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Jimmy McGriff R.I.P.


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Wow, this is really devestating news. I just had an e-mail exchange with his wife last week. I asked her if I could write Jimmy and letter, she was very nice about it and said she would read it to Jimmy at the nursing home he was in. I was going to write the letter this evening and mail it in the morning....

Everyone should put on "Live At The Apollo" and listen to Jimmy's bass solo on "There Will Never Be Another You." He was just ASTONISHING in EVERY respect. Nobody swung that B3 like McGriff.

I'm SAD.

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Posted on Mon, May. 26, 2008

Jazz, blues organist Jimmy McGriff dies at 72

The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA - Longtime jazz and blues organist Jimmy McGriff, known for the 1960s recordings of "I've Got a Woman" and "All About My Girl," has died. He was 72.

McGriff's death on Saturday from multiple sclerosis was confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday by his wife, Margaret McGriff. At the time of his death, McGriff lived in Voorhees.

According to his Web site, James Harrel McGriff was born in Germantown. His parents were both pianists, but McGriff started out on bass and saxophone and later played drums, vibes, and piano.

He served as a military policeman during the Korean War and spent 2 1/2 years as a Philadelphia policeman, moonlighting as a bass player, according to the site. He was offered a recording contract after a scout heard him play "I Got A Woman" at a small club in Trenton.

That song on Sue Records became one of McGriff's greatest hits, and he also recorded for Solid State, United Artists, Blue Note, Groove Merchant, Milestone, Headfirst and Telarc.

A viewing is planned for June 2 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Bradley Funeral Home in Marlton, Margaret McGriff said.

Another viewing is planned for June 3 from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Harold O. Davis Memorial Baptist Church, 4500 N. 10th St., Philadelphia, with the funeral service to follow.

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Man...Jimmy McGriff dies, one of the handful of genuine greats of the Hammond, and we can't get more than a few people chiming in...sad...I thought this place was called Organissimo. WTF. Long live Jimmy's music...man, he was a bad dude. Put on "Let's Stay Together" and reflect on what a bad MF he was.

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Man...Jimmy McGriff dies, one of the handful of genuine greats of the Hammond, and we can't get more than a few people chiming in...sad...I thought this place was called Organissimo. WTF. Long live Jimmy's music...man, he was a bad dude. Put on "Let's Stay Together" and reflect on what a bad MF he was.

Here here. Who's left of the old guard now? Dr. Lonnie Smith, Leon Spencer, and who else?

Man... I love McGriff. If I could get that percussion tone he got on the Solid State stuff, I'd be in heaven.

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perhaps magical goldenrod would like to give his thoughts on mcgriffs lester works as he did for jhsmith's prestige stuff? i found his thoughts in that thread extremely insightful and interesting and useful.

No.

Actually, I was never too keen on them. I only have three of his SS albums - "The big band", "Step 1" and "The worm".

I think I've made a mistake there.

MG

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perhaps magical goldenrod would like to give his thoughts on mcgriffs lester works as he did for jhsmith's prestige stuff? i found his thoughts in that thread extremely insightful and interesting and useful.

No.

Actually, I was never too keen on them. I only have three of his SS albums - "The big band", "Step 1" and "The worm".

I think I've made a mistake there.

MG

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Dude, you must get the Solid State recordings of "A Bag Full Of Soul", "A Bag Full Of Blues" and "Cherry".

Oh, and the stuff from the early 80s on JAM is bad-ass, too.

Oh yes, I used to have "A bag full of soul". Flogged it when poor and always regretted that.

I have all Jimmy's JAM albums. JAM made some great Soul Jazz albums.

MG

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May 28, 2008

Jimmy McGriff, Jazz and Blues Organist, Dies at 72

By BEN RATLIFF, NYT

Jimmy McGriff, who since the early 1960s was one of the most popular jazz and blues organists, died on Saturday in Voorhees, N.J. He was 72 and lived in Voorhees.

The cause was complications of multiple sclerosis, said his wife, Margaret McGriff.

Like other jazz organists of his time, Mr. McGriff spent much of his career working in the clubs of the East Coast organ circuit, including the Golden Slipper in Newark, a club he owned in the early ’70s. He played jazz as dance music, whether it was music by Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Ray Charles or James Brown. Over swing, shuffle and funk rhythms, he played in a focused blues language that built gospel-like intensity through his solos.

Mr. McGriff was born in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, which became a jazz organ mecca in the 1950s and ’60s. His father played piano, and Mr. McGriff learned it from an early age; he went on to play saxophone and bass before settling on the Hammond organ, which became a common instrument in small-group jazz instrument only in the mid-’50s, largely because of the example of another Philadelphian, Jimmy Smith.

During the Korean War, Mr. McGriff served as a military policeman; returning home, he spent more than two years on the Philadelphia police force. Encouraged by his friend Richard (Groove) Holmes, another Philadelphia organist, he took up the organ, playing around Philadelphia, sometimes with the tenor saxophonist Charles Earland, who himself switched over to the organ soon thereafter and became another one of that instrument’s great players.

His first hit, in 1961, was a 45-r.p.m. single of Ray Charles’s “I’ve Got a Woman,” a local jukebox success that was featured on the radio. It led to a full album for the Sue label; it also quickly led to another hit single, “All About My Girl.”

From the mid-’60s through the 1970s, his records were produced by Sonny Lester, on the Solid State, Blue Note and Groove Merchant labels; his own 1971 live album, “The Black Pearl,” as well as another with the blues singer Junior Parker, were recorded at his own club in Newark. He also played with Buddy Rich’s band for a stretch in the late ’60s and early ’70s.

In 1986 he started working regularly with the saxophonist Hank Crawford, making records and touring; he continued to record as a leader for the Milestone label and made his last recording in 2006, a live album done at the Manhattan jazz club Smoke. He stopped playing in 2007.

In addition to his wife, Margaret, Mr. McGriff is survived his mother, Beatrice, and brother, Henry, both of Philadelphia; his sisters, Jean Clark of Amherst, Va., and Beatrice Evans of Philadelphia; two children, Donald Kelly of Philadelphia and Holiday Hankerson of the Newark area; and five grandchildren.

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and made his last recording in 2006, a live album done at the Manhattan jazz club Smoke. He stopped playing in 2007.

I never heard of this one. Anyone have any details?

MG

any details are relatively easy to find...

The Legendary Jimmy McGriff Live at SMOKE Golden Note Records 2006

from guitarist Chris Vitarello's homepage

http://www.chrisvitarello.com/index.html

strangely enough i couldn't find anything more - maybe one should email vitarello

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