Jimmy Smith

James Oscar Smith (December 8, 1928 – February 8, 2005) was an American jazz musician who played a key role in popularizing the Hammond B-3 organ, helping to bridge jazz and 1960s soul music. In 2005, Smith received the NEA Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honor for jazz musicians in the United States.

Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, northwest of Philadelphia, Smith began performing with his father in song-and-dance routines at age six. He started teaching himself piano and, at nine, won a Philadelphia radio talent contest as a boogie-woogie pianist. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he continued his musical studies in 1948 at Royal Hamilton College of Music, followed by 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 and then organ in Philadelphia R&B bands such as Don Gardner and the Sonotones. He switched to organ permanently in 1954 after hearing Wild Bill Davis perform.

Smith bought his first Hammond organ, rented a warehouse for practice, and emerged as a skilled player within a year. After hearing him perform at a Philadelphia club, Blue Note Records' Alfred Lion signed him to the label. His second album, *The Champ*, quickly established him as a rising star in jazz. Dubbed "The Incredible Jimmy Smith," he recorded around forty sessions for Blue Note over eight years starting in 1956. Notable albums from this period include *The Sermon!*, *House Party*, *Home Cooking'*, *Midnight Special*, *Back at the Chicken Shack*, and *Prayer Meetin'*.

In 1962, Smith signed with Verve Records. His debut album for the label, *Bashin'*, was a commercial success, and for the first time he worked with a big band led by Oliver Nelson. Additional big band collaborations followed with composer/arranger 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!*, *Organ Grinder Swing* with Kenny Burrell, *The Boss* with George Benson, *Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?*, *Got My Mojo Working*, and *Hoochie Coochie Man*.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Smith frequently performed live in a trio format featuring 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 at 12910 Victory Boulevard, where he regularly performed with Kenny Dixon on drums, Herman Riley and John F. Phillips on saxophone, and harmonica/flute player Stanley Behrens. The 1972 live album *Root Down*, recorded at the club with a different backing group, became a seminal influence on later generations of funk and hip-hop musicians.

Holle Thee Maxwell, then known as Holly Maxwell, was Smith's vocalist for two years in the late 1970s. During a tour in South Africa, they recorded the album *Jimmy Smith Plays for the People* in 1978.