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Jimmy Smith December.8.1925 - February.8.2005

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James Oscar Smith
was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize the instrument. In 2005, Smith was awarded the NEA Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honor that the United States bestows upon jazz musicians. He purchased his first Hammond organ, rented a warehouse to practice in and emerged after little more than a year.
Read more at www.wikipedia.org

Jimmy Smith Documentary

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Jimmy Smith Jazz

Source: All About Jazz

Born James Oscar Smith in Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA. Smith was influenced by both gospel and blues. He first achieved prominence in the 1950s where his recordings became popular on jukeboxes before there were commonly used terms to describe his unique musical flavor. In the sixties and seventies he helped create the jazz style known as 'funk' or 'soul jazz'.

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Jimmy Smith: Organ Grinder Swing

Source: National Public Radio Music

Once described as an "excitement merchant" for his soul-stirring sound, Jimmy Smith brought the Hammond B-3 organ to the forefront of the jazz community. The virtuosic keyboard man was the first to use the unwieldy instrument extensively in jazz, leading bassless trios, fronting powerful big bands and pioneering a path for every organist who followed.

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Jimmy Smith Music

Source: Verve Music Group

It is one of the classic injustices of the music business that credit is not always given where credit is due. The past few years have seen a huge resurgence in the popularity of the Hammond B3 organ. Artists like Medeski, Martin and Wood are now bringing the B3 back into the public eye especially to a younger audience. A mass of wood, pedals, stops and keys, the B3 is not an easy instrument to play but its sweet distinct sound is unmistakable.

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Jimmy Smith Biography

Source: Jazzateria.com

Nineteen ninety-four marks forty years for Jimmy Smith on the Hammond organ. Although he made the switch from the piano in 1953, Jimmy did not really find his voice on the organ until the following year. Woodshedding took place in the warehouse where he and his father worked as plasterers. Jimmy recalls: "I got my organ from a loan shark had it shipped to the warehouse. I stayed in that warehouse, I would say, six months to a year. I would do just like the guys do--take my lunch, then I'd go and set down at this beast. Nobody showed my anything, man, so I had to fiddle around with my stops."

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