RIP-Philly legend- Little Jimmy Oliver
Tim
A strong tenor voice in the City of Brotherly Love for decades upon
decades .
This man was an American musical treasure... to say the least.
One of those gifted North Philly saxophonists that came up in the day
with Philly guys like Coltrane, in the SAME neighberhood.
Bummer to because my bud Bobby Zankel & I were talking about trying to
catch Jimmy soon. He was such a gifted player.
This in my mind, is truly the end of an era in Philly.
Jimmy was one of the _benchmarks_of the sax. And he never left town.
This was the kind of musician-you HAD to hear live.
A real legendary UNSUNG but KNOWN within the musicians.
RIP Jimmy Oliver.
bebopper
Serious loss.... I also understand Norristown native Jimmy Smith has
joined him (age 80) ....
- bebopper
Cheers,
- bebopper
Tim
I mentioned Jimmy Oliver to Charles Lloyd today..just in conversation.
He KNEW his playing. Matter of fact Lloyd said
" Philly always had big ears....some of the best playing always
happened there, i remember when i played there, so much depth...i
remember Jimmy and all the cats well..."
Pretty interesting.Inspirational.
Jimmy Oliver- the end of a era for sure.
Tim Price
bebopper
himself as Jimmy "Badman" Oliver, and was also known as Jimmy "Satin
Doll" Oliver.
I think he did a recording with Diz, and he is one of many on
the "Live at Ortlieb's" compilation. Not much evidence left of a cat
who inspired a young John Coltrane once upon a time.
Ya don't know what you've got till it's gone ..
Peace,
-bebopper
Cheers,
- bebopper
Tim
But was respected by cats like Charles lloyd.And even younger folks
like Sue Terry and Bobby Zankel.
Somebody shoulda recorded him more.No doubt.
BUT,,
Guys get tired of asking. OR-playin for zip.
A guy like Jimmy Oliver. Should of been recorded with Hank Jones and
those guys.
SAD.
And-it is a ending of an era. The musicality.
The depth.
Tp
Steve Marshall
"Tim" <tep2...@aol.com> wrote
> Yes-Jimmy Smith also left. Sad.
Are you talking about the Hammond guy ? I can't find any reports about his
passing.
Steve M
bebopper
Jimmy Smith, 76, was top jazz organist
The New York Times
February 11, 2005
Jimmy Smith, who made the Hammond organ one of the most popular sounds
in jazz beginning in the mid-1950s, died Tuesday at his home in
Phoenix. He was 76.
He died of unspecified natural causes, said his stepson and former
manager, Michael Ward.
Before Jimmy Smith, the electric organ had been nearly a novelty in
jazz. Smith made it an important instrument in the genre and
influenced nearly every subsequent notable organist in jazz and rock,
including Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff, Larry Young, Shirley Scott, Al
Kooper and Joey DeFrancesco.
Like many other great jazz musicians, Smith insisted that the key to
finding his own sound was through studying musicians who did not play
his instrument.
"I've always been an admirer of Charlie Parker, and I try to sound
like him," he wrote in a short piece for The Hammond Times in 1964. "I
wanted that single-line sound like a trumpet, a tenor or an alto
saxophone."
He made many popular records for Blue Note and Verve, among them
"Groovin' at Small's Paradise," "The Cat" (with the arranger Lalo
Schifrin), a few records with the guitarist Wes Montgomery and in
1965, his vocal version of "Got My Mojo Workin'," arranged by Oliver
Nelson.
His survivors include a son, Jimmy Jr., and a daughter, Jia, both of
Philadelphia.
On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 01:36:16 -0000, "Steve Marshall"
******************
The Hammond B-3 organ is a profound instrument with a powerful sound.
It is not for modest men.
The searing audacity of Jimmy Smith helped make him a master in the
B-3 field. Mr. Smith died of apparent natural causes Tuesday at his
home in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 79 years old.
Mr. Smith was an original.
Who else would cut a 20-minute song called "The Sermon" (in tribute to
Blue Note pianist Horace Silver), as Mr. Smith did in 1958 for Blue
Note Records. "That's the one song that really made my leg tired," Mr.
Smith said in a 2003 Sun-Times interview. "That's a long time to play.
I kept going through fortitude and attitude." Those were the keys to
Mr. Smith's B-3.
He achieved tonal quality by deploying his left hand not just to play
notes, but to change settings on the B-3's drawbars. He knew how to
telegraph lean bass lines on the pedals while employing lithe handwork
over the keyboards. This is how Mr. Smith painted a mosaic of raging
styles, including hard bop, deep gospel and rhythm and blues.
Mr. Smith's all-star Blue Note groups included Art Blakey on drums,
Lee Morgan on trumpet and Kenny Burrell on guitar. He also recorded
for Verve Records from 1963 to 1972. His 1972 Verve release
"Bluesmith" included the evocative "Mournin' Wes," a tribute to jazz
guitarist Wes Montgomery. Smith had mentored former Montgomery sideman
Melvin Rhyne when he switched from piano to Hammond B-3.
Mr. Smith was born in Norristown, Pa., on Dec. 8, 1925. After serving
in the Navy, in 1948 he studied bass at the Hamilton School of Music
and piano at Ornstein's School of Music in Philadelphia. He debuted on
the Hammond organ in 1951. New York organist Wild Bill Davis helped
Mr. Smith understand the rhythmic marriage between pedals and hands.
The Hammond organ weighs more than 400 pounds, and hitting the road
with the instrument is not an easy task. Mr. Smith was never
intimidated. "Aw, I've moved it a lot," he said in 2003. "Sure, that
thing is heavy. In most of the big-city clubs, I'd give two winos a
jug of wine to help me move it. I've been there."
Mr. Smith was everywhere. In 2003 he appeared at Pete Miller's
Steakhouse in Evanston, after which he jetted off to shows in
Istanbul, Turkey, and Warsaw, Poland. Later this month he was planning
to tour with fellow B-3 artist Joey DeFrancesco to promote their
studio album "Legacy," due for release next week on Concord Records.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
*******************************************************************8
<s...@atmosBlockA.plus.com> wrote:
Cheers,
- bebopper
bebopper
Late jazz legend had his roots in Philly
By AL HUNTER JR.
Before we go forward, we must pause to acknowledge the death of that
"little bad man" of the saxophone, James "Little Jimmy" Oliver.
Oliver, who back in the '40s was the hottest tenor in Philly and
continued to shine until his last days, died last week. He was 80,
friends said.
A disciple of Lester Young, Oliver was born in Columbia, S.C., and
came to Philadelphia when he was 1. He started to hit the clubs when
he was 17, Donald True Van Deusen wrote in a 2002 review on www.all
aboutjazz.com.
"Oliver goes back to the early 1940s in Philadelphia jazz history
playing at such clubs as Little's Cafe, Irene's, the Downbeat and the
Gem," Van Deusen wrote. "He has played with such all-stars as Dizzy
Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Lester Young, whom he admires greatly as
most sax men do. When the Gem became the Zanzibar in 1946 (according
to Oliver) he was in the house band that included Butch Ballard on
drums and later, the renowned Philly Joe Jones."
Little Jimmy also had his moments with John Coltrane. Trane was living
in Philly, where he learned the ropes and constantly practiced. Little
Jimmy was the man back then, recalled saxophonist Jimmy Heath.
"I remember Jimmy Oliver told Trane, 'Man, you ain't supposed to play
all night. You're messing up the saxophone,'" Heath said in an
interview with A.B. Spellman. "And we all used to look up to Jimmy
Oliver as the leader in Philadelphia. Before me and Trane and Benny
[Golson] could play anything, Jimmy Oliver was the cat."
Services will be 11 a.m. today at Shiloh Apostolic Temple, 1516-24 W.
Master St. And as has become nearly a tradition when a Philly cat
dies, there will be a jam session at 3 p.m. at the Clef Club, Broad
and Fitzwater streets, where Philly musicians will honor the memory of
Little Jimmy in music.
*****************************************************************************************************
N. Phila. jazz saxophonist Jimmy Oliver
By Gayle Ronan Sims
Inquirer Staff Writer
Jimmy Oliver, 80, jazz tenor saxophone great who emerged from the
music mosaic of North Philadelphia and played along with city icons
including Mickey Roker, Bootsie Barnes, the Heath Brothers and Philly
Joe Jones, died of heart failure last Friday at home.
Born James Henry Oliver in Columbia, S.C., he was a baby when his
family moved to North Philadelphia.
When Mr. Oliver was 15, he took up the sax and dropped out of
Northeast High School after the 11th grade.
He bought what he thought was an alto saxophone on time payments. When
the store delivered the horn, it turned out to be a tenor sax almost
as big as he was, but he decided to keep it.
A year after that, he was playing with an 18-piece band called Rajahs
of Rhythm. When World War II started, most of the musicians in the
band were drafted.
"I was 4-F, I never found out why, so I stayed out of it," Mr. Oliver
said in a 1996 Inquirer article. When he was 18, he started playing in
the clubs and found himself in the company of such jazz luminaries as
Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Ben Webster and Pearl Bailey. He also
played with drummer Max Roach.
In the late 1940s, Mr. Oliver encountered a Philadelphia saxophonist
named John Coltrane, who many said was strongly influenced by Mr.
Oliver's playing.
"Early on I was branded with having the Philadelphia sound," Mr.
Oliver said in the 1996 interview. "I came along before Trane, and so
I had a step or two on him. We became close friends."
At 14, Mr. Oliver had fallen in love with Henrietta Harris. By the
time he was 16, they had a son. By the time he was 28, they had four
children. He was a grandfather at 35. They finally married in the late
1970s. She died in 2001.
His love for his family and his fear of getting heavily into drugs, as
many of his fellow musicians had done, kept him in Philadelphia. He
turned his back on chances to hit the road and seek a national
reputation.
"Things didn't happen to me the way I may have wished them to happen,
but... I didn't want New York to give me an early grave," Mr. Oliver
said in 1991.
He kept chugging along as a regular on the Philly club circuit. He
played gigs up until the end of his life, granddaughter Zina Hardy,
who was raised by Mr. Oliver, said yesterday.
"He took good care of his family. When I was 5, I got all dressed up
and listened to him in clubs," Hardy said.
"He was supposed to play at the Top Shelf the day he died," she said.
In addition to his granddaughter, Mr. Oliver is survived by sons James
Jr. and King; daughters Ramona Dates and Patricia; 11 other
grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; and a brother.
Friends may visit at 9:30 today at Shiloh Apostolic Temple, 15th and
Master Streets. The funeral will follow at 11. Burial will be in
Rolling Green Memorial Park in West Chester. A celebration of his life
is 3 p.m. at the Clef Club, Broad and Fitzwater Streets.
********************************************************************************************
Cheers,
- bebopper
Steve Marshall
"bebopper" <bebo...@nospam.org> wrote
>
> Jimmy Smith, 76, was top jazz organist
>
Thanks for the post. He toured Britain recently but I heard he played with
only one hand due to a recent stroke. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get
to see him.
I think his importance is hugely underrated. His influence spread across
fields.
Steve M