Back in the sixties, as I got more and more interested in Soul Jazz, and organists in particular, the notion that Jimmy Smith was the one and only great organist and that all the others were weak imitators was prevalent in critical circles. To me, as I listened to Freddie Roach, Baby Face Willette, John Patton and others – even R&B organists like Dave ‘Baby’ Cortez, Booker T and Bill Doggett – that was simply wrong thinking. Those people didn’t play like Jimmy Smith – they played like themse