Smith, Stuff (Hezekiah Leroy Gordon)

Smith, Stuff (Hezekiah Leroy Gordon) , influential jazz violinist, singer; b. Portsmouth, Ohio, Aug. 14, 1909; d. Munich, Germany, Sept. 25, 1967. Dizzy Gillespie credited Smith with showing him how artistry and entertainment could be combined. His father, a barber and part-time boxer, also played all the string instruments and doubled on reeds. When Stuff was seven his father made him his first violin; at age 12 he began playing in his father’s band. At that time, the family lived in Masillon, Ohio. Stuff won a music scholarship to study at the Johnson C. Smith Univ. in N.C., He left school in 1924 to tour with the “Aunt Jemima” Revue Band. After two years on the road, he joined Alphonse Trent (then playing in Ky), and subsequently played with that band during their long residency at the Adolphus Hotel, Dallas. He moved to N.Y. (with Edwin Swayzee) in 1928 to join Jelly Roll Morton, but soon returned to Alphonse Trent’s Band because he felt that he couldn’t be heard in Morton’s band. He made his first recordings with Trent in 1933. After various residencies and tours through the Midwest and Canada, he finally left Trent in Syracuse. He settled in Buffalo and led small groups at clubs there. Early in 1936, his sextet moved from Buffalo to N.Y. for a long residency at the Onyx Club with Jonah Jones and Cozy Cole (during this booking he began to play amplified violin). This was Smith’s most famous group, and it recorded on several occasions. The band played in Hollywood from summer 1937 until early 1938; then, facing union problems and a bankruptcy order, Stuff temporarily disbanded his group. He continued to work with various groups back in N.Y., and then in 1945 settled in Chicago, where he formed a new trio to play at his own restaurant/club. During the 1950s, he was based in Calif., although he also made European tours, notably a 1957 trip with Jazz at the Philharmonic. In the early 1960s, he moved from Calif, to Toronto for a year, and then settled in N.Y. for an extended engagement in 1964; a year later, he went to Europe, touring several countries, and making his home base in Copenhagen. He died in Munich, but was buried in Copenhagen.

Discoggaphy

Stuff Smith Trio (1943); Stuff Smith (1953); Have Violin, Will Swing (1957); Stuff Smith-Dizzy Gillespie-Oscar Peterson (1957); Soft Winds (1957); Violins No End (1957); Stephane Grappelli with Stuff Smith (1957); Cat on a Hot Fiddle (1959); Sweet Singin’ Stuff (1959); Live in paris (1965); Live at the Montmartre (1965); Swingin’ Stuff (1965); Hot Violins (1965); Stuff Smith (1965).

—John Chilton , Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter