Here’s a rare TV performance from Jimmy Smith, the man who turned the Hammond B-3 organ into a force of nature. With his left hand walking the bass, his right hand firing off bluesy runs, and the Leslie speaker spinning, Smith transformed the jazz landscape and set the standard for soul-jazz. Every phrase in this clip is a masterclass—swinging, grooving, and electrifying the room with that unmistakable Hammond fire. | Jazz Foundation of America

Before Jimmy Smith, the electric organ had been nearly a novelty in jazz; it was he who made it an important instrument in the genre and influenced nearly every subsequent notable organist in jazz and rock, including Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff, Larry Young, Shirley Scott, Al Kooper and Joey DeFrancesco. By 1955 -- which coincidentally was the year Hammond introduced its most popular model, the Hammond B3, he had an organ trio with a new sound. His appearances at Birdland and the 1957 Newport Jaz