Jimmy McGriff › Similar Artists

Richard "Groove" Holmes - 95% match to Jimmy McGriff

Richard Arnold Holmes, 2 May 1931, Camden, New Jersey, USA, d. 29 June 1991, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. A self-taught organist, early in his career Holmes worked along the east coast. A 1961 recording session with Les McCann and Ben Webster resulted in widespread interest in his work. He toured and recorded throughout the 60s, achieving widespread acceptance among mainstream Read more

Reuben Wilson - 90% match to Jimmy McGriff

Lonnie Smith - 71% match to Jimmy McGriff

3 July 1942, Buffalo, New York, USA. Raised amid a musical family, Smith taught himself to play several instruments, including trumpet and tuba, before deciding to concentrate on the piano and, eventually, other keyboard instruments. In time, he settled on organ, becoming a successful practitioner on the Hammond B3. In the 50s, his first professional engagement was as singer Read more

Jimmy Smith - 61% match to Jimmy McGriff

James Oscar Smith, 8 December 1925 (1928 is also cited by some sources), Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 8 February 2005, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. The sound of the Hammond Organ in jazz was popularized by Smith, often using the prefix ‘the incredible’ or ‘the amazing’. He became the most famous jazz organist of all times and possibly the most influenti Read more

Charles Earland - 54% match to Jimmy McGriff

24 May 1941, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 11 December 1999, Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Earland began his musical career, playing saxophone, while still at school. First on alto and then tenor, he played with a number of bands and soon after graduation joined the small band led by organist Jimmy McGriff. Later, he formed a band of his own using the currently popular o Read more

Lou Donaldson - 51% match to Jimmy McGriff

1 November 1926, Badin, North Carolina, USA. Donaldson started on clarinet but, while playing in a band in the US Navy alongside Willie Smith and Clark Terry, he switched to alto saxophone. In the early 50s he was in New York, playing with Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Blue Mitchell, Art Blakey and other leading jazzmen. In 1954 he and Clifford Brown joined Blakey’s J Read more

John Patton - 43% match to Jimmy McGriff

Shirley Scott - 40% match to Jimmy McGriff

14 March 1934, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 10 March 2002, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Although she had studied both piano and trumpet as a child, Scott’s breakthrough occurred when she switched to organ in the mid-50s. Mostly working in small groups with a saxophone leader and a drummer, she became very popular. Her musical associates included outstanding j Read more

Gene Harris - 35% match to Jimmy McGriff

1 September 1933, Benton Harbour, Michigan, USA, d. 16 January 2000, Boise, Idaho, USA. A self-taught pianist, Harris extended his playing ability from its original boogie-woogie base while on military service. In the mid-50s he formed the Three Sounds with drummer Bill Dowdy and bass player Andrew Simpkins. The trio played highly popular bluesy mainstream jazz and recorded Read more

Bobbi Humphrey - 33% match to Jimmy McGriff

Grant Green - 33% match to Jimmy McGriff

6 June 1935, St Louis, Missouri, USA, d. 31 January 1979, New York City, New York, USA. Heavily influenced by Charlie Christian, guitarist Green first played professionally with tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest and made his recording debut on organist Brother Jack McDuff’s classic 1960 session, The Honeydripper. Although noted particularly for his work in organ-guitar-dr Read more

Blue Mitchell - 30% match to Jimmy McGriff

Richard Allen Mitchell, 13 March 1930, Miami, Florida, USA, d. 21 May 1979, Los Angeles, California, USA. Mitchell’s early professional career found him playing trumpet in a number of R&B bands, including that led in the mid-50s by Earl Bostic. Later in the decade he worked briefly with Cannonball Adderley in New York, and then joined Horace Silver’s band, an e Read more

Donald Byrd - 30% match to Jimmy McGriff

9 December 1932, Detroit, Michigan, USA. In the early 50s Byrd studied trumpet and composition and also played in bands during his military service. Later in the decade he was frequently called upon to record with leading bop musicians, including John Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Phil Woods, Sonny Rollins, Art Blake, Kenny Clarke and Gigi Gryce (with whom he co-led the Jazz Lab Read more

Eddie Henderson - 30% match to Jimmy McGriff

Edward Jackson Henderson, 26 October 1940, New York City, New York, USA. Henderson learned the trumpet at school and studied music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (1954-57). There followed three years in the Air Force. He was already playing enough music to be encouraged by Miles Davis to develop his jazz. He returned to academic study, graduating in zoology (1964 Read more

Joey DeFrancesco - 29% match to Jimmy McGriff

10 April 1971, Springfield, Pennsylvania, USA. Encouraged by his father, John, a multi-instrumentalist, DeFrancesco took up music as a small child. Taking an influence from his organ-playing father ‘Papa’ John, the younger DeFrancesco started playing and listening to Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff from an early age. He attracted considerable local attention even be Read more