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Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith (August 14, 1909 – September 25, 1967), better known as Stuff Smith, was an American
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
ist. He is well known for the song " If You're a Viper" (the original title was "You'se a Viper"). Smith was, along with Stéphane Grappelli,
Michel Warlop Michel Maurice Armand Warlop (23 January 1911 – 6 March 1947) was a French classical and jazz violinist professionally active from 1929 to 1947. Early life and education Michel Warlop (Michou to his friends) was a child prodigy who began mu ...
,
Svend Asmussen Svend Asmussen (28 February 1916 – 7 February 2017) was a Danish jazz violinist, known as "The Fiddling Viking". A Swing style virtuoso, he played and recorded with many of the other jazz musicians, including Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and S ...
, Ray Nance and
Joe Venuti Giuseppe "Joe" Venuti (September 16, 1903 – August 14, 1978) was an American jazz musician and pioneer jazz violinist. Considered the father of jazz violin, he pioneered the use of string instruments in jazz along with the guitarist Eddie L ...
, one of jazz music's preeminent violinists of the
swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing ri ...
era.


Biography

He was born in
Portsmouth, Ohio Portsmouth is a city in and the county seat of Scioto County, Ohio, United States. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky, just east of the mouth of the Scioto River. ...
, United States in 1909, and studied violin with his father. Smith cited
Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and Singing, vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and se ...
as his primary influence and inspiration to play jazz, and like Armstrong, was a vocalist as well as instrumentalist. In the 1920s, he played in Texas as a member of Alphonse Trent's band. After moving to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
he performed regularly with his sextet at the Onyx Club starting in 1935, and also with
Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...
,
Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
,
Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but a ...
, and later, Sun Ra. After being signed to
Vocalion Records Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...
in 1936, he had a hit with "I'se a Muggin'" and was billed as Stuff Smith and His Onyx Club Boys. He recorded for Vocalion in 1936,
Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...
in 1937, and Varsity in 1939–1940. He is featured in several numbers on the
Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
Trio album, ''After Midnight''. Part of Smith's performance at what is considered the first outdoor jazz festival, the 1938 Carnival of Swing on
Randall's Island Randalls Island (sometimes called Randall's Island) and Wards Island are conjoined islands, collectively called Randalls and Wards Islands, in New York County, New York City, Some time after the rail bridge was built, a long, 3 span, steel ar ...
, turned up unexpectedly on audio engineer William Savory's discs, which were self-recorded off the radio at the time, then long-sequestered. Some newsreel footage survived but no audio of the festival was thought to have survived until the discs were acquired in 2012 by Loren Schoenberg, executive director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem."Storied Trove of 1930s Jazz Is Acquired by Museum"
by Larry Rohter, ''The New York Times'', August 16, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-16 (Access to this reference requires a subscription)
Smith was critical of the
bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...
movement, although his own style represented a transition between swing and bebop. He is credited as being the first violinist to use electric amplification techniques on a violin. He was one of the writers of the song "It's Wonderful" (1937), which was often performed by Louis Armstrong and
Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...
throughout their careers. Smith moved to
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...
in 1965, performed actively in Europe, and died in
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...
in 1967. He is buried at Klakring Cemetery in
Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...
, Denmark. Stuff Smith is one of the 57 jazz musicians photographed in the 1958 portrait '' A Great Day in Harlem''.


Discography


As leader

* ''Stuff Smith'' ( Verve, 1957) * '' Dizzy Gillespie and Stuff Smith'' (Verve, 1957) * ''Have Violin, Will Swing'' (Verve, 1958) * ''Sweet Swingin' Stuff'' (
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...
, 1959) * '' Cat on a Hot Fiddle'' (Verve, 1960) * ''
Herb Ellis Mitchell Herbert Ellis (August 4, 1921 – March 28, 2010), known professionally as Herb Ellis, was an American jazz guitarist. During the 1950s, he was in a trio with pianist Oscar Peterson. Biography Born in Farmersville, Texas, and raised ...
& Stuff Smith Together!'' ( Epic, 1963) * ''Stuff and Steff'' with
Stephane Grappelli Stephane may refer to: * Stéphane, a French given name * Stephane (Ancient Greece), a vestment in ancient Greece * Stephane (Paphlagonia) Stephane ( grc, Στεφάνη) was a small port town on the coast of ancient Paphlagonia, according to Arr ...
( Barclay, 1966) * ''Violin Summit'' with Stephane Grappelli,
Svend Asmussen Svend Asmussen (28 February 1916 – 7 February 2017) was a Danish jazz violinist, known as "The Fiddling Viking". A Swing style virtuoso, he played and recorded with many of the other jazz musicians, including Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and S ...
, Jean-Luc Ponty, ( SABA, 1967) * ''Black Violin'' ( MPS, 1972) * ''Violins No End'' with Stephane Grappelli ( Pablo, 1984) * ''The 1943 Trio'' (
Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is cons ...
, 1988) * ''Live at the Montmartre'' ( Storyville, 1988) * ''Live in Paris'' ( France's Concert, 1965/1988) * ''Hot Violins'' with Svend Asmussen, Kenny Drew Trio, Poul Olsen (Storyville, 1991) * ''Stuff Smith – 1939-1944'' compilation (
Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
, 1999) * ''Late Woman Blues'' with Henri Chaix Trio (Storyville, 2001) * ''The Complete 1944 Rosenkrantz Apartment Transcription Duets'' ( AB Fable, 2002) * ''1944-46: Studio, Broadcast, Concert & Apartment Performances'' (AB Fable, 2002) * ''1944 & 1945 Performances'' ( AB Fable, 2004) * ''Swingin' Stuff'' (Storyville, 2005) * ''Five Fine Violins: Celebrating 100 Years'' (Storyville, 2010) * ''1937'' (AB Fable, 2010)


As sideman

With
Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...
* ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook Volume One'' (Verve, 1975) * ''The Duke Ellington Songbook, Volume Two: The Small Group Sessions'' (Verve, 1982) With
Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but a ...
* '' Dee Gee Days: The Savoy Sessions'' (
Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Sa ...
, 1976) * ''Dizzy Gillespie'' (Dee Gee, 1952) * ''The Champ'' (Savoy, 1956) * ''School Days'' (Regent, 1957) With Sun Ra * ''
Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Originally formed as ...
'' (Saturn, 1973) * ''Dreams Come True'' (Saturn, 1973) * ''Sound Sun Pleasure!!'' (Evidence, 1991) With others *
Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
, ''After Midnight'' (Capitol, 1956) *
Roy Eldridge David Roy Eldridge (January 30, 1911 – February 26, 1989), nicknamed "Little Jazz", was an American jazz trumpeter. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos exhibiting a departure from ...
, Count Basie Orchestra, ''Americans in Sweden'' (Jazz Society, 1983) *
Earl Hines Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, " ...
, ''Hine's Tunes'' (France's Concert, 1987) *
Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973), known as Gene Krupa, was an American jazz drummer, bandleader and composer who performed with energy and showmanship. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of " Sing, Sing, ...
, Charlie Ventura, ''Town Hall Concert Vol. 2'' (London, 1974) *
Carmen McRae Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpre ...
, ''Sessions, Live'' (Calliope, 1976) * Red Nichols, ''Sessions, Live'' (Calliope, 1976) *
Ben Webster Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Career Early life and career A native of Kansas City, Missouri, he studied violin, learned how to play blues on the piano from ...
, ''Ben and the Boys'' (Jazz Archives, 1976)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Stuff 1909 births 1967 deaths American jazz violinists American male violinists People from Portsmouth, Ohio Swing violinists Vocalion Records artists 20th-century American violinists Jazz musicians from Ohio 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians American emigrants to Denmark 20th-century African-American musicians