Latest Release
- 12 MAR 2024
- 5 Songs
- Root Down · 1972
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf · 1964
- The Sermon! · 1959
- Midnight Special · 1961
- Any Number Can Win · 1963
- Blue Bash · 1957
- Midnight Special · 1961
- Talkin' Verve: Roots of Acid Jazz · 1996
- Christmas Cookin' · 1964
- Organ Grinder Swing (feat. Kenny Burrell & Grady Tate) · 1965
Essential Albums
- This 1958 album is the template for organ jazz, and at its core is Smith—the instrument’s defining figure. The 20-minute title cut—Smith’s greatest song—boasts a deeply funky groove, rooted in blues and gospel, with plenty of space for solos by trumpeter Lee Morgan and saxophonists Lou Donaldson and Tina Brooks. In the back, guitarist Kenny Burrell and drummer Art Blakey keep the rhythm locked down. With Smith at the very top of his game, “J.O.S.” and the ballad “Flamingo” are also incredible tunes.
- 2015
- 2014
- 2013
- 2013
- 2013
Artist Playlists
- The roots of jazz's fusion with R&B can be found in this organ player's soulful sound.
- He had Caribbean vibes and slow-burning soul up his sleeve.
Singles & EPs
Appears On
- Dissociative I.D
- Mike Capraro
- Joey DeFrancesco
- Linda Hopkins
About Jimmy Smith
Nobody made a Hammond B-3 organ bop and swing like Jimmy Smith, an accomplished jazz pianist who launched his first organ trio in 1955—the same year the instrument was introduced. Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, in the late ’20s, Smith cut his teeth in Philadelphia R&B bands, then shifted to the Hammond exclusively after hearing organ-trio pioneer Wild Bill Davis. Smith's subtly percussive Hammond sound—more saxophone than symphony—found immediate favour with Blue Note Records, for whom he recorded more than 40 sessions, beginning with A New Sound - A New Star, Vol. 1, in 1956. "The Incredible Jimmy Smith", as he soon became known, fused jazz and soul on ferociously funky Blue Note and Verve tracks, including 20-minute workout "The Sermon" (1959), a richly orchestrated "Walk on the Wild Side" (1962), and "Root Down and Get It" (1972), later sampled by the Beastie Boys. Smith's career benefited from the '80s acid-jazz movement he inspired, and he worked steadily until his death in 2005, leaving nearly 100 albums as his legacy.
- HOMETOWN
- Norristown, PA, United States
- BORN
- 8 December 1925
- GENRE
- Jazz