Jimmy Smith, this Sunday before Christmas – in concert from Salle Pleyel in Paris on December 1, 1969 and broadcast by ORTF.
Can’t think of a better companion for slipping into the holidays than a mighty helping of Jimmy Smith to set the mood.
Jimmy Smith influenced a constellation of jazz organists including Jimmy McGriff, Brother Jack McDuff, Don Patterson, Richard “Groove” Holmes, Joey DeFrancesco, Tony Monaco and Larry Goldings as well as rock keyboardists such as Jon Lord, Brian Auger and Keith Emerson. Emerson would later recount a story where Smith grabbed Emerson’s “meat and two veg” as a humorous greeting. Later, Smith influenced bands such as Medeski, Martin & Wood and the Beastie Boys, who sampled the bassline from “Root Down (and Get It)” from Root Down—and saluted Smith in the lyrics—for their own hit “Root Down”. Often called the father of acid jazz, Smith lived to see that movement come to reflect his organ style. In the 1990s, Smith went to Nashville, taking a break from his ongoing gigs at his Sacramento restaurant, which he owned, and in Music City, Nashville, with the help of a webmaster he produced Dot Com Blues, his last Verve album. In 1999, Smith guested on two tracks of a live album, Incredible! (Smith’s nickname during the 1960s) with his protégé, Joey DeFrancesco, a then 28-year-old organist. Smith and DeFrancesco’s collaborative album Legacy was released in 2005 shortly after Smith’s death.
Time to warm up some cider, grab a stick of cinnamon, pull up the comfy chair and dive in. You got this thing.
