Stuff smith biography
- Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, on August 14, 1909, but grew up in Cleveland.
- He was born as Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith in Portsmouth, Ohio on August 19, 1909, growing up in Cleveland.
- Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith, better known as Stuff Smith, was an American jazz violinist.
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Jazz is in the air these days.
Charlotte’s new Middle C Jazz nightclub, the Bechtler Museum’s sold-out monthly jazz evenings, the crowds of twenty-somethings at GottaSwing Charlotte’s weekly dances, all signal a fresh enthusiasm. Will the music that had its first national heyday back in the 1920s become one of America’s hot sounds of the 2020s?
If you’re into jazz, you likely know the names Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Waller, Nat King Cole or Django Reinhardt. I’ve recently discovered that there’s a thread that connects them all and leads back to Charlotte — particularly to a remarkable music scene at Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) in the 1920s.
Stuff Smith started me on this research journey. His 1965 LP Black Violin helped turn me on to the notion that a fiddler could play swinging jazz. I’m perpetually trying to play jazz fiddle myself. Stuff’s hard-driving tone — never too-sweet — and his often-wacky vocals are an inspiration.
Imagine my surprise to discover that Stuff Smith’s own musical journey began at JCSU.
JCSU in the early days of swing
At age 15,
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Stuff Smith: Profiles in Jazz
The violin was part of some of the earliest jazz bands in New Orleans but it was not taken seriously as a solo instrument in jazz until Joe Venuti (1903-78), who first recorded with the Jean Goldkette Orchestra in 1924, began to record remarkable duets with guitarist Eddie Lang in 1926. Eddie South (1904-62), who actually recorded two titles with Wade’s Moulin Rouge Orchestra before Venuti in late-1923, was featured more extensively on records starting in 1927. Stephane Grappelli (1908-97) was the third great jazz violinist, first appearing on records with Gregor et Ses Gregorians in 1931 but really making his early impact with his series of dazzling performances with guitarist Django Reinhardt in the Quintet of the Hot Club of France starting in 1934.
As masterful as those three were, Stuff Smith swung harder than any other jazz violinist. He could play the most lowdown blues, follow it up with a heart wrenching ballad, and then cook on an uptempo swing tune. Bluesier and more emotional than his predecessors, Smith could hold his own with any hor
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Stuff Smith
American jazz violinist
Stuff Smith | |
|---|---|
Stuff Smith by William P. Gottlieb | |
| Birth name | Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith |
| Born | (1909-08-14)August 14, 1909 Portsmouth, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | (1967-09-25)September 25, 1967 (aged 58) Munich, Germany |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer |
| Instrument | Violin |
Musical artist
Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith (August 14, 1909 – September 25, 1967), better known as Stuff Smith, was an American jazzviolinist.[1] 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, Svend Asmussen, Ray Nance and Joe Venuti, one of jazz music's preeminent violinists of the swing era.
Biography
He was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, United States in 1909, and studied violin with his father.[1] Smith cited Louis Armstrong 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 Tren
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