This is part of Verve interactive, but I couldn't put a link to it, so here is a biography of Jimmy Smith. Enjoy!!! Jimmy Smith

Who amongst you (journalists, editors, music programmers) are unfamiliar with one James Oscar Smith? .... O.K., better question: dear reader, do you know the name and the fame of Jimmy Smith, supreme master of the Hammond B-3 organ, progenitor of funky jazz, godfather of acid jazz, heroic innovator, and consummate improvisator? I f not, read on.

James Oscar "Jimmy" Smith was born on December 8, 1928 in the sleepy Philadelphia satellite town of Norristown, PA. His doting piano-playing parents encouraged his artistic curiosity to the point that he became somewhat of a prodigy. By the age of nine he had won first place playing boogie-woogie on radio's legendary Major Bowes Amateur Hour, and by twelve he and his father had a thriving local song-and-dance act.

After a hitch in the Navy, Jimmy used the GI Bill to study bass and piano at the conservatory level while gigging nightly with local faves Don Gardner and the Sonotones. During his stint with Gardner he obtained a Hammond B-3. Fascinated then obsessed with the instrument, Smith took to the woodshed to, in his words, begin"fiddling with my stops and messing with this beast." The die was cast.

Jimmy Smith's payback for the long hours in the 'shed was his 1956 debut release on Blue Note, A NEW SOUND...A NEW STAR...JIMMY SMITH AT THE ORGAN VOL. 1. His was a new sound indeed — solidly percussive, phat bass lines, fleet, horn-like runs, more than a touch of roadhouse blues and oldtime church as well as an improvisational fluidity that was heretofore unassociated with the instrument.

Smith was to release several more albums for the label, but his greatest years — creatively and commercially — would happen during his tenure with Verve Records. Throughout the '60s and early '70s, Smith's hierarchical position amongst the era's preeminent jazzers was quite lofty. From the Top 20 pop success of his rendition of Walk On The Wild Side (the movie theme, not Lou Reed's signature tune) to his long skein of chart-topping Verve LPs, Jimmy Smith was indisputably "The Man."

After leaving Verve, Smith continued to record and expand on his international following. Still, it wasn't until his bravura performances of Down By The Riverside and Walk On The Wild Side at Verve's 50th Anniversary Celebration at Carnegie Hall in April, 1994 (broadcast on PBS) that he once again found himself in the main spotlight. He rocked, the orchestra rolled, and the world received a resounding wake-up call.

Later that year, Jimmy Smith was re-signed to Verve. In June of 1995, DAMN!, his first Verve release in more than 20 years, was met with near-universal critical acclaim and cognoscenti affirmation. A recording of high-spirits and reckless abandon (Watermelon Man, Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, Scrapple From The Apple), DAMN! showed that "Mr. B-3" still could swing a mean groove.

This year's Jimmy Smith model is the aptly-titled ANGEL EYES. A suavely romantic portfolio of songs of melancholy (Days Of Wine And Roses), the boudoir (Tenderly, Angel Eyes) and childlike innocence (What A Wonderful World, Stolen Moments), ANGEL EYES is the ying to DAMN!'s yang. The backing band is a marvelous mix of today and tomorrow: Mark Whitfield; guitar, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton; trumpets, Tim Warfield, Mark Turner, Ron Blake, Abraham Burton; saxes, Christian McBride; bass, and Bernard Purdie, Arthur Taylor; drums.

Yes, Jimmy Smith continues to expand the dimensions of his instrument wider and further than anyone else who has dared to plug in ... ANGEL EYES is another milestone on the endless groove highway of jazz.

Recommended Recordings:

Angel Eyes - Ballads & Slow Jams

Got My Mojo Workin/Hoochie Cooche Man

Damn!