Stuff Smith

Stuff Smith was among the big three of pre-bop violinists along with Joe Venuti and Stephane Grappelli. A lot of his followers stated that he could outswing most of his rivals, and certainly Stuff was a significant force around the bandstand. Smith, who cited Louis Armstrong as his primary influence, analyzed music along with his dad and used the family music group as a kid. His first main work and recordings had been with Alphonse Trent’s place music group in the 1920s, nonetheless it had not been until 1936 that he previously his discovery. Leading a quintet in the Onyx Golf club with trumpeter Jonah Jones, Smith’s humor vocals and hard-swinging strategy produced the group popular on 52nd Road for quite some time; his novelty “I’se a Muggin'” became popular. Smith worked frequently along with his trios in the 1940s, but was at risk of getting neglected in the ’50s when Norman Granz documented him fairly thoroughly for Verve; Stuff also participated in Nat Ruler Cole’s After Midnight periods for Capitol. The violinist shifted to Copenhagen in 1965 and was energetic until his loss of life two years afterwards.