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Music... The Passing of a Keyboard Legend By Jimi Wilson When organist Jimmy Smith died last February at the age of 79, he left a legacy of over half a century of music, legions of fans and roots which have grown far beyond his Pennsylvania roots. A prolific, widely-travelled composer and performer, Smith constantly strove to expand the reach of keyboard jazz. At the time of his death, he had just completed an album, Legacy, with fellow keyboard virtuoso Joey DeFrancesco, which topped the Jazz and Billboard charts. The two also had a tour in the works before Smithís death. Photo courtesy of Verve Music Group Although Smith learned to play piano as a child and had been involved in various bebop jazz combos, he didnít inscribe his name on historyís pages until the mid-1950ís, when he began experimenting with what was up until that point little more than a souped-up church organ -- the model B3 manufactured by the Hammond Clock Company. Smith was determined to incorporate the Hammond B3 into jazz in a new and unique way, creating a big band sound out of the single humble organ. Variety's Phil Gallo eulogized Smith as a man who "Single-handedly reinvented the Hammond B3 organ for jazz and created the model for the organ trio." Gallo wasn't simply being generous--he was telling like it is. Smith was well-versed in the stride styles of Fats Waller, Art Tatum and Jellyroll Morton, but to adapt the B3, he needed a different approach. Dave Keokstra noted of Smith in The Chicago Sun-Times, "He achieved tonal quality by deploying his left hand not just to play notes, but to change settings on the B-3's drawbars." Add to this Smithís frenetic foot pedalling and you had one busy man at the keys. But Smithís popularity ran far beyond jazz circles into rock, soul and r&b genres. And even though their styles varied, without Smithís promotion of the Hammond organ, such classics as Booker T and the MGsí "Green Onions" and Dave "Baby" Cortezís "Happy Organ" may never have existed. Certainly, without the B3, Procol Haremís "Whiter Shade of Pale" and Crowded Houseís "Donít Dream Itís Over" would have lacked the swelling, soulful and tear-wrenching component that made those songs so appealing. Today, as pop artists are increasingly looking to keyboards as equal to, if not superior to, the standard electric guitar combos approach, the Hammond B3 is gaining increasing respect. I imagine thatíd bring a smile to Jimmy Smithís face. It certainly does to mine, and to those of many fans who embrace the instrument that Smith helped popularize.

Brave News World is a general-interest magazine produced online by students in the course Online Journalism JRN 410 led by Professor Anthony Curtis, Department of Mass Communications, University of North Carolina at Pembroke. The cover, sections and pages were designed by students in the course and article topics were chosen and reported by the individual students who wrote them. We are eternally grateful to those agencies and institutions that have graciously provided images for this edition. Views expressed by individual writers in this magazine are not endorsed by the professor, the department, the university, or possibly anyone else. Your comments are welcomed by the professor who may be contacted at (910) 521-6616. Or you may e-mail the professor at acurtis@uncp.edu.