Jimmy Smith Quotes

• I wanted to be a ballet teacher.

  Jimmy Smith

• I heard Mr. Wild Bill Davis. I heard him play in 1930 and he told me that it would take me fifteen years just to learn the pedals, the pedals of the organ and I got mad.

  Jimmy Smith

• I did my first recording. It was called The Champ.

  Jimmy Smith

• My boys told me they’d rather play than practice.

  Jimmy Smith

• Michael Coleman, now that was a boy that taught me some stuff too.

  Jimmy Smith

• I played with Eddie Taylor’s son, Tim Taylor and Carey Bells son Lurie Bell.

  Jimmy Smith

• My mom would have liked it that I patterned myself more after Jimmy Reed.

  Jimmy Smith

• Yeah, you know everybody has somebody that they patterned themselves after.

  Jimmy Smith

• I always had the facial hair so I looked older than I was.

  Jimmy Smith

• I played with Sam Lay, Jimmy Reed, Big Walter Horton, Big Moose Walker, and all those guys.

  Jimmy Smith

• I just came from Aspen, Colorado and they had fifteen kids I played for and they all played horns.

  Jimmy Smith

• All the colleges I played, most of the colleges, they were white.

  Jimmy Smith

• Ninety-five percent of my audience was white.

  Jimmy Smith

• People like the idea of the trio and so I did mostly trio.

  Jimmy Smith

• I did my first recording. It was called The Champ.

  Jimmy Smith

• My first recording, a guy came down to Philadelphia and heard me play and he introduced me to Alfred Lion.

  Jimmy Smith

• And then when I found my sound, it took me two and a half weeks to find my sound and when I did I pulled out all the stops, all the stops I could find.

  Jimmy Smith

• Three months. I was playing the organ for three months. It was a challenge for me in the beginning.

  Jimmy Smith

• I heard Mr. Wild Bill Davis. I heard him play in 1930 and he told me that it would take me fifteen years just to learn the pedals, the pedals of the organ and I got mad.

  Jimmy Smith

Jimmy Smith (19)

Birth:	8th December, 1925
Death:	8th February, 2005
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Musician, Organist

About

James Oscar Smith was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an American jazz musician. He helped popularize the Hammond B-3 electric organ, creating an indelible link between 1960s soul and jazz improvisation. He studied music at Royal Hamilton College of Music and Leo Ornstein School of Music in Philadelphia. From 1951 to 1954 he played piano, then organ in Philly R&B bands like Don Gardner and the Sonotones. His albums list shown below: A New Sound... A New Star...Volume 1 & 2, The Incredible Jimmy Smith, A Date with Jimmy Smith Volume 1 & 2, The Sounds of Jimmy Smith, Plays Pretty Just for You, House Party, Crazy! Baby, Straight Life, Plays Fats Waller, Prayer Meetin', Respect, Groove Drops, and Bluesmith.

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Today's Anniversary - 30th May

Births

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Deaths

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• 2005 - Robert Creeley
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