note Records where, as one critic noted, he turned the Hammond B-3 organ "into a down and dirty orchestra."

Among his best known albums on Blue Note were "The Sermon!" "Back at the Chicken Shack," "Midnight Special," "Home Cookin'," and "Prayer Meetin'."

Critic Gene Seymour, writing in the "Oxford Companion to Jazz," said, "Though he was not the first player to bring the electric organ to jazz, Smith gave the instrument the expressive power that Coleman Hawkins and Charlie Parker gave their respective saxophones."

The pipe organ had been used in jazz in the 1930s by such famous players as Fats Waller but it was obviously too big and too heavy to be lugged into jazz clubs. Smith was able to take his electric B-3 on the road and created a jazz trio of organ, drums and either guitar or saxophone.

Smith himself provided the bass lines by using the organ's foot pedals.


Learned to play piano at home:

Smith initially learned piano at home and then went on to study bass at music schools in Philadelphia.

He began playing the Hammond organ in 1951, and soon wound up playing in some of New York's most famous clubs, including Cafe Bohemia and Birdland.

Smith's Blue Note sessions -- from his 1956 "New Sounds on the Organ" to 1963 when he left the label -- included work with some of the major players of the day, including Kenny Burrell, Lee Morgan, Lou Donaldson, Tina Brooks, Jackie McLean, Ike Quebec and Stanley Turrentine.

On Verve from 1963 to 1972, he played with Montgomery and in big bands conducted or arranged by Oliver Nelson.

Blue Note co-founder Francis Wolff once recalled the night he and his partner, Alfred Lion, first encountered Smith:

"I first heard Jimmy at Small's Paradise in January of 1956. It was his first gig in New York. He was a stunning sight. A man in convulsions, face contorted, crouched over in apparent agony, his fingers flying, his foot dancing over the pedals. The air was filled with waves of sound I had never heard before. The noise was shattering. A few people sat around, puzzled, but impressed.

"He came off the stand, smiling, the sweat dripping all over him. 'So what do you think?' 'Yeah!' I said. That's all I could say. Alfred Lion had already made up his mind. When he heard a good thing -- that was enough."

Subject: RE: Obit Jimmy Smith (Feb 2005)
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:11 AM

Old beats dead.   At first glance, I thought this was about Johnny Smith... another jazz great.. a wonderful guitarist. He is not as well know as Tal Farlow, Charlie Christian (or even kenny Burrel, for that matter.) But, he had a wonderful approach to classics. As far as I know, he's just old... not dead.

He and one of other great favorites, George Van Epps both recorded late in their career and are presented on a single CD.

I too liked Jimmy Smith a lot. And generally, I find organs best suited for skating rinks.
Jerry

Subject: RE: Obit Jimmy Smith (Feb 2005)
From: Flash Company
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 10:40 AM

Apparently he claimed his technique with the foot pedals evolved from his earlier experience as a tap dancer!
As someone said in another thread, all the musicians I've admired over the years are now either old or dead,
FC

Subject: RE: Obit Jimmy Smith
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 04:02 AM

Yeh, Charlie, I thought all organs sounded like Reginald Dixon playing "I do like to be beside the seaside" from the Tower Ballroom Blackpool Wurlitzer till I heard Jimmy play "Walk on the Wild side". An LP containing that tune and others resides among my small (ahem!) but eclectic record collection.

Show them harpists how to do it Jummy!

RtS

Subject: Obit Jimmy Smith
From: fat B****rd
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 03:54 AM

I'm sorry to read of the detah of Jimmy Smith. A great jazz organist and definitely an innovator. His trio and big band work is outstanding. RIP Mr. Smith