Jimmy McGRIFF - Movin’ Upside The Blues 1981

Jimmy McGRIFF - Movin’ Upside The Blues 1981
JAM 005(LP)

Jazz

For his second Jazz America LP, organist Jimmy McGriff is heard on one selection (Kenny Burrell's "All Day Long") left over from the first session (which features a septet including Harold Vick on tenor and trumpeter Danny Moore), plus four numbers from 1981 with altoist Arnold Sterling, guitarist Jimmy Ponder, trumpeter Bill Hardman, and Vick. As usual, most of the music is blues-based, although the inclusion of "Moonlight Serenade" in this soul-jazz setting is a pleasant surprise.
By Scott Yanow. AMG.
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"They've always classified me as a Jazz organist which I am not," states Jimmy McGriff. "I'm more of a Blues player. That's what I really feel."
With innumerable Top Ten albums to his credit, there is no mistaking McGriff's status as a legend. A master of the Hammond B-3, his renditions of Jazz and Blues classics along with his own compositions like "All About My Girl", "Kiko", "Vicki" and "Granny’s Lane", have made him a Blues original.
James Harrell McGriff was born in Philadelphia, a city known for its world-class Jazz musicians - particularly its organists. He was surrounded by music while he was growing up: his mother and father both played piano while cousins Benny Golson and Harold Melvin were beginning to work on their own musical paths.
Jimmy started out playing acoustic bass and alto sax. By the time he had finished high school, he was playing drums, vibes and piano, as well! At that point in his life, the bass seemed to be holding his interest and Big Maybelle gave him his first steady job working with her at Philly's famous Pep's Showboat.
The influence of neighbor Richard "Groove" Holmes was dynamic though, and he studied privately with him. Jimmy also studied organ at Philadelphia's Combe College of Music and at Julliard. In addition, he studied privately not only with "Groove", but with Milt Buckner and with classical organist Sonny Gatewood.
An A&R rep for Sue Records heard Jimmy playing organ at a small club in Trenton, NJ, offered him a contract and Jimmy was on his way to becoming an international favorite.
Jimmy's arrangement of "I Got A Woman", on the Sue label, made it to the top five on both Billboard's R&B and Pop charts ... and the hits have kept coming year after year.
There are close to 100 albums with Jimmy McGriff's name at the top as leader. He has recorded for Sue, Solid State, United Artists, Blue Note, Groove Merchant and recently for Milestone, Headfirst and Telarc.
In his prolific career, Jimmy has recorded with George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Frank Foster, JJ Johnson and even a two-organ jam affair with the late "Groove" Holmes.
Jimmy McGriff has performed in concert with Count Basie, Wynton Marsalis, Dizzy Gillespie, James Moody, Lou Donaldson, and the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Big Band. He also toured and recorded with the great Buddy Rich for two years in the mid 70's.
Jimmy's television credits include programs with Nancy Wilson, the PBS favorite, "Club Date", and some fun with Paul Shaffer on Late Night with David Letterman.
Currently Jimmy performs around the world with his own Quartet, carving his own distinctive organ niche. Incorporating traditional gospel with a spiritual feel, he often teams up with musical buddy Hank Crawford in concert and on records.
Jimmy McGriff has received numerous awards over the years. Whether these accolades refer to him as a Blues master or a Jazz legend, McGriff fans will tell you that he just reaches for your heart and soul with his music and always comes up with a "feel-good" gettin' down sound!
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Jimmy McGriff- Organ,
Arnold Sterling- Alto Sax (except on 2),
Harold Vick- Tenor Sax (on 2,4,5),
Bill Easley- Alto Sax (on 2),
Jimmy Ponder- Guitar,
Vance James- Drums (except on 2),
Victor Jones- Drums (on 2),
Bill Hardman- - Trumpet (on 4,5),
Danny Moore- Trumpet (on 2), 
Richard Byrd- Congas (on 2).
**
A1. Moonlight Serenade  Miller, Parrish  6:32 
A2. All Day Long  Burrell  11:02 
B1. Could Be  McGriff, Ponder  5:36 
B2. Free and Foxy  McGriff, Ponder  6:14 
B3. Movin' Upside the Blues  McGriff  5:26 
**


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Jimmy McGRIFF - A Bag Full Of Blues 1967

Jimmy McGRIFF - A Bag Full Of Blues 1967
SS-18107

Jazz

Jimmy McGriff, 72, a jazz and blues organist who helped popularize the funky soul-jazz sound of the 1960s, died May 24 at Voorhees Center Genesis, a nursing facility in Voorhees, N.J. He had multiple sclerosis.
From the early 1960s, when he scored his first hit with an instrumental version of Ray Charles's "I've Got a Woman," Mr. McGriff was a widely acclaimed performer who unabashedly called himself "the king of the blues organists."
Part of a long tradition of jazz organists from Philadelphia, he went on to earn worldwide fame for his distinctively earthy sound on the Hammond B-3 organ and for his ability to send listeners racing to the dance floor.
As a child, Mr. McGriff began to play the organ in church, but he tried several other instruments and lines of work before settling on the organ in his early 20s. By then, Philadelphia had become renowned as a hotbed of organ talent, with such masters as Jimmy Smith, Shirley Scott and Richard "Groove" Holmes.
 After hearing Holmes play at his sister's wedding, Mr. McGriff sought his advice and spent six months mastering the unwieldy Hammond B-3, which has two banks of keyboards and dozens of pull-out stops as well as pumps and pedals for the feet.
By 1960, Mr. McGriff was working in local combos, and two years later his performance of "I've Got a Woman" reached No. 5 on Billboard's R&B chart. He followed it with other top-selling albums, including "Blues for Mister Jimmy" (1965) "A Bag Full of Soul" (1966), "A Bag Full of Blues" (1967), "The Worm" (1968) and two recordings with members of the Count Basie Orchestra.
By Matt Schudel.
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Organist Jimmy McGriff released this LP in 1967 on the Solid State label, compositions by Manny Albam, production by Sonny Lester, personnel is Jimmy McGriff on organ, Mel Lewis on drums, Richard Davis on bass, Joe Newman on trumpet, Jerome Richardson on sax and Barry Galbraith and Wallace Richardson on guitar.
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A1. Better Late Than Never   4:50
A2. Finishin'   3:23
A3. Slim Jim   5:35
A4. Time Waltzes On   6:00
B1. The Long Days Night   4:23
B2. The Long Hot Walk   5:14
B3. The Deacon's Peekin'   4:20
B4. Friday Nite's Rite   5:20
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