Jimmie Smith

For other people of the same name, see Jimmy Smith.

James Howard "Jimmie" Smith (born January 27, 1938, Newark, New Jersey) is an American jazz drummer.

Smith studied at the Al Germansky School for Drummers in his home town of Newark, New Jersey from 1951–54, then attended the Juilliard School in 1959-60. He began his professional career in New York around this time. In the 1960s he played with Jimmy Forrest (1960), Larry Young (1960–62), Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross (1962–63), Pony Poindexter (1963), Jimmy Witherspoon (1963), Gildo Mahones (1963), Jimmy McGriff (1963–65), and Groove Holmes (1965).

From 1967 to 1974 he played with Erroll Garner before moving to California around 1975. He then played with:

• Benny Carter (1975, 1978, 1985)
• Sonny Criss (1975)
• Bill Henderson (1975, 1979),
• Hank Jones (1976),
• Ernestine Anderson (1976, 1986),
• Plas Johnson (1976),
• Phineas Newborn, Jr. (1976)
• Harry Edison (1976–78, with Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Zoot Sims),
• Lorez Alexandria (1977–78),
• Tommy Flanagan (1978),
• Terry Gibbs (1978, 1981),
• Bob Cooper (1979),
• Marshal Royal (1980),
• Great Guitars (1980),
• Barney Kessel (1981),
• Herb Ellis (1981),
• Buddy DeFranco (1981),
• Al Cohn (1983),
• Red Holloway (1987), and
• Dave McKenna (1988).

He toured Japan with Jimmy Smith and Kenny Burrell in 1993.

One of Smith's most noted collaborations took place at the Montreux International Jazz Festival in 1977, where he played with Benny Carter, Miles Davis, Milt Jackson, Dizzy Gillespie, and Count Basie.

Discography

With Kenny Burrell

• Ellington Is Forever (Fantasy, 1975)
• Ellington Is Forever Volume Two (Fantasy, 1975)

With Sonny Criss

• Crisscraft (Muse, 1975)
• Out of Nowhere (Muse, 1976)

With Jimmy Forrest

• Forrest Fire (New Jazz, 1960)

With Dizzy Gillespie

• Dizzy Gillespie Jam (Pablo, 1977)

With Richard "Groove" Holmes

• Soul Message (Prestige, 1965)
• Misty (Prestige, 1965)

With Etta Jones

• Love Shout (Prestige, 1963)

With Hank Jones

• Jones-Brown-Smith (Concord Jazz, 1976) with Ray Brown

With Barney Kessel

• Jelly Beans (Concorde, 1981)

With Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan

• Havin' a Ball at the Village Gate (RCA, 1963)
• At Newport '63 (RCA, 1963)

With Gildo Mahones

• I'm Shooting High (Prestige, 1963)
• The Great Gildo (Prestige, 1964)

With Phineas Newborn, Jr.

• Look Out - Phineas Is Back! (Pablo, 1976 [1978])

With Pony Poindexter

• Pony Poindexter Plays the Big Ones (New Jazz, 1963)
• Gumbo! (Prestige, 1963) with Booker Ervin

With Jimmy Witherspoon

• Baby, Baby, Baby (Prestige, 1963)

With Larry Young

• Young Blues (New Jazz, 1960)
• Groove Street (Prestige, 1962)

References

• Chris Sheridan, "Jimmie Smith". Grove Jazz online.