Jimmy Smith, dead at 76

Jimmy Smith, originally uploaded by mister anchovy.

Hammond B3 jazz master Jimmy Smith has died. He was 76. The NY Times reports, "By 1955 - which coincidentally was the year Hammond introduced its most popular model, the B-3 - he had an organ trio with a new sound that would thereafter become the model for groups in what became known as "organ rooms," the urban bars up and down the East Coast specializing in precisely the kind of blues-oriented, swinging, funky music that Mr. Smith epitomized. He continued touring and recording until just before his death."

My introduction to Jimmy Smith was The Sermon. It opened my ears to jazz on the B3